Environmental Days Coming up! 📆

In the next few months, there are a few days dedicated to things to do with the environment, so I thought I'd give you a list so you know when they are, and are able to get ready for them.

• 21st March - 1st April 2022: What used to be known as the Big Pedal, but is now the Big Walk and Wheel where you cycle/walk/scooter etc to school week. You can read about it here. Last year, the Big Pedal had 760,022 children joined into it, along with 2,254 schools.
• 26th March - 10th April 2022: Great British Spring Clean. The Great British Spring Clean is people pledging to do their bit in keeping Britain tidy by picking up litter. It is the seventh year they've done this and has been very successful.
• 1st April 2022 (or the first Friday of April every year): Walk to Work day. This is especially relevant right now, because of the raise in gas and energy prices, so it is even better to walk, or cycle, or even get public transport not just because of the environment, but because it's cheaper.
• 22nd April 2022: Earth Day. This is widely recognised throughout the world, and is a day of changes to human behaviour, local and national. The 2022 theme is to Invest in Our Planet, and is focusing on making companies and businesses greener (you can read it described in a much better way on the Earth Day website.
• May 2022: National Walking Month. Living Streets is a UK charity completely focused on walking in everyday life, and their website is very informative if you want to learn more.
• 14th May 2022: World Fair Trade Day. This day celebrates all the small producers of the products we use everyday, and creates a more ethical world with workers being paid fairly and leading better lives with their families. Read more about it here. It's on a Saturday, so I might do a whole post about it the Sunday afterwards.

There are also a few that we've missed this year like: World Wood Day on 21st March, which celebrates wood as an eco friendly material, and shows the key role it plays in sustainability, and World Water Day on 22nd March which has happened every year on that exact day since 1993, and raises awareness about people living without access to clean water.

Thank you so much for reading this week's post. I hope you're able to take part in some of these events, or are able to share them around to other people so they know too! See you next Sunday!

Violet

             xxx 

What is Sustainability? 🌍

Sustainability is a word we hear often nowadays, and I mention it and use it to describe things in my posts a lot, however I've never really properly told you what it is, so that's what this post is going to be about! 

The dictionary definition of sustainability is: the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level, or avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance. To me, sustainability is something that doesn't have a large impact on the environment, or is able to replenish itself in a lifetime. For example, using biomass for renewable energy is sustainable, because as you cut down trees to burn for electricity, you plant them at the same time (that's the easy explanation, it's of course a bit more complicated than that). 

There are three types (or pillars) of sustainability, though: social, economic and environmental - and these are often used in businesses.

• Social. This type of sustainability focuses on promoting equality on respect for everyone's rights
• Economic. This focuses on thinking that if you reduce the consumption, you reduce the cost. Reusing and recycling products will help doing so.
• Environmental. This pillar centralises on preserving natural resources and reducing our carbon footprints. 

Thank you so much for reading this post, I hope you found it helpful. Feel free to ask any questions if you think I've missed anything. See you next Sunday.

Violet

         xxx

Some Products are Lying🤫

I think one of the thing that a lot of people do is to see something, or maybe buy something, that seems like it's good for the environment and buy it for that reason. Sure, a lot of products are telling the truth, and the packaging can be recycled, or it is made out of 80% recycled plastic or something, however it can be misleading. 40% of environmentally-friendly claims made by retailers and brands could be misleading their customers, according to research done by the Competition and Markets Authority. 

There are many ways a product can be misleading. Sure, the fruit may not have any packaging, but what about the food miles it has made? The oranges you buy may be loose, but have they come from Spain? Your bananas are loose, but they are from Latin America. Getting food from countries that are that far away will release tonnes and tonnes of greenhouse gasses. It is a bit hard to adapt to not buying things that aren't grown in the UK, because things can't be grown all year round so we don't get as much. The better thing to do is make sure you're buying Fairtrade products, because this will help the farmers who grow the things you buy. It's important to understand the opposite too: the food may have been sustainably sourced, but is it sustainably packaged? 

I've mentioned it in quite a few posts, but (if you are) you shouldn't be buying things just because they claim they are green. Yes, if there's a choice between one not environmentally friendly thing one that is, it's better to buy the one that is, but you've got to make sure you're not being misled. 

Thank you so much for reading this post. I really don't want to make people feel bad for buying things, because that's not the point. I just want you to understand that thinking about what you're buying will help lower your own carbon footprint. See you next Sunday!

Violet

         xxx

Eco-Friendly Things to do when you're Bored! Part 2

I've already written about this once, which you can read here, however I don't think that gave as good a unique range of things as it could have been. These things will be better now we're going into Spring and Summer, where we'll be more likely to head outside for something to do. So here is a better range of things you can do when you're bored:

• Create a menu plan for the next week. Not only is this fun when you find loads of delicious things that you think you'd like, it is also better because when you go to the shops to buy your food for the next week, you know the exact amount to get and won't waste any extra food.
• Do some gardening. My friend and I are volunteering in our local community garden and I've only done one so far, however it was very fun. We're cleaning out the weeds in the hope of soon making a wildflower garden. Wildflower gardens are very beautiful, and good for the bees!
• Just do your normal things - but make it zero (or very little) waste! For example: have a movie night where you pop your own popcorn and dress it yourself.
• Head off outdoors, and pick up litter on the way.
• Go shopping with your friends - but go to the charity shops. It's one of my favourite things to do, and you can find the craziest things in charity shops. On main roads, there's usually quite a few, so make sure to look out for them.
• Create your own DIY things. I'm considering rearranging my room around, and I wanted to buy one of those desk organisers, but I could easily create one out of things like old tin cans.
• Make your own paper. This one takes a few hours, if not days, to do - and you need quite a few resources to do it. So if you want to make paper, you'd have to get really stuck into it. I wrote a post on how to do it, which you can read here.
• Grow your own garden. This can be growing vegetables or your own little houseplants! Houseplants make homes so much calmer and friendlier I believe. I wrote a whole post on Growing Houseplants too.

Thank you so much for reading this post. I hope this was much more helpful than the first one I wrote! See you next Sunday.

Violet 

             xxx