An Update on my Sustainability Journey So Far

 I have been in a bit of a reflective mood recently, so I wanted to take a second to update everyone here on what has changed in my sustainability journey. These are the changes I have made this year, that were conscious choices not imposed on me by lock-down.

Ethical Consumerism 

It has been a while since I wrote and reflected on how far I have come since starting my journey with Ethical consumerism. The idea behind me starting my blog was to share my journey and share new products and ideas and issues with you all. Ethical consumerism to me, is about using capitalism and the free market to create a better world. This in my eyes can be done through inspiring people to make more conscious purchasing decisions. The power of just changing what we buy can have massive ripple affects across the world and can be more impact than waiting for legislation. 

Just look at the amount of meat free options there are now on the market after a increase in veganism; or think about the biggest fashion brands in the world are bringing out 'conscious collections' and 'ethical edits'. Although we can look at this as green-washing I think it is also an important and tangible demonstration of the power of choosing products wisely. Stopping buying things that are tested on animals, destroy the rain-forest or pollute the sea does have an impact and we as individuals are responsible for that. 

What's New

So for 2020 what conscious choices have I made? Well firstly there has been a big change in my kitchen with the choice to buy more Organic food. This is building on my efforts to buy local food and seasonal food as well as higher welfare meat. Buying more organic food while not increasing my budget has been quite difficult - however I have found some good swaps in Lidl that have helped me with this.

Another change I have made this year is working on reducing our plastic waste. This has involved switching my razor to a zero waste one and starting to do a regular shop at the zero waste store. I have also tried to switch many of the items I buy in plastic to buying loose veg and glass bottles.

I have also switched all my cleaning product to eco cleaning products, partly because of getting my kitten and not wanting lots of chemicals around. This has been fairly easy so far and I have found loads of great alternatives. 

See reviews of eco cleaning products here

In terms of my slow fashion journey, this year has been the third year of buying slow and ethical fashion brands. This has been one of the hardest things to change and I realize this year while doing slow fashion season that I actually do still buy quite a lot of clothing even though it is secondhand. Focusing on not buying made me realize how much money I am actually spending and how much I waste on clothing and nonsense every month! After coming to this realization this summer I actually started to try the 'capsule wardrobe' thing for the firs time and so far it is going really well!

Getting to this point has been a huge process that has taken me years. I still remember starting my blog to discuss mainly, cruelty free beauty - oh how times have changed! I am really proud of how I have managed to stick with my choices and really take time to address my own consumerism - it has not been easy! I'm excited to see what the next year will bring and all the things I am going to try and discover...watch this space!