Team Member Lucy shares some of her Using Less Journey
We think it is time for an interview. It is easy to write blog after blog of impersonal content so this week we thought we would turn to one of the team to discuss what they do to reduce their carbon footprint. We spoke to Lucy, who believes that environmental consciousness should be in our thoughts throughout our day to day lives. She has left us with some top tips on changes she has made to alter her lifestyle to reduce her carbon footprint.
Hi Lucy, it is great to hear from you today. Rather than a question and answer session, we would love for you to just explain the key things you do in your life to reduce your impact on the environment.
Hello, yes so, I started becoming more environmentally conscious about two or three years ago and have slowly begun to add more things into my day to day life to reduce my impact on the environment. I guess I will just go through the steps I have taken.
Buying second-hand clothes – I cannot stress enough how bad fast fashion is for the environment, it is the second largest polluter in the world after the oil industry. It focuses on the speed of production to get clothes made fast and low costs of making clothes in bulk. This means that many environmental corners are cut. The impact fast fashion has on the environment shocked me and I now almost always buy my clothes from charity shops or second-hand online shops such as Depop. You can find some absolute gems in charity shops, including some amazing vintage designer items for great prices. Not only do you do your bit for the environment, you also save money. Depop is an app, you have your own profile where you can buy and sell clothes you don’t want anymore, and people almost always reuse envelopes and packaging to send things to you so the environmental impact is significantly reduced.
A great site explaining what impact various elements of fast fashion have on the environment and what we can do about it is here – https://www.sustainyourstyle.org/old-environmental-impacts
Recycle recycle recycle! – Recycling is such an easy way to reduce your carbon footprint and most councils are pretty hot on it these days. By separating the different materials, you use into different boxes you can really help the environment.
Vegetarianism – Now this is quite an extreme move, but I stopped eating meat just over one and a half years ago now. My reason for doing this was because meat production has a huge impact on the environment. This is particularly true in the production of beef due to the methane gases it gives off. I decided that if I was going to give up other meat, then my favourite, which was beef would need to go too. I sometimes eat fish to get my protein but still do this as little as possible and try to eat fish that does not have as big an impact on the environment when it is farmed.
I sold my car! – I live in London so felt my car was unnecessary and realised public transport is a much more efficient way of getting around, both cost wise and having lots of people on one train is much better than everyone travelling in separate cars. So, I hope this helps! I know not everyone is going to become a vegetarian but there are so many things you can do to cut back on this that are bad for the environment. For example, processed foods – the packaging used for these can be very damaging and really increase the number of things you waste.
So, I hope this helps! I know not everyone is going to become a vegetarian but there are so many things you can do to cut back on this that are bad for the environment. For example, processed foods – the packaging used for these can be very damaging and really increase the number of things you waste.
What do you do to reduce your carbon footprint? We would love to know! Please email us at Customerservice@usinglessstuff.com with your top tips
If you’re a business and you want to save money whilst helping the environment, give us a call or email. We can help! 01491 637377 or email us at Customerservice@usinglessstuff.com
0 Comments