Ecofriendly Messages From The Past

This is my link post to our April Climate Change Collective article which was expertly written by Smelly Socks and Garden Peas. Reflecting on the past and the way that our grandparents used to live really made me think about how sustainable some of their methods were.

Check out the April Climate Change Collective post here:

My Family

I am from the same region as @AndSmelly and love the ways of life that she describes. My nan always talks about keeping chickens and growing her own food and to some extent she still does. She used to grow potatoes, strawberries, onions, carrots, runner beans and until recently had asparagus growing in her garden.

Although now she has a neighbour helping her with the bit that is left, she has always loved cultivating fresh produce from that beautiful Fenland soil. Me too. Even chips taste better when they are home grown.

Repurposing

My grandad always said, “Clear your plate and be grateful for it.” In his household they were always struggling to feed the family and so he got used to making sure any morsel was munched. He had a lifestyle that involved shopping around, going to car boot sales and finding things to make into other things, including furniture.

My mum has now taken on this mantle and finds ways to use old materials to make new things. I need to do more of this and already repair old clothes and recycle any materials I can BUT I need to do more.

My school friend moved to Scotland and is now setting up a sustainable home farm. She was recently on a TV show because of her brilliant ideas. Here is one of her articles about repurposing and reusing:

My Thoughts

I actually learned a lot from this week’s article from @AndSmelly and hope that you will check it out. As a result of this I am going to investigate how to reuse cooking water on the garden and using one of my raised beds to grow some vegetables.

Thank you for checking out this post and looking at what the Climate Change Collective have been up to. We enjoy discussing practical ways to aid the reversal of global warming. If any fellow bloggers want to join our group please tweet us or drop a message below.

Changing Shopping Patterns – Being More Ecofriendly

At the beginning of a new year, now is a good time to take stock of what we have achieved and set targets for ourselves in 2023. The Climate Change Collective have been producing monthly thought-provoking articles related to global warming and becoming more ecofriendly. This time Krista and Alison from A Sustainably Simple Life have created an article about How Our Need to Shop is Ruining Our Planet. Changing shopping patterns could make a positive difference.

Shopping Is A Problem

I am one of those people who is tempted by adverts to buy nice things that I don’t really need. It can be easy to get sucked into buying too much unnecessary stuff and we are all guilty of it.

Fast fashion is something that doesn’t affect me so much as I like to wear my clothes out, but many of my friends are always on the look out for new outfits, for no apparent reason. It is important that we all find ways to cut back on buying things which are realistically only going to be used a few times.

My vice has been buying gadgets and things with lots of packaging. Every time I ordered a product online I found it coming with way too much cardboard or paper waste. Similarly, every gift needed a separate gift bag or box with ribbons etc. I have had to change my ways, so much so that I no longer wrap things if they are gifts for adults.

Wrapping paper is an example of a one-use only product that mostly goes straight to landfill and uses plenty of energy in manufacture and transportation. I wrote a poem about this, called Christmas Waste to provoke readers’ thoughts.

In A Nutshell

This is a complex subject and really interesting and relevant so please check out the Climate Change Collective December Article for yourself. I hope you will comment your own thoughts on this important matter.

If you missed the previous Climate Change Collective posts, check them out here:

Welcome To The Climate Change Collective

Understanding How Climate Action Redefines Our Future

Travel With Climate Change

How Climate Change Impacts Animals