Living sustainably does not have to be difficult. The key is to make it a fun part of your every day-because if it isn't fun, the lazy lady part of me won't bother doing it (what is ironing?).
I'm always looking for small, practical changes we can make to reduce our negative impact on our environment.....yes, my husband was given a keep cup for Fathers Day this year, I will unashamedly force my beliefs on my loved ones.
Our Cheat Sheet To The War On Waste really is the first place to go for inspiration if you are at the very beginning of your journey to sustainability, but if you can proudly tick off all of those things, here are the next steps.
1) Hang your washing out on the line, even the smallest of apartments have a window where you can find airflow and sun where you can place a clothes horse. This one ticks so many boxes, obviously you aren't using electricity for the dryer, and your clothes aren't having all the fibres bashed out of them, so they will last longer. I've also recently stumbled upon the lovely surprise that the sun does help get rid of some stains. Bonus. And, if you are lucky enough to have an outdoor clothesline, take a moment to realise how nice it is out in the sun, completing a mindless task, ahhhh......and use soap berries.
2) Use heating and cooling efficiently as possible. Open and close windows and blinds at the most appropriate times of the day (obviously dependent on ALL your other commitments), and know that two degrees difference on the thermostat is a huge saving in electricity-you can still find me wrapped in one of our 100% Australian wool throws on the lounge most nights at the moment.
3) Be self critical on food waste. This one can easily sneak up on me when my husband helps with the food shopping and cooking around the house, to the point that last night, when we finished dinner, the two of us looked at the food that we had left, and came up with a plan of what we are doing with it tonight and tomorrow night so it doesn't get wasted. For us, like for most people I know, the meal plan is the hardest part, so make it a team effort, half the mental load and make it fun for all.
4) Grow your own herbs. By simply deciding to grow your own herbs you remove the terrible plastic wrap that they are packaged in at the supermarkets, and get to eat delicious, nutritious, organic food everyday, without the nasty price tag. And there's the added bonus of zero food miles. The idea of just growing one thing is very achievable. Plant some rosemary and thyme for a delicious roast and you are on your way to growing your own food.....if you are like me, you may be on your way to a fully functioning vegetable garden moments after planting your first herbs.
5) Keep a worm farm, especially if you have children, these are so.much.fun! Once you stop putting all your food scraps into land fill, your kitchen bin stops stinking, and you take away the need for that gastly plastic bag in the kitchen tidy. We use old 2kg yoghurt containers at our house as our worm bucket, and going to feed the worms every day is a fun thing to do with the kids. So many science lessons happen at our worm farm......I also think our worm farm is responsible for my smugness on bin night, when I see our neighbours' bins over flowing, and ours isn't even a quarter full. Who says bin night isn't a competition?
6) Grow something green. If you're feeling inspired by spring, go to your local nursery and pick up some seedlings of your favourite green leaves; lettuce, kale, baby spinach, whatever it is that you like eating. Put them in some good soil, either in a pot or in a garden, water them daily and feel amazing when you can pick food you've grown and eat it. And, if you have room for a garden, plant some peas from seed, and soon you will be enjoying the little discoveries of peas hiding in the vines, that we are having at our house at the moment. Even kids that hate peas will eat them if they've grown them and can harvest food themselves.
7) Be mindful with textiles. Children are grubby, fast growing critters that can get through clothes faster than you can imagine. Everyone knows that our house loves hand me down clothes, just as much as we love handing our pre-loved clothes onto others. Where you can, try to buy quality that will last for siblings and/or cousins.... I'm rather proud to say that my sister and I have been swapping clothes backwards and forwards through our varying stages of motherhood lately, so if you have a friend that is a similar size to you, and you have an event to go to, don't be too embarrassed to ask them to borrow a dress, no doubt they will be super flattered and chuffed that you made the first move, so they can ask you to return the favour for their next event. And finally, on the topic of textiles, if you aren't already aware of it, H&M offers clothes recycling. This is where I take our textiles that are too manky for the charity bin. Yes, H&M do contribute to fast fashion, but they are starting to take some responsibility and change their ways, which is what most of us need to do.
So, that is the fun Mum's guide to working towards living sustainability, it is an on going effort. I started off with herbs in a pot in a tiny little inner Sydney semi, and now we have a worm farm, compost bin, chickens, four veggie gardens and dogs, and we really aren't creating much garbage bin waste considering we have two small children. Most of the time, the only food scraps that make it to the garbage bin are onion, garlic and citrus peel. For the purpose of transparency, we're still working on the state of our recycling bins, we are a long way off being a no waste home, but we are treading lighter every day, and if everyone of us commits to being a little more sustainable each day, our world will thank us for it.
"There's no explaining the wonderful feeling you get when you pick your first peas straight out of your garden-then imagine handing those peas to your children to eat, that's exactly what we did today.".
No comments:
Post a Comment