Leaping aboard the plastic-free bandwagon

Unless you live on the moon or a very remote volcano I'm guessing you will be aware of the recent sudden surge of activity to save our planet from ourselves.

In human history, much like other animal history we pottered along for years and years, using things, replacing things, recycling things and just generally being fairly neutral in planetary terms. But then suddenly we had a leap into the new, we started inventing things, and we went crazy.

Over only a very, very short space of time (in planet terms) we started filling the place with junk. Using things, tossing them aside, making new things...like children let loose with new toys we just ran amok and suddenly we seem to have sat back and realised we need to take some responsibility.

People are all looking at ways to do that and actions range from nothing ("governments and big business should do that - it's not up to us, what can we do?"), through going vegan, going vegetarian, not buying new clothes (slow fashion is very much en mode), using cotton bags in place of plastic (the jury is still out on that) to not using single use plastics.

I have decided to do a small thing. There is nothing wrong with small things, and we can all do something. I am no longer buying any bathroom stuff, toiletries or make up, that is wrapped in, or uses plastic as its container.

At first this seemed really simple. Years ago I moved back to bars of soap. I love that a bar of soap in the bathroom makes the room smell good, you can store the spare bars in your wardrobe or clothes drawers and get the same lovely effect there too. Choosing only soap packed in paper was simple. There are so many choices, from Lush products and Funky Soap to small businesses on Etsy.

Next I looked at shampoo. Again a nice easy one, I already buy shampoo bars for when I go camping (no danger of spilling the shampoo) so I would just stop buying bottles at all, and use bars at home too

.

I use conditioner but more importantly I use a glosser or hair serum, so I was pleased to find a few of these in glass. I usually use one that is packed in plastic, I haven't tried these new ones yet, but I have high hopes.

I'm not a huge makeup user so this wasn't difficult. I only really use facial moisturiser and lip balm. I found a few posh face creams that are packed in glass,and Funky Soap has some in glass or metal tins, and some on Etsy too (Etsy is fast becoming my go to place). Plenty of companies make little tins of lip balm. Some make little tins of hand balm too.

Of course there will be no facial wipes, nothing that is use once and bin is good for that planet. I currently use a flannel, but I am also looking at some cute washable face wipes.

I shower more than I bath, so soap and shower bars are the new go to. And for the odd bath if I really want it scented there are bath salts, bath bombs or glass bottles of bath oil or foam.

Shaving .... I am not binning everything plastic I own already, that would be silly, so I have an electric razor, but the cheap plastic disposables will have to go, I will either have to buy a new safety razor and change the blades, or stop wet shaving. (Tip on blade disposal, place used blades in a small tin until the tin is full, then pop into the metal recycling) Shaving soap is available in blocks.

Deodorant. Back to Lush again for a block of this, although Primal Suds make some too. There are several companies that make deodorant packed in cardboard . My main gripe with them is the price, often nearly 10 times the price of a cheap plastic pack, and the lack of a good antiperspirant , but I'm still hunting.

Teeth. You will all know about bamboo tooth brushes and there are lots on the market. However I do love my electric brush and I think that's something that companies need to look at. I have quite a few spare heads for the electric brush at the moment so I'll be crossing that bridge later. But what about toothpaste? Almost all toothpaste is packed in plastic. Euthymol still uses old fashioned metal tubes but it doesn't contain fluoride (that may or may not be important to you) Most organic and eco toothpastes, powders and tablets don't contain fluoride, which I was pretty annoyed about as fluoride helps protect your tooth enamel. Then I stumbled onto tooth tablets with fluoride from KickPlastic and I have immediately ordered some. What a find the website was! Lots of great plastic free options for home and bathroom.

So that's me sorted. Wood, glass and metal where once there was plastic. I'll let you know if I find any more little gems. And please comment with your own finds, especially makeup - that's not really my thing so I didn't really look for plastic free options there.

No one paid me to post this, or even sent me anything for review, more's the pity ;-)

So This is a Mooncup

I bang on about the Mooncup quite a bit on Twitter, and on the blog. People ask what I'm on about, why do I love it, how easy is it to use?

This video is great - it shows very simply how the Mooncup works, what it looks  like, how soft it is, and how it gets in and out!

I'll add that it works out MUCH cheaper than buying sanitary protection each month and it's MUCH greener. Buy one and never run out of sanitary protection again.

Click to go to the Mooncup Website to order a mooncup or for more info.

Disclaimer - I am part of an affiliate program and receive 20% commission on any sales via this link

Swamps, Stages, Sun, and Sweat (Glastonbury ...continued)

Friday arrived damp and drizzly. We donned wellies (and clothes, I wasn't allowed to wander naked, the teen DD had forbidden it, tsk, teens eh) And headed down to the festival for some breakfast. The field by the Other Stage was a quagmire. Proper sticky, slippy Glastonbury mud. Hungover festival goers slithered and slid along the walkways, sometimes falling with a satisfying 'splat'. We stopped for breakfast of bacon and egg in a bap (well I did, DD claimed not to be hungry) and then walked about in the mud, we squelched onward and suddenly were forced, FORCED, to eat warm blackberry and apple pie with cream, when we spotted the aptly named Just Desserts (absolutely scrumptious!)

 We then staggered onward to the kids field as DD had been dying to visit and see what was going on there. By this time the sun was out, so I lounged while she played in the spider tower, the pingpong thunderdome and other assorted amusements. I wasn't just watching beards (I was).

Later we went to Williams Green to meet Lemon Fancy at the Ecover Bee, we also bumped into Ptolemy the bee's creator. We chatted, admired the bee and then popped into the 'souper' Soup Library, a place we discovered last year at Wilderness, and one we were delighted to see again.

We were sad to miss Amanda Palmer but DD was very happy to catch up with Rita Ora's set on the Pyramid stage.

We had pizza (cooked in a wood fired oven, smokey goodness) for lunch, and also had to eat crumpets after spotting old friends from Camp Bestival the Strumpets  with Crumpets (I seem to have turned  into a Glastonbury food critic and it's true we did eat ALL THE TIME! but it's hard work festivalling) DD had two luxury jam crumpets, while I had the Bloody Mary - best crumpet ever!

In one of the shops DD cunningly bought a Jessie J T-shirt for a £5 (I say cunning, it was priced at £10, I said no, the guy selling instantly reduced it LOL) And then we went to the Cider Bus for beard watching warm cider. We could hear The Vaccines playing from there so it seemed churlish to move, it's a bit blurred at this point to be honest. :-)

We went to watch the rather fab and funny Dizzee Rascal complete with swearing and balloons, a rather spirited and fun performance that DD loved, and we stayed  for the Arctic Monkeys set too because I rather love them.

After dark we went back to  Williams Green to see the bee in the dark, and it didn't disappoint, cunning light effects rippled over its body and it looked amazing.

 Saturday Morning broke bright and warm. The mud had all dried, and after an  ostrich burger for breakfast we were off!The green kids field was first on the list as DD was obsessed with the climbing wall there. The people in the field were so lovely and friendly too, oh and we were dressed as bees.

 We took a walk up to The Park to the Crow's Nest hoping to see  Professor Brian Cox but it was so busy we couldn't even get close, reminded me of stories of people trying to hear Jesus! So we took photos of the lovely view over the festival, and had some lunch then walked back past the stone circle (where we saw the most romantic of marriage proposals, he: down on one knee, she:crying and saying yes, everyone:hugging)

We went to watch some comedy next, DD's choice, and chanced on Torann Drummers (young, hunky, sweaty topless drummers, what's not to like?) and then listened to Jeremy Hardy and some other people that raised a giggle or two.

Tea was a fishfinger butty while watching stunt men lay on beds of nails. Which fortified us to go and see The Proclaimers in the Accoustic tent.

 We nipped back to the tent for chairs and shmangles so we would be comfy for The Rolling Stones later. The field was heaving with fans and we were far far away but it was amazing. I was exhausted just watching them for over two hours, incredible the stamina they have and Mick was clearly loving it all.

Sunday. Dressed as bees again today after washing our hair in a bucket by the tent, no queueing at showers for us! Even though there were free showers in the Green Futures field, stocked with Ecover products.

We caught a bit of Zulu Winter on the Other Stage, and DD danced about with her breakfast ostrich.

We went to the West Holt stage to see Riot Jazz (mostly by accident, you really do find all the best things by accident at festivals)

Then we spent an hour or so at the Circus Pavement (DD's favourite spot) watching such great acts as Great Dave, Billy Kid and Mr H. (no Photos of Billy Kidd though - too busy cringing as she dislocated her shoulder to escape from a straight jacket)

 And at 1:30 we were back at the Other stage for what turned out to be my favourite act of the festival (and the cruel BBC didn't film it!!) Stornoway, so there I sat sipping gin from a tin, listening to lovely music on hard baked earth that had been a swamp only days before.

Lianne La Havas (someone we discovered at Wilderness and instantly loved) was great on the West Holt stage later, I sat eating Goan Fish Curry (delicious and very spicy) while listening.

Mumford and Sons performed a stonking set later, much of which we listened to from the comfort of bed, we really are wimpy festival goers :-)

Monday. I'd been dreading getting the trolley back up the hill but I needn't have worried. Delightful friendly men helped us at every steep bit, one guy helped push for so long that we awarded him a medal (I bought some at the 99p stores for just an occasion such as this, we had already awarded one to one of the litter picking team) and so we were gone, driving away from several days of action packed fun. I miss being in the tent, I can't wait for the next festival.

All the photos you've already seen plus a whole load more are in the slide show below. (Well done if you read this far)

Big thanks to Ecover for sending us to Glastonbury

Created with flickr slideshow.

Mooncup

It's going to get all TMI for many of you from this point in....you have been warned

Being a party pooper, balloons

I sometimes see things about organising a 'balloon release' and my heart sinks. Like everyone else I think the sight of hundreds of balloons soaring up into a blue sky is a beautiful thing, trailing tags with notes of love to heaven, what a gorgeous idea...but balloons come down, and when they do they kill things, lots of things.

They fall into rivers, get snarled in trees, drift to the sea, and wildlife get's caught up or eats the burst skins of the balloons (particualrly turtles that naturally eat jellyfish drifting in the sea)

You wouldn't organise a mass litter. Please don't organise a balloon release.(Ditto 'sky lanterns')  Maybe you need more convincing, if so here are some links. I'd appreciate it if you spread the word.

 

Marine Conservation Society

Balloons Blow

And if I've convinced you to change your mind. Here are some other things you could do that would not harm our planet.

I especially like this idea 

"Floating flowers- For a lot of people, the gently upward drifting of balloons gives them a sense of letting go, and at the same time thinking the balloon will eventually reach their loved one. Because remembering a loved one by potentially killing another life isn’t exactly the best feeling, there are many alternatives. Floating flowers or flower petals down a calm stream can give you the same sense of letting go. You will be able to be in nature and feel the energy of your loved one and all the life that surrounds you! Be sure to use non-poisonous flowers and not to let go an excessive amount."

We only have one chance, let's not screw it up - I want a beautiful planet for future generations. I hope you do too.

All Pictures Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos