10 THINGS I DO THAT MAKE ME A RUBBISH ECO-WARRIOR (AND WHY I’M OK WITH THAT)
I recently asked in the Sustainable(ish) FB group "What’s the one thing everyone says you have to do to be more eco-friendly that just doesn’t work for you?" and it was such a lovely post. It sounds mean to say it was great to hear what others were struggling with, but several people commented how much better the post made them feel about the things they were (or weren't doing).
And it's ok to not be doing it perfectly. It's more than ok.
There are so many 'eco' things that we aren't doing as a family (see below for just a few of them..) and I'm sure that some people will say that these things make me a pretty crappy environmentalist. But I really, really think we need to move away from this very rigid definition of what it means to be 'green' - it puts people off and stops them from even starting.
That's why I'm so passionate about the 'ish' in Sustainable(ish) - it's ok to be 'ish'. To have a go. To make a start. To be imperfect. To be nailing some things and failing others. Although it might not feel at the moment in a world that seems to be increasingly polarised, there is very little that is black and white. And in the same way, there is very little that is 'green and white' - there are a myriad shades of green in between, and it's all about working out what works for you.
Here's my list of 10 things (in no particular order) I do that make me a pretty crap greenie...
1. I don't use soap. Or shampoo bars...
I tried it. I even made my own soap. And it was ok. I think I would have put up with it, but my husband really wasn't keen, there was a shed-load more soap scum in the bathroom (particularly bad for someone who detests cleaning..) and I think the kids were basically just not washing their hands (this was pre-Covid you understand. Before anyone writes me a strongly worded e-mail.)
And as for shampoo bars. I tried so many different types. I tried cider vinegar rinses. I even tried 'no-poo' (going shampoo free. It wasn't pretty..). I persevered for about a year, and then eventually decided that life was too short to put up with feeling pretty crap about my hair. It felt dank and clumpy and greasy and static-y. Not pleasant.
So we compromised...
We now buy 5L bottles from Faith in Nature of shampoo and shower gel online, and decant it into smaller bottles. The shampoo doubles up as handwash and bubble bath, everyone is clean(ish), and it might not be plastic-free, but it is plastic-less.
2. We have a car. Actually two...
According to the proper greenies, we should all be car-free - using public transport and cycling or walking everywhere. Which is great, and probably pretty straightforwards if you live in a city with good public transport and/or you don't have kids.
We don't live in a city, and we have kids.
So have a car. Actually two (one is electric).
My husband drives to work, and I drive the kids to school. I tried suggesting several times that they might like to cycle and was met with tantrums and to be honest, it's hard enough getting out of the house in the morning and to school on time without having to fight about a three mile bike ride.
One 'ish' solution I'm experimenting with at the moment is to have the bike trailer on the back of the car with my bike on it, drive to school and drop the kids off, park up and cycle home and then back again, and then drive the kids back home. And they have also compromised on cycling in once a week (as long as it's not raining..).
3. We have a child. Actually two...
In every list of "The Most Effective Things You Can Do To Help The Planet" at number 1 is "have one less child".
And I have no idea how that actually works. Does it mean if you want two you just have one, or if you want three you just have two. But what if you've already done your breeding like us? I mean, at times they annoy the hell out of me, but I wouldn't want to send one of them back to the store.
According to Mike Berners-Lees' book How Bad are Bananas?, having a child is listed as one of the most environmentally un-friendly things we can do. BUT he goes on to make the point that it's not necessarily the number of children you have, what's more impactful is how you bring them up. So the footprint of one child of a Premier League footballer is going to be significantly higher than the footprint of the 7 children of an Indian cotton farmer.
So I'm doing my very best, imperfections and all, to not only raise them in a Sustainable(ish) manner but to hopefully instil in them a set of values that means that when they fly the nest they continue to live in a way that's compatible with their future on this planet.
4. We buy crisps...
Again, if I was a better eco-warrior I'm sure I should be able to persuade my family that they really can do without crips, and instead I would be rustling up homemade nutritious plastic-free snacks for their lunchboxes. But frustratingly my family have spurned my suggestions of a benign eco dictatorship, and continue to want crisps.
My 'ish' solution is to buy the large share bags and portion them up into lunchboxes (NomNom Kids do a great range of reusable pouches if you're looking for some).
5. I'm not vegan. Or even vegetarian...
The whole vegan debate is hugely polarising and I'm really really keen to avoid that. I think maybe more people would get on board with eating more vegan meals if they knew it was ok to be vegan(ish) or veggie(ish).
I subscribe to the 'buy less buy better' model here. We probably only have meat in our evening meals a couple of times a week. The rest of the time it's veggie, and we have at least one vegan meals a week. When I buy meat, I buy organic, and I buy British. I absolutely agree that we all need to eat less meat and dairy. And that we need to eat more plant-based foods, and I'm really working hard to make that happen in our family (whilst making sure my meals get eaten...). But I was also fascinated to learn about 'regenerative agriculture' when recording the Organic mini-series for the podcast, and that how the food we're eating is produced can have as much of an impact as what we're actually eating.
6. I don't make my own yoghurt..
Every time anyone posts about yoghurt in the Facebook group, lots of people will simply say 'Why don't you make your own?'. So I tried. I tried different methods, I tried different equipment. And sometimes it worked, and I thought I'd cracked. But most of the time it didn't and I was left with quite thin, watery, not particularly appetising yoghurt.
So now we buy the biggest pots we can find, and the kids take a portion to school in a reusable pouch.
7. I've not perfected plastic-free tea...
...And I drink a LOT of tea.
Everyone's 'easy solution' the plastic in teabags bombshell is "buy loose leaf tea". Which sounds fab. But more often than not loose leaf tea comes wrapped in plastic. I've looked online, but because I'm a tea wanker, and my preference is for Earl Grey, apparently the oils in Early Grey don't react with the compostable packaging and cause it to self-compost...
We do have a brilliant zero-waste store in the next door town to us that stocks a fab Earl Grey but we don't go over there that often and it's hard to stock up on sufficient quantities to keep my tea habit satiated. So in between times it's tea-bags for us (and even worse, at the moment it's Twinings, as my husband did the shopping and didn't realise they still have plastic in their tea bags...)
8. I've only been on one climate march...
In March last year I summoned up all my introverted courage and braved my first climate march. Getting shouty and waving placards around is well out of my comfort zone, and I know it is for a lot of other people too. And whilst I think that the climate strikes have done an amazing job of raising awareness, and of making governments sit up and listen, they won't be for everybody. And that's ok.
Climate activism is about more than getting shouty with placards. It's about the decisions and the conversations we have every day.
9. We have a dog...
And she has her very own carbon pawprint. So it probably wasn't the greenest of decisions. However she adds to our life immeasurably, has ensured that we get outside every single day during lockdown, and is a great boost to our mental health. Oh, and she eats pet food made from insects.
10. I don't own a bamboo toothbrush...
Bamboo toothbrushes are kind of the poster child of the zero waste movement aren't they? And the internet loves them - they look great on Instagram. We tried them. They were ok. The kids weren't that keen. And we went back to our electric toothbrush - which isn't actually a horrific option, as it's only the heads that are changed each time. And you can find heads that are recyclable.
On the same note, we still use toothpaste. I've tried lots of different pastes and tablets, and while they're all ok, the rest of the family really weren't keen.
This list could go on... But as one person pointed out on the post in the FB group:
"It highlights how there's no one size fits all. We're all different and do different things and that's ok."
What do you make of my list?
What are your 'eco-imperfections?
Let me know in the comments!
