A New Beginning
The new day has well and truly started outside. Rather than slip in to the well worn Rossis that beckon at the front door, I have a cup of tea by my side and am taking the time needed to introduce the Ecolosophy family to its new team!
A time to sow...
This year, it's time to sow… quite literally. Tanya's back to sowing seeds, getting her hands dirty in the potting mix whilst I'm cranking up the vintage Singer and getting touchy feely with fabric, friends and Boomerang Bags...
It ain't all about the waste...
No doubt that our global consumption of plastic products is bad for the planet but it ain't all about the waste. Plastic can be pretty bad for us too...here's some top tips to avoid single use plastics for Plastic Free July.
Baking bread (without the plastic)
I'm not a big bread eater but my family members are. They'll easily scoff a loaf in a day or two and the waste from plastic wrapped supermarket loaves was driving me nuts. I needed to start making bread from scratch…read on.
My guilty secret...
As Plastic Free July looms, I have a confession to make…at home, I'm not quite Plastic Free. I know, I know, we blog about Plastic Free-ness all the time. Surely, I must be Plastic Free by now? Well… I'm not quite there yet. I'm what you'd call a Plastic Free Wannabe. But I really, really wannabe!
Be a doo-doo gooder
We're huge fans of WGAC (Who Gives a Crap) - the ultimate 'hipster' brand of recycled loo roll with some serious eco credentials. They donate 50% of their profits to charity Wateraid helping to provide sanitation to disadvantaged places around the globe. They use 100% recycled post consumer waste (think BPA free) and there's no chlorine, inks, dyes or perfumes. And it's fun - I mean check it out - the packaging really is way too fancy to throw away so you can have heaps of fun trying to come up with the best ways to recycle it. Check out these crazy cats…errr well dogs, from WGAC's entertaining Insta feed (it seems loo roll of any persuasion needs a cute doggie ad).
Dear Australia Post...
Dear Australia Post,
We have a terrific idea for you. We really think you'll like it. Imagine if you were to launch an eco version of your parcel post service. One where you incentivise people to reduce their carbon footprint instead of penalising the ones that do.
Wrap it up - eco style
I watched an ad recently where the recipient ripped open their carefully wrapped present to get to the item underneath. I winced, I really did. It seems crazy in todays day, that so many people are still doing this at gift giving time. Sigh… what an incredible waste of paper.
(almost) Plastic Free with Kids
So I've been trying really hard to give Plastic Free July a go but, with kids, by jingo it's challenging. Now don't get me wrong, total kudos to those wonderful mums I see on facebook and pinterest, you know the ones... They buy only bulk produce and spend weekends at the growers market. "Oh we wouldn't dream of using store bought plastic wrapped bread" they say while they turn out perfect loaf of organic spelt sourdough and pop yet another tray of sugar free, gluten free, dairy free, nut free, egg free superfood muesli bars in the oven but the fact is, I am not that mum - yet.
