Category Archives: Sustainability

Dairy & Egg Alternatives for Easy Vegan Living

Today is world vegan day – a day celebrating (and raising awareness about) a lifestyle that’s promotes looking after our bodies, animals and planet. Cutting out – or limiting – animal products is an easy way to eat healthily, reduce carbon footprint and help to end the suffering of millions of farmed animals. Win win!

But taking those first steps and switching to a new diet can seem daunting to begin with, especially when animal products appear to be in everything! But I’m sure people once thought going vegetarian was near impossible in a meat dominated world, and now vegetarian options are absolutely everywhere.

Whether you’re thinking about going completely vegan, or simply want to reduce your impact by cutting down on animal products, these great substitutes will help make it even easier: Continue reading Dairy & Egg Alternatives for Easy Vegan Living

The Eco-Song Game

In my opinion, sustainability shouldn’t always be doom and gloom. Yes, some scary stuff is predicted to happen if we don’t shape up and take more care of the planet, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun every now and then!

trudileafThat’s why I thought I would introduce a fabulous game for you to while away a few minutes (or hours…) and impress your friends with your eco-pun skills! It was originally the masterpiece of my friend Remfrey, and it has now evolved into my favourite game for any long journey, dinner party or study procrastination!

Ok, so it may not actively help your day to day life be more eco-friendly…but it will get your creative juices flowing. Continue reading The Eco-Song Game

A Question of Ethics: Dairy Farming

Milk: the “nutritious” white stuff that played a huge part of my childhood memories; from drinking vats of banana Nesquik, to turning it multi-coloured in my Lucky Charms cereal. We were advised to drink it daily, and were outraged when Margaret Thatcher “took it away from us” in the 80s.

According to This is Dairy Farming, British dairy farmers produce around 11 billion litres of milk annually; of which 5 billion litres is sold for drinking, and 6 billion litres is used for dairy products such as cheese and butter. We really do love the stuff!

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It’s been in my life for nearly 30 years and a key part of our nation’s diet; so – as a vegan – what’s my beef (pardon the pun) with milk now? Well, it wasn’t until I actually knew where milk came from, and how it’s made, that my taste for dairy soured altogether. I used to love creamy yogurts, and sprinkled cheese on almost everything. Now, not only do I avoid the stuff, I disagree with the ethics of the whole industry entirely.

I personally found my discoveries of the dairy industry rather emotional – so much so that I became vegan as soon as I found out. But in order to really explore the ethics, I want to let the facts speak for themselves; and allow others to share their thoughts and experiences of dairy farming. So here goes… Continue reading A Question of Ethics: Dairy Farming

Fast for Compassion

Today I am taking part in a fast for World Day for Farmed Animals (WDFA), a day dedicated to exposing the needless suffering and death of animals, raised and slaughtered for food. Every day, as millions of animals are transported to slaughterhouses across the world, they are denied food and water for several hours, up to days. So in protest of this, I am going just one day without food. Continue reading Fast for Compassion

Henna: The Easy Way to Color Hair Naturally

I started colouring my hair at a fairly young age. Lured by the opportunity to change my look as often as I wanted, I have continued to dye my hair for the last 13 years. I’ve been pillar box red, ghostly jet black, bleached to an inch of its life blonde, and what can only be described as neon Ribena berry indigo… Continue reading Henna: The Easy Way to Color Hair Naturally

Understanding: LED lighting

Techy, I am not. And whilst I have fully intended to investigate making my home greener through clever purchasing of more efficient electricals – I just haven’t gotten around to it!

But with the evenings getting darker and cooler, I seem to  be spending more time indoors with the lights on; so I thought I’d better get to grips with greener options for lighting to help reduce my energy consumption. Often one to pass the butt, I’ve enlisted the help of itdoesthejob.com; experts in the field of energy, money and time saving products for the home. These guys know their stuff (so I don’t have to…) and have shared their insider know how for understanding LED Lighting; which they suggest is the most energy efficient lighting a lazy green home can have. Continue reading Understanding: LED lighting

The wonders of Baobab: The New Super Food?

I have been meaning to write about Baobab for a while now; something I have been in love with ever since I discovered it at Eden a couple of years ago. This delicious “super fruit” has been the subject of many exhibits at Eden over the years; from Baobab smoothies in the rainforest biomes and its own spotlight appearance during Harvest festival, to the baobab chocolate they sell in the Eden shop. I personally have been sprinkling baobab power on my cereal for a while now; as a way to add some extra sweetness to my breakfast, and harvest some of its super food value.

But in my traditional procrastinating style I had put this post to the side; never quite getting around to it! That was until the Guardian pipped me to the post (literally) and recently shared a fabulous article: Baobab holds out promise for Malawi’s farmers and forests. So I did a little lazy girl digging to find out once and for all about this wonderful fruit, and why Baobab is fast becoming the biggest super food extraordinaire…. Continue reading The wonders of Baobab: The New Super Food?

A Contradiction in Ethics: Can You Really Be Vegan and Green?

When, about a month ago, the wonderful Zero Waste Millennial posted a blog titled “Is it possible to be Vegan and Zero waste?” and began it with the immediate answer “no”, it got me thinking. I have wondered myself if it’s possible to champion animal rights, human rights, environmental issues (which in itself is a huge subject…) and live as happily and healthily as possible; whilst still having fun and enjoying the pleasures in life!

But what happens when contradictions in our ethics occur? What if the vegan option isn’t organic but the meat option is? Or the products which avoid exploitation of humans are not sustainable or chemical free? Or your beautiful, naturally sourced fabric from a fair trade cotton producer in India incurred an incredibly large carbon footprint? Surely something has to give? Continue reading A Contradiction in Ethics: Can You Really Be Vegan and Green?