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. 

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.

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.

3. Eat the seasons

With everything we want available in the supermarkets whenever we want it, it's really easy to lose touch with what's in season. I think we probably all know the obvious ones like strawberries and raspberries, but I have to confess I'd probably struggle if I was pushed beyond that. 
The problem is, that when we eat fruit and veg out of it's normal growing season here in the UK (or at least in Europe), it probably means it's been shipped halfway around the world to arrive on our plates.

An air-freighted punnet of strawberries has almost the same carbon footprint (1.8kgCO2) as a raw steak (2kg). 

1kg of organic cherry tomatoes grown in the UK in March will have a carbon footprint of 50kg CO2 due to the need for heating of greenhouses.

A 250g pack of local seasonal asparagus has a carbon footprint of 125g of CO2. That same pack air-freighted to the UK from Peru in January has a carbon footprint of 3.5kg (28x greater)!!

You can find lots of 'eat the seasons' calendars online, including the one below from Eat Seasonably, which you can get as a poster (to pin to your fridge?) and even a tea towel!

My cheat's way of eating seasonally is to get an organic fruit and veg box - if it's not in season, it's not in there, and I don't even have to think about it!

4. Eat more plants

In early 2019 a group of over 30 world-leading scientists from around the globe got together to create a consensus on a diet that was healthy, and sustainable - capable of feeding 10 billion people (expected global population by 2050), that would minimise greenhouse gas emissions, prevent any species going extinct, have no expansion of farmland, and preserve water. Not asking much hey...?
The headline figures they came up with are:

• 100g red meat a week
• 200g chicken a week
• 250ml milk a day
• 200g fish a week
• 1 egg a week
• The majority of our protein should come from pulses and beans - 500g a week

Now there's a distinct lack of cake in that diet for my liking, and I have to confess that we are a long way from the climate ideal in our house but it does go to show what we should be aiming for. 

Here are some tips for upping the plants, pulses and beans in your diet:

1. Reduce the meat in stews and things like bolognese, and make the rest up with some red or green lentils. I promise you no-one will even notice the difference.
2. Try Meat Free Monday (or Tuesday, or Friday - it doesn't really matter..). If you're already nailing that, then can you do 5:2 - 5 days with meat and 2 without, or even 5 days veggie/vegan and 2 days with meat meals?
3. Can you go for a plant based lunch? Beans on toast and soup are really easy veggie/vegan options that usually get scoffed in our house!

5. Go plastic-free(ish)

I'm going to start off by saying that I think packaging on food is one of the hardest things to tackle in our homes. I always suggest people start off with some easier bits first, like reusable water bottles and coffee cups, and then look at the bathroom. Some packaging is genuinely helpful in extending the shelf-life of produce (shrink-wrapped cucumbers can prevent waste by up to 2/3), some is needed to protect the product (eg soft fruit) and some is there for the convenience of the supermarkets and consumers. 
Sometimes it can feel like trying to figure out the lesser of two evils if we're in the supermarket - organic fruit and veg will often be packaged in plastic in order to differentiate it from the conventional produce, which is a little, shall we say, frustrating..!

If you're like most of us, and stuck with a weekly mad dash around the supermarket, keep your eye out for plastic-free foods - they are there! Porridge oats, and even pasta are now becoming more widely available in cardboard and paper bags. I've got a post here with lots of hints and tips for plastic-free shopping at the supermarket.

Here are some other tips:

1. Getting a fruit and veg box will help to massively cut the volume of plastic entering your home, and allows the win-win of organic and plastic-free! If you're on a budget, remember it doesn't have to be all or nothing - can you get a veg box once a month? This would reduce your plastic use by around 25%!
2. Check out Zero Waste Near Me to find your nearest zero waste store where you can take your own containers to fill up with all kinds of storecupboard staples, from pasta and rice, to dried fruit. Again, it doesn't have to be all or nothing - if you can visit once a month or every other month and stock up, and then revert back to packaged produce until you can go again, that is absolutely still a Good Thing!
3. Go big...! Buy the biggest pack of something and then divide it out at home. For example, we buy the share bags of crisps, and simply pop a handful into a compartment in lunchboxes. We also get the 500g pots of yoghurt and use reusable pouches for the kids to take some to school.