Try Harder…

This is a little different from my usual blog items. Instead of preserving and caring for the skin, I want to chat preserving and caring for the planet!

Maybe I have been a little late to the movement, but towards the end of last year I watched several programmes on television that screamed out to me on how much I, even as a single human, was impacting upon our planet. It’s no longer just a “hippy movement” but a real change that is needed from each and every one of us! Those hippies were right all along!

A New Decade Resolution

It is going to be hard, coming from a Millennial generation, to change my ways of convenience, and instantaneous gratification. I am used to single use items, fast food, meat readily available without even a thought as to its origin and destination. However I now realise that the destruction of the planet as we know it is not just a far off thing that has no consequence to us, but in fact is already having profound effects in the world we live and it will be our children and grandchildren who are really going to suffer. One Sunday late last year I had a sudden feeling of dread of what we were doing. How awful and destructive of a species we are and have been. It was then that I decided I need to make a change. I knew I couldn’t forgo everything I know to be destructive and detrimental, but I had to try harder and make better decisions for my presence on this planet. Until governments around the world enforce an outright change to consumers and businesses, we simply can’t. But I can be in control of my own decisions. I haven’t made a new years resolution this year, but a decade resolution, and it is this: To TRY HARDER! To take a moment of consideration in each of the actions I make and consider “could I try harder at making this item/action/impact better for the planet”.

Simple changes I have personally made to try harder:

• Over a billion toothbrushes in the US alone are used and disposed of each year, amounting to approximately 23,000 tonnes of landfill each year. The plastic they’re made of will not break down in our lifetime. Nor within the lifetime of our children or our children's children. Imagine that on a global scale. A simple change - A bamboo toothbrush

• Toothpaste and dental floss. A plastic free compliment to my bamboo toothbrush. Toothpaste powder, silk floss

• Plastic wrap and cling-film no longer cover my leftovers and sandwiches. I now use sustainable beeswax wraps. It is so simple I can’t believe I ever used plastic wrap before.

• Free-Range milk and dairy products are now becoming more widely available with Arla free range milk being stocked at selected Asda stores. I had never thought about the fact that a cow is continuously locked indoors to a vacuum machine pumping away for the milk in my coffee. It simply is not needed and is quite frankly cruel. I have reduced my milk intake, drink free range or substitue for coconut almond or soya milk. A great website for free range products is freerangedairy.org and RudeHealth sell really excellent tasting milk substitutes.

• Reduced meat. It has been surprisingly easy to swap out a few days meals to a meat free meal. In fact it has opened up new recipes and things I might not have ordinarily have tried before. In my experience so far, waitrose seem to have the best selection of vegan and vegetarian foods available and are really rather yummy!

• Free-Range meat. I live at the top of a free range organic farm! Can you believe I have been buying cheap meat all these years, of animals that have barely had a life. Of course you can also buy free range meat and products easily from supermarkets nowadays. It is a little more expensive, but its a discount on your conscience. Try local first, as this also reduces the need for packaging and the carbon footprint of shipping products to supermarkets.

• Bottled Water. Apart from the fact that bottled water is possibly the worlds biggest con, it also contributes to the 22 BILLION bottles sent to landfill and incinerators each year!! I have switched to a water filter jug from Avocado Ninja. It is plastic, however it is long lasting and something I will use for years to come. Each filter lasts 3 months and also creates alkaline water which is better for your health. The company also donate £5 from each jug and £1 from each cartridge purchased to water charity projects.

• Single use carrier bags. It is simple. I use reusable bags, preferably fabric made bags where possible.

Environmental changes for Lumiere MediSpa

• Recycling my rubbish and packaging. As a company, we tend to make many orders for items and products which results in much packaging. I now have a bin dedicated to items that can be sent for recycling, and am making larger bulk orders to reduce the amount of deliveries required per week, lessening our carbon footprint.

• Delivery Packaging. I am in discussion with my pharmacy provider Church Pharmacy to reduce the number of plastic and polystyrene component to my orders. At present, each prescription comes within a plastic bag and is totally unnecessary. Cold chain items come in a non biodegradable polystyrene box and filling with plastic tape. Legally each item does need to be contained, and this pharmacy have agreed to provide paper bags for these items that I can recycle. The cold-chain products that need to be cold are a little bit of a stumbling block but they are looking into this. They have changed some of the bubble wrap to recyclable that is already 95% recycled. Great stuff!

• Product Containers. I am in discussion with AlumierMD, my skincare of choice for my patients, to see how they are working to reduce plastic. They are already environmentally minded and all packaging is recyclable. However the products themselves are plastic, and I would like to see a change in this and am awaiting information from the company.

• Bottled Water. Apart from the fact that bottled water is possibly the worlds biggest con, it also contributes to the 22 BILLION bottles sent to landfill and incinerators each year!! I have switched to a water filter jug from Avocado Ninja. It is plastic, however it is long lasting and something I will use for years to come. Each filter lasts 3 months and also creates alkaline water which is better for your health. The company also donate £5 from each jug and £1 from each cartridge purchased to water charity projects.

• Coffee pods. I already currently recycle the Nespresso pods, however I wanted to take it one step further and its easy! I now use a metal compatible refillable capsule pod from WayCap

Can you think of anything else we could do to help reduce our impact, or do you have a story of how you have made a change for the better to try harder? Let us know in the comments below.