A journey to sustainable living
Sustainable living to me means using what I have already, slowing the pace my life, living simpler and… major waste reduction and eco-swaps! With this blog, I want to share changes I have made already, challenge myself (and my un-witting family) and hopefully, inspire others to take small steps to big changes. Plus, I am just looking forward to sharing some crafts!!
Living in Oxfordshire, we have fantastic recycling at home…. all recycling in one large bin – no sorting required – plus a food waste bin. In the past, we have previously felt like we were “doing our bit”, making sure our recycling waste was larger than the landfill, but that just isn’t going to cut it any more.
We have been living as though “Recycle” was the go-to option in eco-revolution. However, according to Greenpeace, “we cannot recycle our way out of the plastics crisis”.
Even abiding by the 3 R’s rule, Reduce, Reuse then Recycle properly would be good but turns out there are 7 (yep, I didn’t know either!). There are several variations but I like:
- Refuse
- Reduce
- Reuse
- Repair
- Recycle / Refashion
- Re-home
- Rot
The dictionary (see wikipedia!) meaning of sustainability is “the process of maintaining change in a balanced environment and that sustainability is defined through the following interconnected domains or pillars: environment, economic and social.” Simple ie. If something benefits society, is environmentally friendly but unaffordable, it can’t be sustainable. If I make changes that are sustainable for the family, they are more likely to be sustained… simply, right? Here we go!…