Unilever want to know the things your family does to help create a brightFuture - £300 voucher to be won! NOW CLOSED

[EmmaMumsnet]

As part of their on-going brightFuture initiative, Unilever wants to hear about the little things you as a family do to help make the world a better place. We know that having children often makes parents think more about the world around them and makes you want to take steps to help provide a better, more sustainable future for your children.

Here’s some more information from the team at Unilever:

“The Unilever brightFuture initiative focuses on small changes that can make big differences and how we can build a world where everyone lives well and lives sustainably.”

“Since the launch of the Sustainable Living Plan, Unilever has helped 482 million people all over the world; for instance the Dove Self Esteem Project has helped 19 million young people have more self-confidence, Domestos has given 5 million people improved access to toilets and Persil, in partnership with Unicef, has given 10 million children access to education. This work is extremely important to us and we are really proud to have been awarded industry leadership for our work in the Household and Personal Care products industry group by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.”

“To see some of the amazing stories from the Unilever brightFuture initiative so far, have a glimpse at this short video.”

“Unilever brightFuture is looking to inspire and celebrate people who are making a difference in their local community. This is often through small acts that tackle wider, global problems and therefore make a positive impact for the planet as a whole. We want to encourage others to join the brightFuture initiative at brightfuture.unilever.co.uk which has already seen over 290 million acts shared!”

We’d love to hear what you and your family do to help make the world a better place and what you would like to do in the future. Whether it’s small things such as turning the tap off while you brush your teeth and doing laundry at a lower temperature, or helping your local community get together to help make a positive impact, Unilever want to hear from you.

Everyone who posts a comment below will be entered into a prize draw where one Mumsnetter will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thank you and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

We're starting to buy less. We have SO many things, 90% of which rarely/never gets used. So we've started tracking the purchases we buy which aren't food or toiletries.

We also grow veg and store waste water (from running the tap from cold-hot) to water it.

As DS gets older, I hope to instil the fundamentals of environmental and social responsibility :)

Lots of stuff We recycle, buy from charity shops/boot sales etc, don't have a tumble drier, used washable nappies when dc were small.

The nicest thing we do though is grow our own veg on 2 allotments, plus we're lucky enough to live rurally so we buy all our meat from local small producers. We go and visit our bacon and sausages while they're running about in their field. Hardly any food miles involved, even the slaughter house is only about 6 miles down the road.

We also buy eggs from a local farm where we can see the chickens scratching about in the dirt.

It's finny, I read the OP and thought, 'oh dear, I don't do any of that, I'm not an eco type'.
However, on thinking about it we:
Have consciously encouraged low-tech, self sufficient leisure and fun: since he was 18m old DS knew the difference between a duck and a moorhen, the kids enjoyed being outside, woodland, whittling sticks, campfires, watching for buzzards and red kites, camping - we are not bird watchers as such - but just taking an interest in the natural world. ds and friends have done this from tiny and still enjoy it in their teens. And don't require expensive high energy luxury like Las Vegas, hot tubs, jet skis, etc to have fun.

We contribute to a number of community initiatives: the street party, which supports the other things that happen, Macmillan coffee morning (the teen boys played live music to entertain people),the local community festival that sells fair trade and local food, (this is all in a less-desirable S London area)

I try to buy Fairtrade as far as possible - more important to me than organic.

We think and talk about design thin the family - look for practical and economic approaches and don't go for unnecessary high end spec when we don't need it - especially with cars (but then a car has no currency for me except it's ability to get us and our stuff from A-B as cheaply and 'cleanly' as possible). DS is not wholly sold on this approach and would like me to get a Lambourghini, so all that camping boot camp has only 80% worked .

All the usual re-cycling, and buy re-fills as far as possible.

I'm stating to use home made cleaning products, I try to have the heating in as little as possible. I have a vegan diet and my dh eats very little meat. I'm also trying not to buy things unless absolutely needed and not waste food etc.

With the kids I have used reusable nappies with both, try to avoid tumble drying and have tried to buy second hand things where possible and pass onto friends when finished.

We try to eat meat only once or twice a week, have an allotment to grow some of our own veg and try to only buy organic / fair-trade. We get a fruit and veg box as well.

We only recently purchased a second hand car to use but most rely on walking and public transport to get places.

I'm chair of the local playgroup committee, admin a parents group and help run a parent and child group every Friday.

Since becoming a family we have started to holiday in the UK only, and we travel to our destinations by public transport as much as possible.

It makes sense to us to try to act more responsibly in terms of our carbon footprints.

We do all the usual recycling, composting and saving as much energy as possible. We also started using Approved Foods website which is combating food waste as well as making food available very cheaply. Other things we do as a family are sponsoring a little girl in Albania so that she and her village have a better quality of life, supporting Water Aid and Sight Savers, as it teaches the children that they are very lucky to live somewhere where they have good access to medical care, food and water and gives them time to think about other people as well as bring some hope and happiness to others. Hopefully they will grow up and do their bit when they can make choices of their own.

Recycling, beach clean ups and we buy Fair Trade if we can.

We walk to most places or sometimes take the bus rather than going in a car. We make sure we don't have any food waste and always use up leftovers, and use things like cooking appliances efficiently, not heating up the whole oven to cook just one thing. We live in a modern flat so we're very energy efficient, we hardly ever put the heating on as we're surrounded above and below and next door. I hang the laundry on indoor airers rather than use a tumble drier.

We recycle.
We walk everywhere we can.
We buy from charity shops then pass anything we can on to other families we know or back to the charity shop.
My local church has started a group where we all share anything we have, for example if you have some baby clothes you don't need, leave them and take some toddlers clothes. The aim is for everyone to share but if someone is truly in need they don't have to leave anything they can just take what they need.
Tiny acts of kindness are needed as the world isn't always a nice place.
make do and mend is a great concept, Pinterest has so many ideas to fix items and keep them looking great

Buying fair trade products e.g bananas/sugar and teaching my kids why this is important.

Cutting down on the washing and making sure lights are turned off etc.

DH and I have also bought eco cars as we both need to drive with living rurally.

A drop in the ocean in the scheme of things but I think not taking anything for granted helps!

We recycle as much as we can from our bath water for the garden to food waste for compost. We grow our own food and reuse seeds from the plants we grow. We hardly ever buy new clothes but buy second hand and then pass them on again when done. My son accepts that when he has grown out of something be it a toy or a jumper that it goes to another little boy to enjoy.

My 4 kids like to collect rain water and see how many cms thy can get over the Week before using it to wash out the rabbit hutches or watering the others neighbours flowers

We recycle, try not to waste energy, compost stuff etc.

DD2 is 3 months and has had few new clothes as she is in DD1's old stuff. I'm sure she'll not be as happy when older though!

We avoid using the tumble dryer where possible, instead drying outside on the line or on airers indoors.

We use the cooler Eco setting on the dishwasher.

We use energy saving LED light bulbs.

We try hard not to waste food by menu planning.

We try not to fly and limit our carbon footprint where poss.

Reduced waste to a minimum, especially food waste. Recycle as much as possible. Walk as much as possible to minimise use of the car. Buy higher welfare meat, and free range eggs.

I so dislike food wastage - my kids call me The LeftoverQueen!
Both my kids know to turn the TV off when they leave the room and also turn lights off as they leave a room too.
We recycle as much as possible.
Don't waste water! It's a precious commodity.
And my husband cycles to work twice a week so we cut down a little on all the toxins involved with that.
Nothing major - we just try and do our little bit.

I dunno, Unilever, maybe stop your companies selling stuff through sexist shit marketing? Maybe stop testing on animals and fucking up the planet. Maybe you could apologise for that mercury poisoning thing while you're at it.

Every summer I turn my front garden into a community veg patch. I have gotten to know lots of my neighbours because if this and shown my school that we are part of a community.

I have recently re thought how we donate to charity. I used to (and still do) donate regularly each month and then to campaigns, DEC appeals and sponsorships etc. However lately we have moved house and I have been having a big clear out. Instead of sorting things into charity shop / recycle / eBay I have donated to charity some of the bigger items that I would normally have sold in eBay - vintage DMs, handmade curtains and I am just about to donate a vintage GPO phone. I just make sure to flag to staff that the items are quite valuable when I take it in and I take it to a charity that means a lot to me. Saves on admin of selling but also gives that warm and fuzzy feeling of giving a little boost to charity. Everyone's a winner!

We love walking everywhere we can and we can enjoy the walk itself like looking for snails, spotting cats or jumping in puddles. I actively try and live as sustainably as possible and recycle to within an inch of our lives! I buy second hand clothes bundles because they hardly get use out of them so it's better than just buying new all the time.

We changed the majority of our lights from standard lights to very low wattage led lights and therefore consume a very small amount of energy compared to our previous lighting set up.

We do the usual of watching our water usage, recycling and monitoring our carbon footprint. We also take part in as many charitable community events we can, as a family.

We also do seasonal charitable initiatives- food drives for local homeless shelters and love in a shoe box.

It's important for my daughter to appreciate what she has and learn to give and be kind at a young age :)