No More Glitter!🌟

Glitter is like sand, it gets everywhere; and then when you put on your shoe you realise there's a whole load of it on the floor now. I'm sure we've all used it when we were younger to get our lovely art work to our best. Make it all shiny and pretty.

Glitter is made of tiny-weeny pieces of reflective foil covered with a coloured plastic. And since it's so tiny-weeny, it's very bad for the environment. I don't know how you clean up glitter, I can't remember the last time I used some, but do you ever wonder where most of it goes when you've cleaned it up? You probably guessed it, it slips right through the water filtration systems and pollutes the oceans.

Along with other micro plastics, glitter in the sea causes many problems. With fish and sea life eating it, it not only hurts and kills them, it can get to humans too. When we fish and put them on our plates, we can be eating micro plastics too. And I have to say, being a vegetarian doesn't always get you out of it. In sea salt, and even in honey, plastic fibres have been found.

However, it is said that scientists are researching biodegradable glitter, so if you really couldn't let go of it, you could look for eco-glitter.

Thank you so much for reading this blog. I got this idea and these facts from This Book Is Not Rubbish (which I mentioned in my introduction). I'd really recommend that book. See you next week!
Violet
         xxx

Plastic Straws 🥤

I think we all know about the damage plastic straws can do. They are single use plastic and when they are not thrown away properly the wind can blow it into the oceans and kill animals. They are not biodegradable and so can't break down naturally so they break down into smaller and smaller pieces and pollute soil, water and the environment. The Sea Turtle Conservancy say that more than half of the world's sea turtles have ingested plastic and one hundred million marine animals die each year from ocean plastic😔.

There are lots of ways you can stop using plastic straws. For example; you can buy metal straws which are good but sometimes you get a little hint of metal in what you're drinking.  You can also buy foldable metal straws which you can take wherever you go so you don't use plastic straws outside of home either. You can get rubber straws, which I've personally never tried out but I know people who have. There are also paper straws, but after using them for a while they can get a bit soggy. And of course, the easiest thing to do is just not use them at all!😅

Plastic straws facts:

• In 2018, it was said that 8.5 billion plastic straws were thrown away every year in the UK. That's about one hundred and thirty straws for every person. 
• There are 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic in the world and seven percent of it is plastic straws. 
• While the majority of straws is made of polypropylene, which is recyclable, they don't usually enter the recycling process so without it they can take up to two hundred years to decompose.

I got these facts from Green match and you can see more facts and about how Starbucks and McDonald's are two main contributors to plastic straws (Starbucks uses over 1 billion plastic straws per year worldwide and McDonald's uses 1.8 million plastic straws per day in the UK).

Thank you for reading this blog, we really need to cut down on plastic straws.

Violet

         xxx

Washing! 🧼

A few months ago I wrote a blog on having shorter showers (click here if you want to read it again). I talked about how having shorter showers is better for the environment. However, there are even more things you can do to wash in an eco friendly way.

In my house, we don't use bottles of soap to wash our hands anymore. We use bars of soap, and we've been using them for so long that I've almost forgotten what it's like to use a squirt-y bottle for soap. Almost. We use bars of soap in the shower and bath and when we are washing our hands, just not for washing our hair. You can try bars of shampoo for washing your hair, but I have to say, I have never tried them, but I heard from family you have to take extra care with shampoo bars; making sure it's not sitting in pools of water after you've used it. If you don't want to use bars of soap for shampoo, you can look out for vegan shampoos or just check if your shampoo is tested on animals, and if it is, you probably shouldn't buy it any more because animals could be dying for you to use the product, literally.

Also, if you are buying bars of soap, try not to buy the ones wrapped in plastic, or at least not the ones that are individually wrapped. There are quite a few eco friendly shampoo and body washes that can be in bottles or bars of soap (for example Faith In Nature, which does not test on animals).

Furthermore, if you buy shower poufs, they are sometimes made of plastic mesh which, as everyone knows, when used incorrectly can be bad for the environment so  try to look for eco friendly ones. 

Thank you for reading this weeks post, hope you're well!
Violet
         xxx

Cycling!🚲

In year 6 I started cycling to school and I did that almost everyday but I have to say I think I've only been on my bike once or twice since then😕. It's been so long that when I saw at it the other day, my beloved bike looked tiny.

I think we all know how good bikes are. Cycling has many benefits: it gives you lots of exercise, it is good for the environment because it reduces the number of cars on the road and cycles are pollution-free, it boosts your mental health and you can go at any pace you want - most of the time😉. And all you need to get started is a bike and a helmet (you should always wear a helmet to be safe because really anything can happen on a bike) to get started.

You probably get told this a lot, but you need to do a lot of things to make sure you are safe on a bike.

1) Wear a properly fitted helmet, these have saved a lot of lives.
2) Try to avoid listening to something so you are aware of pedestrians and other vehicles around you.
3) Wear a high vis jacket, especially in the dark or when it's rainy because then you can be seen.
4) Have lights on your bike for the same reason as wearing a high vis jacket.

What I get annoyed about is here in England we don't have many bicycle lanes, and when we do, they aren't easy to see. Bicycle lanes are important because they make cycling on busy roads or busy parks safer for everyone, pedestrians and cyclists.

Thank you for reading this post, cycling is a great way to get exercise at this time we're living in. See you next week!

Violet
         xxx

Eco Friendly Baking! 👩‍🍳

My family are very keen bakers. There's usually at least 2 different bakes for us to eat every week. My mum makes bread, pastry, biscuits, pies and cakes non stop. But there are ways you can be a more eco friendly baker.

1) Re-usable non stick tray liners 
When you are making cookies, you usually put baking parchment down to line the tray and make sure the cookies don't stick. Unless you use re-usable liners instead. These can last 5 years and all you need to do is wash them in warm, soapy water to use again. You can get them for the bottom and sides of cake tins and trays.
You can use those but my mum also just re-uses the parchment paper (for making her bread and using baking beans in pastry).

2)Buy in bulk
What I mean when saying 'bulk' is to buy large quantities of things. Not loads of little bags of flour for example, buy one big bag. You can buy kilos of flour etc but not from your local supermarket, you can look for flour delivered from mills and just search online for companies who deliver. And if you buy in bulk, you'll get a big package so if you have a small house, a big bag of flour lying around might not be what you want.

Making your own food is better for lots of reasons: it consumes less packaging than store bought food which is always good, you can control what is going into your food- no additives- and if you compare the list of ingredients in a shop bought cake to a normal cake you can be surprised.

Thank you for reading this blog, baking is another thing to make the time disappear if you're ever looking for something to do! See you next Sunday!
Violet
    xxx