Top 3 Tips for Eco and Ethical living

[MamaBear76]

Please share your top 3 tips - I am an eco mum in training...

freecycle everything and buy less

worry more about packaging than about recycling said packaging

buy clothes etc from charity shops/ and do clothes swap parties with friends.

Avoid travelling.
Avoid buying things that have travelled a long way.
Avoid buying anything that you're just going to throw away - i.e. never buy more than you need, and try not to buy lots of packaging at the same time as getting the thing you want.

Make your own cleaning products. Cheaper too

My bes tip though is to do one thing at a time and then make it a habit. Much easier to stick to it then (I leaned this the wrong way)

My top 3 would be:

1. Use washable menstrual products - obviously comes first because of my business!
2. Use a compost bin for vegetable peelings, egg shells, cardboard, newspaper, grass cuttings, etc.
3. Feed the birds with leftover bread, cheese, bacon rinds, etc.

There are some interesting tips on this thread!

I've found many valuable eco tips here

hypothetical question, possible a bit dim, but if i was to go vegan what would i be able to eat/ not be able to eat roughly?

No meat or fish, obviously. No milk, cheese, eggs, yoghurt either.

Your main source of protein would be nuts, pulses and tofu.

Their are milk substitutes such as rice milk, oat milk and soy milk which don't taste too bad. And I think you can get vegan cheese and Yoghurts.

I'm not vegan by the way.

no milk would mean no dairy milk chocolate??

hmm maybe i'll just cut down on meat etc rather than go all out, will still help the environment wouldn't it??

Yes, I think cutting down is the way to go. And making sure that all the meat you do eat is local, ethically produced and preferably organic.

I'm lucky because I live in the country and can get organic beef and lamb from friends who farm.

But we eat veggie several nights a week. I make a legendary chickpea curry.

it is better to make little changes that you can stick to than grand changes that will fall by the wayside

I use energy saving light bulbs

recycle anything I can

and I don't buy stuff I don't need

I don't have a car so I walk or get the bus

It's like dieting, the little changes make a big difference

For 4 loaves of bread (freeze 3) I need the oven on for about 45 mins (inc. preheat) and the total cost of my ingredients is less than £2 (and I fill mine with oats and toasted seeds too) so definitely cheaper and soooo good. Can't be doing with breadmakers, one loaf at a time is too slow for me, I'm a batch bake girl.

My top 3
-cook all food from scratch, source local ingredients etc.
-real nappies
-charity shops/ebay/freecycle/swishing for clothes

DP, DS and I live on 1 persons student loan with faff all benefits so there's a lot of thrift going on here too!

Three things I did today:

1. Saved all the left over food from lunch and froze it so we can use up later;

1. Recycled a huge outdoor play house to a friend so his kids can use it;

1. Avoided a trip to buy the food we used at lunch today by combining it with a shopping trip during the week.

Just a thought, low energy light bulbs may not be that ecofriendly as the main energy they save is that they emit less heat than a normal bulb. However, if the low energy bulb emits less heat then you will have to heat your house with your boiler a bit more. Not much actual energy saving in reality. Energy saving bulbs also contain lots of nasty mercury I have heard.

I just came on to try and get some tips on the next few changes I can make - so this thread is really useful!

My top 3 tips aimed specifically at parenting

1. reusable nappies and wipes that you was on 40C and line dry
2. join the library, and don't buy new toys for your DCs. Secondhand (eBay, NCT sales, freecycle) are fine, and there are also toy libraries around. They get plenty of new ones from relatives for birthdays anyway.
3. right from the start of weaning, give your baby the food you eat rather than different food: can avoid the packaging of pre-prepped baby food, and save on energy as you aren't doing extra cooking, plus there is less leftover waste

I try and be as eco-friendly as possible (though I am still learning )

I don't drive
I but local produce as much as possible
I don't go to big supermarkets
I recycle everything that I have the means to (council boxes so glass, plastic, paper)
I have energy saving lightbulbs
I switch things off when not using them
I am a member of Friends of the Earth, and I buy carbon offsets once a year
I try not to waste water etc..

But, there is nothing I can do about flying, how else are people meant to get to other countries?