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Global warming - "The greatest moral crisis of our time" - Harrison Ford

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My apologies for the late posting today, but I have been very busy this week ! Recently I saw a video of Harrison Ford giving a speech about global warming and the environment. He makes some very good points and I recommend you go and watch it, so click here to take a look. It is a very inspiring speech. It also made me realise that I have not yet spoken about global warming on this blog. It is often something that is overlooked. Currently the focus has been on being waste free and reducing plastic which is great. Something that is posing an even greater threat to the world is global warming. One of the points Harrison Ford makes in his speech, is that people need the world, and not the other way around. In many speeches on this topic they talk about humans causing the end of the natural world, extinction of animals etc., however what we are really heading towards is our own extinction. The world will recover quite alright without us. So what is global warming? I am sure you a...
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The three R's

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Hello everyone, Welcome back to my blog, today I am going to be talking a little about the three R's. You may already know about this concept, however I think it is quite an important one to try and put into everything you do. The three R's are simple: Reduce Reuse Recycle Easy, right? One thing that is really important about these R's is the order in which you say and do them! Also another honourable mention R, which comes under Reuse, is Repurpose . What do they mean? Reduce Always the thing you should think about first when trying to be more environmentally conscious reducing . A mistake people often make is going out and buying loads of reusable 'green' products. Sometimes this is the right thing to do, however before rushing out and buying new things, think about what you already have. Do you really need those new things?  Reducing is all about thinking before you buy: Do I really need this?, Am I going to get lots of use out of it?, Could ...
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It's a total wipe out.

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Hello my dear readers, I thank you again, if you are returning this week for another fun packed deadly serious blog post about saving the world. Today, I am talking about a plague of the Earth known simply as: The Wet Wipe. That's right people, we are going to be tackling a monster today!! On a more serious note, concerns have been had over the wet wipe for many years now, however consumers still cling to them. There has been talk of wet wipes being banned in the UK, but this has not happened yet due to public outcry against the idea. Many consumers are up in arms about the possibility of a ban, saying they cannot live without wipes. Well I disagree, where there is a will, there is a way. What is a wet wipe anyway? Well if you don't know what a wet wipe is (hey I'm not here to judge) I will explain. It's basically a wet piece of plastic, folded into a nice little parcel, that is full of lovely chemicals designed for different cleaning purposes. Are you sensing...
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From tea to micro-plastics

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Hey guys, Sorry for the late posting today and sorry, It's a REALLY long one!! But it's worth the read, trust me! I am going to be talking to you about tea bags (partially). It was only fairly recently publicised that tea bags in fact contain small amounts of plastic. This may not sound like a big problem, but it actually is huge, because of the amount of tea consumed even just in the UK is massive. Tea bags are only the tips of the ice berg (see what I did there?), all plastic products that end up in the ocean or environment contribute to this particular problem: micro-plastics. Let me be clear here, the definition of micro-plastic is a piece of plastic that is 5mm or less in size. There are two different types of micro-plastics, those that develop through weathering over time either in the ocean or the environment, and those that are manufactured (known as micro-beads). It is scary how long micro-beads have been manufactured without public knowledge (around 50 years o...
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This one is for the ladies...

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Hello everyone and welcome to my blog,  Today I am targeting this post specifically to the ladies, so sorry lads. Today I am going to be going into sanitary wear. I have spoken about this briefly on my blog before, but I thought it was worth reiterating this point as, if you are a lady, and if you only make one swap in your life, make this one. Because the facts about sanitary wear are a bit worrying... The facts (so far as I know): A plastic sanitary pad takes 500-800 years to decompose. It is estimated a women uses 10,000-11,000 menstrual products in her lifetime. Made partially from cotton, which is bad to produce as it uses 6 pints of water for just one bud of cotton. Pads use polyethylene plastic (used to stick them to your pants) which is a harmful chemical to the environment. Tampons and pads, as well as their packaging, produce more than 200,000 tonnes of waste per year. Most pads are 90% plastic. Tampon applicators are single use plastic. In 2010 a UK beach...
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Being green is booming... but take care in what you buy.

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Hey guys Happy 10th Blog post yay! Welcome, today I am going to be talking about being super careful when buying products that are advertised as environmentally friendly. It's fantastic that finally product designers are considering the environment in their designing process, but you have to be careful as a consumer that you are actually getting what you pay for. Some companies are seeing the environmental crisis as a way to make money, and sometimes the products they produce are not the answer. Products are suddenly appearing everywhere that are advertised as eco friendly, however as I am a sceptic by nature, I question this bold claim. Some of these products will be a perfect solution, but others may help the environment short term, but be a cost long term. In this blog post I am going to cover a few products that I have seen advertised and go into what their environmental costs actually are, but more importantly, do we actually need them? Last Swab  The last swab in its...
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Creating energy from your clutter!

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The fight to save the planet seems incredibly daunting to everyone. The word is out how big the problem is, with scientists agreeing that we have 12 years to change our destructive ways (and more recently another group said we only had 5 years!). It really is a terrifying concept, but one we must meet with optimism and a dash of activism.  One thing that we struggle with a lot in my house is clutter. We have a LOT of stuff! Recently we have gone through a huge declutter of the loft which was difficult but incredibly satisfying. We sent many bags to charity which is a brilliant thing to do for the planet. You would not think that charity shops help save the planet, but they do in more ways than one! 1) Thinking before you buy - reduces clutter and waste in your life. Consumers have a huge power and influence over what is sold in shops. This is quite a responsibility. THINKING before you BUY is very important. When I buy something I often ask myself a few questions. Is this s...
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