Even as a kid I was interested in environmental issues. I would absolutely not have a car. In spite of this I obtained my Driver’s license, but never used the car more than necessary.
At home I was a dictator forcing my parents to recycle. I was probably the first person in Sweden who started to keep the milk cartons. I had heard that we could recycle them. When I had two big stinking bags I called the milk company, which thought I had gone nuts. The person who picked up the phone had no idea what I was talking about. It turned out I had to wait another six months before I could recycle milk cartons. I threw reluctantly my stinking bags in the garbage can.
Now, many years later, I think deeper than recycling.
Why even buy things that is harmful to nature? You could choose wood before plastic. Choose things that are biologically decomposable.
You can refill one water bottle instead of constantly buying new ones. Why even drink soda? Why even eat at fast-food restaurants?
You could bring backpacks and canvas bags to the store. Not just to the grocery stores.
You could choose to buy only what you really need. You can pick something beautiful, of course. I rather buy one beautiful, environment-friendly, practical and a little bit more expensive thing than twenty, beautiful and cheap toys.
It’s inexpensive to be environmental-friendly.
I shop as little as possible. When I do, I go to a Second hand store.
If you take care of what you already have, it will last. Like cars, bikes and clothes. Good quality clothes washed in mild detergent last longer.
You can color your hair with vegetable dye instead of chemicals.
I chose to stop dying my hair. After years with a bright red thatch, my medium blond looked kind of boring and grayish, but that was easier to deal with than the bad conscience every time I rinsed out the poisonous color into the drains. Not to mention what I threw in the trash and what was absorbed through my skin. The result looked great for about two weeks and then it turned gloomy. My scalp was also red, but from being sore from the strong chemicals.
You could choose loose tea instead of tea bags. You could drain and cook your own beans instead of buying canned ones.
And unsprayed food. When the food is sprayed a lot of small bugs and bacteria die, that would have been feeding birds and other animals. The food and the earth get toxic and nutrition disappear. We get to eat toxic foods without nutrition. Most of us know this; we just ignore it.
What people may not think about is that when it rains these toxins are flushed out into the sea. Our water and everything in it become toxic.
Smart? Hardly!
Spend an extra dollar on healthy food.
