If you want a sustainable Christmas or festive season, you’ll need to put a bit of mental effort into it, so best to start thinking about it now, or you’ll end up on Amazon on Dec 20th. Here are ten sustainable Christmas suggestions: NB Don’t forget about Green Christmas Trees
Tag: ecotips
Second-hand Goods
Buying second-hand instead of new doesn’t just save cash, it saves a whole load of energy, resources and pollution too. Selling second-hand obviously supports that. Here are the options for online second-hand markets: Online marketplaces have their risks though so make sure to read up on the types of scams that are prevalent on whichever…
Washing-up Sponges and Green Scratchy Things
A washing-up sponge might seem insignificant, but this is the result of a decade long search, including many false starts with expensive green products that were frankly ridiculous, e.g. a sponge with bits of crushed nutshell glued on top. Washing-up is a chore, so the tools have got to do the job and the tool…
Induction Hobs
“Now we’re cooking with gas!”, they used to say – a quote from a North Sea gas advert years ago. Cooking with an induction hob is the way to go now though, to save energy and CO2 emissions. Induction hobs generate heat in the pan – no heat is produced unless a pan is on…
Laundry Detergents
This is a deep rabbit hole to go down. There are multiple ingredients found in laundry detergents for a range of reasons and with a range of impacts, i.e. this eco-tip is going to be a long one. Ingredients by function: Ingredients by impact: To do a perfect wash, you’d want to add the right…
Keep Peat in Bogs not Bags
Mushrooms, for peat’s sake? It seems Britain and Ireland’s mushroom growers use nothing but peat from our extensive CO2-storing peat bogs, adding to the continued decimation and massive CO2 emissions caused by the gardening trade. As part of its campaign to save our heritage from the effects of climate change, the National Trust has removed…
World Refugee Day Raises Justice Concerns
On World Refugee Day, June 20th, the United Nations asks us to celebrate the right to seek safety, which refugees seek to exercise. Whether we welcome refugees in empathy or worry about the huge numbers predicted from the climate crisis, there is one ethical and practical dilemma we must never but frequently do ignore: do…
Library of Things
Borrowing makes sense: save the investment in money and the CO2 emissions simultaneously at a London Library of Things. Our local LoTs: There was a LoT in Islington on Seven Sisters Road but alas no more. You can “vote” for a LoT in Haringey: https://www.libraryofthings.co.uk/heatmap/harringay Find out more about the “circular economy” and what it…
Keeping your Home Cool in Heatwaves
Following up on a previous post, there are quite a few things you can do to keep your home cool during a heatwave. Of course if you have fans or air conditioning, you can turn that on. The irony of that though is that the climate change-induced heatwaves cause us to emit more climate change-inducing…
Exciting Ecological Economics
The dismal science no more! With an election coming up here in the UK, we should bear in mind how many voices are saying that mainstream economic theory is horrendously flawed. The major political parties in the UK base their economic policies on mainstream economics. It might seem iconoclastic to say it, but a good…