As I get older I am finding that as well as getting greyer, I am getting greener. To be honest, those closest to me have always considered me a bit of a crank. I feel like I have been banging on about this stuff forever. But finally, it seems the tide is turning. Attitudes are changing. So in honour of Earth Day 2019, here are my thoughts on trying to live a greener life.
Earth Day 2019: how I have come to embrace a greener life
The closer I get to the Autumn of my life, the more alarmed I am at the prospect of leaving the planet in a dangerous state. I want my children and my future grandchildren to be safe. To be able to live in a world where the temperatures aren’t so hot they make more and more parts of the earth uninhabitable. To be able to live with and appreciate nature in all her dramatic abundance without having to wade through rivers of plastic. To tread lightly so that we protect the very thing we most need to nurture and support us – our precious planet Earth.
At the moment is seems that for many of us the only species that matters is human kind. We recklessly consume and stick our heads in the sand at the notion our behaviour is causing an environmental disaster. There are climate change deniers everywhere, even, most dangerously, in the White House.
A green education
I have always been a bit of a natural eco-warrior. I had a great teacher at school, 40 odd years ago now, who taught me a radical new subject – environmental studies. We grew organic potatoes on the school veg plot and he told us to avoid coloured toilet roll and try to find unbleached versions.
There was no such thing as buying recycled in those days. However, my parents were children of the Blitz and had a Second World War ‘make do and mend’ mentality. We didn’t waste anything, particularly food. These influences marked the start of my journey towards a greener life.
I became a vegetarian at 16, more for the teenage novelty of it than for environmental reasons. However, I did really care about animal welfare. I didn’t buy many cosmetics but when I did they were from a brand called Beauty Without Cruelty. I was delighted when the Body Shop came along, with its natural ingredients, eco-friendly credentials and firm stance against animal testing.
An obsessive recycler
In the eighties, when I purchased my first house, there were no kerbside recycling collections. However, recycling banks were appearing in supermarket and pub car parks. I would religiously collect our used glass bottles and newspapers in the garden and every now and again load the car up to visit the recycling bank.
Life got in the way, as it so often does. I had three kids, little money and a part time job. I didn’t have the time or energy to cook two meals, so my vegetarianism went by the wayside for a while. I did, however, continue to be an avid recycler and grew some of our own organic fruit and vegetables on the allotment plot.
I even had a job with the local council at one point as their recycling officer. Kerbside collections were still a few years off, so part of my job was to identify potential sites for recycling banks and to convince the population to use them. I also went into schools to help spread the word amongst the children, who were always the most enthusiastic potential guardians of the planet.
Family life meant my focus was generally elsewhere and I was definitely a very pale shade of green at this point. I did have a go with reusable nappies, but tiredness and lack of time meant I gradually used more and more disposables. We continued to grow some of our own food and kept chickens for our own free range eggs. They were wonderful until the third fox attack, at which point we gave up.
An eco blogger
I started this money saving blog in 2009, to share my journey towards frugality and what I learned along the way. In recent years Shoestring Cottage has become a deeper shade of green. Thrift and environmentalism are natural partners. You don’t waste food when you are trying to save money, you buy second hand, you don’t embrace mindless consumerism and you repair stuff rather than rushing to replace.
My readers seem to enjoy my eco-friendly posts. I am happy to say there is a lot of interest in a green lifestyle and this is increasing as people begin to understand, thanks to game changers such as David Attenborough, that we ignore climate change, species extinction and pollution at our peril.
I am a long way from perfection in my journey towards a greener life. Progress rather then perfection is my aim. I am trying to avoid plastic as much as I can, to buy local, to use the car less. I am mostly vegetarian and cutting back on my dairy intake too. We fly occasionally, but our favourite holiday is a week in Wales, where we stay on a permaculture smallholding in an ancient caravan with a compost toilet. It is a green idyll!
I know there is a lot to do but every small step towards a greener lifestyle is a step in the right direction. I am perfectly imperfect! Are you trying to embrace a more eco-friendly life? Find out more about Earth Day and what you can do here.
Susan says
Thank you for such a lovely post. The journey we choose to travel to ensure our children’s futures are secure is often difficult and perilous . Living a green lifestyle is still hard, we could all do much more. Thankfully people’s attitudes are constantly changing towards a better future for all. We all have to keep fighting, tiny steps are better than none. You are are constant and welcome reminder of all that is important.
Thank you
Margie from Toronto says
My father was always very aware of not damaging our environment and we were taught to always pick up after ourselves when out and about. If we took anything in to a picnic or conservation area then we brought it out again. We didn’t waste anything, especially food and we bought the best quality we could to ensure that things would last.
These days I use a green bin for organics and recycle everything possible. I use public transit or walk and I make things last. I am trying to cut back on plastics & I buy in bulk where possible – using glass jars or mesh bags, only use the dryer for sheets & towels and have cut back on shopping in general. I have also cut back on meat consumption but I believe that real dairy is better than alternatives – especially since I have a soy intolerance. If we all do even a little bit it will add up.
Chrissie says
I am making a real effort to be more eco friendly, I now make my own surface cleaner with vinegar, water and lemon oil and it works beautifully, also make loo and bathroom cleaner and use steam cleaner on carpets and floors we have 2 dogs and I wouldn’t use anything else. The thing that bugs me most is the plastic in supermarkets, I do have mesh bags but have trouble finding enough loose veg and being plant based I buy a lot, our local veg shop is a little expensive and we are now on a pension. We have put a raised bed in the garden and are going to put cherry tomatoes in the hanging baskets. Our shopping bags are kept in the car and there is always a spare foldable one in my handbag. Detergent worries me, nearly all of it comes in plastic containers and those pod things, well, — I get ecover powder when on offer and dissolve it in water and put straight in the drum, it works fine and the dispensing drawer stays clean but I would like to try and make my own. We are brain washed to think we need loads of different products to keep our home and ourselves clean where as in fact most of the time good old soap and hot water does the job. Love your post, thank you.p.s My home doesn’t smell and neither do I or my husband, we are clean and don’t get tummy bugs x
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Totally with you on all of the above.
Elizabeth says
An inspirational post written with sincerity, thank you. Our family are hard on the heels with all the comments above. I am a ‘war baby’ I grew up with a mum who cooked baked and managed to make something out of nothing. Some of my night dresses where sewn from a silk parachute she obtained. Sewing and knitting were a way of life as was growing your own veg, my dad always had the most wonderful plot plus an allotment. Mum made her own bread and on their retirement when just the two of them. They were self supporting with the exception on bulk buying their meat. Chickens were kept for eggs and the special Sunday roast. Both lived to old age my mum 100. I put this down to simple living and hard work. I don’t meet all the above but certainly try, it was a good grounding for life. Sad that this way of life is so alien to so many people. As you say our lovely planet needs to be cared for today more than any other time before it’s all too late.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
We will have to head back that way! Thanks for your comments