Being Environmentally Friendly – How Easy Is It Really?

The question I hear most often is “where do I start?”.

In 2019 we have been trying to be more environmentally friendly, we have had two main reasons. Firstly, we are living on a planet that doesn’t have enough resources or space to take all of our waste and environmentally damaging activities and, secondly.

I realised that we could be healthier as a family as well as saving some money in our budget along the way.   

Many people feel completely overwhelmed by all of the information and advice that is out there and the headlines about climate change make us feel like there is no point in even trying.

I have had an interest in the environment for as long as I can remember, I even studied a version of environmental science in my twenties. However, somewhere along the way my good intentions got lost in the ease of convenience and my busy life helped me justify my unfriendly environmental behaviour. Actually, if I am really honest, I don’t think I really gave it much thought.

At the end of 2018, as I got closer to turning 40 years, I was struck by a thought. This busy life that I had, that came with a hope of building something I could leave for my son meant that I was working hard, trying to make memories, desperately trying to achieve financial security. However, I began to wonder what the point of it was. My own annoyance with the non-recyclable plastic in my bin was being reinforced by news stories about landfill and climate change issues and I began to wonder what the point of leaving a legacy was if I didn’t at least try to protect the environment which my son desperately needs to survive.

So, fifteen years after finishing my degree in Biodiversity Conservation (I can only apologise for taking so long to get started), I opened my eyes and began looking at what we could change in our day to day lives.

We hoped to reduce waste, work towards getting rid of single use plastics, cut down on and reduce the amount of chemicals we use to help both the environment and our health and ultimately try to find out if this is something that normal people can afford to do.

I have been doing this in small steps since January 2019 and sharing my thoughts, ideas and swaps through my social media pages to try and raise awareness of things that are easy to do.

Yes, in reality we all need to make drastic changes and quickly, but as a starting point making small changes, one or two at a time will allow you to change the way you do things without even noticing.

You may be raising your eyebrow as you read right now but stop for a split second and think back to that time when they said they were going to pilot curb side recycling.

That strange idea that meant we would sort out our rubbish into blue and black bags and put them out on different weeks. It was crazy & many people all over Carmarthenshire thought it would never take off.

Over the next few months I will be writing about how we are living more sustainably and sharing with you our experiments and top tips.

This might include information about reducing or cutting down on single use plastics, it could include ideas around cooking healthily from scratch and on a budget and/ or ideas about how to use up things in your fridge rather than throwing them away.

We are actively trying to use a “make do & mend” principle so I will share our success and, of course our epic fails along the way. I would like to introduce you to some easy to make homemade cleaning and personal hygiene products.

Although, I must warn you, that homemade chemical free cleaning products do not glow blue, green or yellow and the natural fragrance of an essential oil based product will make you wonder why you ever allowed chemicals through the front door.

With Asthma, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Irritable Bowel Syndrome issues within our family it made sense to make some changes for us, so we had the initial motivation to get started.

We have found interesting blogs, shared/ received tips from friends and been able to increase our “pro-environmental” behaviour month by month and in most cases it is now a habit that we don’t even have to think about.

If you look at everything, all at once it is overwhelming, so consider making one change a month. It will help your family, the environment and your budget and move you towards a more sustainable way of living.