Think Green, Be Green — May 2021
Regular readers of “The People’s Friend” will recognise the “Think Green, Be Green” page from the last issue of every month.
We’re such a big fan of it, we thought we’d start it here on our website, too!
Take a look below for some of our favourite sustainable lifestyle tips.
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Sustainable shopping
Our wonderful farmers’ markets might have been temporarily halted during lockdown, but many producers and customers are turning to local solutions instead.
One of these is NeighbourFood.
Members can go online to choose and pay for a wide range of local produce including fruit and vegetables, bread, pastries, cheese, meat, beers and many other products from local farmers and artisan producers.
Once a week, customers pick up their purchases from the local NeighbourFood collection venue.
It’s a chance to support local businesses and reduce food miles as well as enjoy fresh, high-quality, mostly locally produced food.
Before March, the weekly collections were a chance to meet the producers as well as chat to and share tips with like-minded customers.
Since lockdown, the service has been made contactless, with producers delivering their products to the NeighbourFood venue for customers to collect at allocated times on the same day.
Some areas now also have a delivery service direct to customers’ doors for those who are housebound or shielding.
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Don’t mask sea life
COVID-19 has caused huge suffering to people. And now large quantities of single-use protective equipment are polluting the seas, endangering sea life.
Choosing a reusable face covering will help to reduce this problem.
Why not be extra eco-friendly and make your own from an old garment? Manchester co-operative Stitched Up has a great free pattern to download here, and an online video tutorial to help you make it.
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Tree-mendous
One internet search can cost up to 10g in CO2 equivalent – nearly as much as boiling the kettle (15 g). It’s less if the internet company uses renewable energy.
Search engine Ecosia not only does this already, but also uses its profits to plant trees.
With over 94 million trees planted, it calculates that every search request removes the equivalent of 1 kg of CO2 from the atmosphere.
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Bring back the teapot!
Did you know that most teabags are sealed with plastic and should not be composted? You could open the used bag, compost the tea and consign the empty bag to the landfill bin, but would you want that hassle?
Some brands are now changing to plastic-free bags, so look out for these at your supermarket.
However, maybe it’s time to give loose tea a chance. An individual metal or silicone infuser, or a good old, traditional teapot and strainer makes a lovely and easily compostable cuppa, and looks good, too!
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Did you know?
According to the fascinating website www.theworldcounts.com, if Earth’s history is compared to a calendar year, modern humans have been around for 37 minutes and managed to use up one third of Earth’s natural resources in the last 0.2 seconds.
At this rate, we’re going to need a bigger planet!
We’ll be publishing the next instalment of Think Green, Be Green on June 25, 2021. Keep an eye out for it!
For more great lifestyle advice from “The People’s Friend”, click here.
