Category Archives: Sustainability

What’s So Scary About a Hairy Mary?

OK, prudish people – or potential suitors Brad Pitt and Emile Hirsch – look away now. I want to talk about something controversial. Well, some may think it’s controversial. I prefer to think of it as a very fascinating thing called nature!

Ladies across the world can empathize with the feeling of lazy relief when summer is over, and you are free to enter a new phase of natural body wilderness. By this, I mean a complete carefree approach to hair removal!  As the vest tops get packed away and 90% of our bodies get covered up, many of us have no interest in hairy legs, pits (or indeed wherever nature chooses to hair you up!)

With the exception of those who don’t give a crap all year round ( we salute you..!) and those who continue their waxing regime well into the winter, most of us are more than a little sporadic with hair removal when no one needs to see our bodies. But this begs the question: What’s so scary about a hairy Mary anyway? Continue reading What’s So Scary About a Hairy Mary?

My New Year’s Green Resolutions

Hello my lovely lazy green people, I hope you all had lovely Christmas breaks and not feeling too full and lethargic! My break has been so relaxed that I completely switched off from my every day life. Now I’m slowly trying to get back into the swing of things and beginning to think about how I can get next year off to a positive start.

It’s been 8 months now since I decided to change some of my lazy, or procrastinating, habits into green actions. There have been many things I’ve found relatively easy to do – such as switching to organic food and buying less “stuff” – and some things I have gradually learnt to do over time; like going plastic free, and cutting out ingredients like palm oil.

But going green hasn’t always been easy for me, and I thought it might be useful to share some of the things I have yet to transform into more sustainable practices; if only to assure you that these things don’t always happen overnight! Continue reading My New Year’s Green Resolutions

Your Green Life: Freya Grummitt (Project Dirt)

One thing that’s struck me most recently about sustainability, is that it’s not just about our dependence on the planet, but our connections with each other, that is so important to protect. It doesn’t matter how much recycling we do at home, or how many less things we buy; it is pretty clear that powerful changes really happy when we work together to share passions, ideas and resources. 

There are already heaps of groups, organisations and companies doing awesome things out there, transforming people and places; but it’s a bit of a forest out there! Sometimes it can be hard to get our voices heard, and share the success (and not so….) stories which remind us why we are a productive and creative species, who can actually change the world for good. 

This is why I wanted to pick the brains of someone who is at the heart of a thriving community of ‘doers’, and helps to get conversations around positive change flowing. Project Dirt is a social media site for community projects and groups who want to chat with like minded passionate people. and collaborate to share resources and ideas. From gardening groups, and Big Lunchers, to transition towns and community organisers; it’s like a little hub of positive goings on! I chatted to the lovely Freya from PD to find out what lies behind her passions for green living: 

Continue reading Your Green Life: Freya Grummitt (Project Dirt)

Your Green Life: Gordon Seabright (Eden project)

This weeks interview has a more personal touch to it, as it happens to be the Director of my own wonderful place of work; the Eden Project! When I began working here, over 3 years ago, I had little knowledge of the world of sustainability, and even less awareness of just how much our life depends on the plants and animals we share this planet with. 

But over the years I have learnt so much, and this stunning place – in the heart of Cornwall – continues to inspire me. I know it’s had a effect on the way I see the world and how I live to respect it; so I was intrigued to how other employees feel about sustainability as a result. Well, who better to ask than a key figure behind one of the UKs most popular tourist attractions and  educational charities?!

Here, Director Gordon Seabright tells me all about his journey to eden, his personal motivations for greener living, and why cycling through London is just too fun to give up…. Continue reading Your Green Life: Gordon Seabright (Eden project)

Your Green Life: Free Range Learning

As the late Whitney Houson once sang “I believe that children are our future….” and I have to say that I agree with her whole heartedly .

It’s taken me nearly 30 years to pay less attention to what advertising tells me I want, and more attention to the bigger picture of what I (and the planet) actually need. But what if everyone learnt these values from an early age? What if learning about animals, growing food, and how we all have a chance to make the world a better place was something kids got to explore in a fun and interactive way?

Well that’s just what Hannah, founder of Free Range Learning, is setting out to do. I first came across her work a couple of years ago when she got involved in a free workshop event I organised in Cardiff (with the help of the awesome Green City Events), and was impressed by her enthusiasm, passion and all round fun approach to inspiring children to live happy, healthy and sustainably!

You can watch the video from that event below:

 

Here’s what Hannah had to say about the work she does, and why she seems to accumulate sacks of empty toilet rolls….

Continue reading Your Green Life: Free Range Learning

Give-a-thing-away-a-day: my advent challenge

Recently one of my close friends, Kate (who works for the awesome neighbourhood sharing organisations, StreetBank) drew my attention to a thought provoking film: My Stuff. The film centres around 26 year old Petri Luukkainen, a man from Finland who decides to put all of his stuff in storage and only take one item back per day, for a year.

The idea struck a chord with Kate, who believes passionately that we don’t need to own as much “stuff” if we simply opened our homes (and hearts) to others and shared the resources we already have. For Luukkainen, by shedding himself of his belongings, he was able to focus on the things that really mattered. Continue reading Give-a-thing-away-a-day: my advent challenge

Your Green Life: Tess Riley

When I first made a conscious effort to “go green” earlier this year, I knew I’d be travelling down a liberating road of knowledge and discoveries surrounding the world of sustainability. I was already aware of recycling, organic food and chemical free beauty products; but I knew there was more to it than that.  

So when I started this blog, a big part of sharing my green living experiences was delving in deeper – with my “Understanding” posts – to get to grips with the basics of sustainability issues; from understanding biodiversity, plastic waste and palm oil rain forest destruction, to the ethics of the industrialised dairy farming. It’s one thing to live green, but it’s another to try understand why it’s so important . 

This weeks Your Green Life interviewee has inspired me endlessly throughout my quest to understand these issues; and is someone who not only asks thought provoking questions (and presents well informed and reasoned answers as a result), but she puts her money where her mouth is and actively campaigns for positive change. For this reason alone, she represents my ambitions for the future of my green journey; where action can speak louder than words.  Continue reading Your Green Life: Tess Riley

Trading Traditions and Ditching Consumerism

It’s happening; I can feel it in the air. It’s barely November and already the steady increase of crazy Christmas consumerism has begun! As soon as the flurry of Halloween costumes, confectionary and unidentified themed plastic objects left shop windows, in popped the Christmas displays to fill the capitalist gap and empty our pockets. Still, no one is forcing us to buy things we don’t need. Are they?

In my previous life (not the one where I was a lucky cat who slept all day in a warm Californian sun…) I worked in retail management. It was my job to make people purchase more; from creating eye catching window displays, and buying in exciting “new” stock, to strategically placing impulse items by the till to catch people out as they stood in the queue, bored and eyes wandering. Christmas was when the big boys came out; the sparkle, the colourfully Christmassy packaging (exactly the same item as usual, only green and red) and of course, the wonderful sales charm. Continue reading Trading Traditions and Ditching Consumerism