Learn to love the planet, sustainably.
Storytime:
I grew up in a tight knit conservative community in Pretoria east. Everyone knew everyone, our neighbour was my maths teacher and across the road from us lived the headmaster. In the middle 90’s, along with the fear about the hole in the ozone layer, recycling caught on in this community. We had the big orange recycling bin that stood like a hungry igloo, ready to eat your wastepaper, we had the one for aluminium cans (I think it was blue) and then we had the dark green one…the glass recycling bin.
These beacons of eco-consciousness were set up in the parking lot of the biggest church in the community. You could quickly drop off last week’s Koo cans and newspapers before heading into church for your weekly salvation. While many a family could be seen chucking tuna cans and old newspapers into the orange and blue bins each Sunday, the green bin only ever got nighttime visitors…Once the sun set, the boot full of clinking booze bottles were emptied. (Oh, the SHAME!)
Eco-fatigue is real and climate shame just isn’t sustainable.
Long gone are the days of clandestine recycling, but the shame related to living a good enough, green enough, life is still there.
Between Green-tok, cancel culture and crunchy moms, we don’t know what to trust anymore. It feels like we are playing eco-friendly catchup and falling short every step of the way.
In a bid to curb the shame, we have just Four daily things that can have you living greener by the weekend.
1. Buy local (and in-season)
You do not need those Spanish nectarines in the middle of a South African winter. Nor do you need Cherries from the UK or even Grapes from Zim. Stop buying imported fruits and veggies. You’ll save cash and greatly reduce your footprint.
Find a South African peach to squeeze and bite a local cherry – mother nature thanks you!
2. Remember your Woolies Bag!
Your piles of black re-usable Woolies bags can save the world. But they can’t do this from your kitchen drawer or car-boot. Before you buy a hybrid car, donate your life’s savings to Greenpeace or go wash elephants at sanctuary in Asia, simply remember to take your bags with you when you go shopping. It’s as easy (and as difficult) as that.
The Rise of the Re-usable Shopping Bag
3. Cold showers
Cold showers are great for cooling down…heated…situations. Instead of getting all hot and bothered about the state of the planet, just turn down the thermostat. Heating elements use a lot of electricity, and whether this is your geyser for that 30min long steamy shower, your Dishwasher, or just laundry day, doing things a couple of degrees colder can really add up. By turning down the heat on your geysers, and opting for cool or cold washes, you can greatly reduce your household’s carbon output.
Six Reasons to cold water wash
4. Dripping and sucking
This sounds so obvious, and yet, many of us still don’t listen. Be honest – do you ALWAYS switch off the lights after you leave a room? Are you sure you close the tap as you are scrubbing away at your teeth twice a day? We are so desensitized and overwhelmed by what we should and shouldn’t do that the basics often get lost. Switch off the light, close the tap, kill that vampire device in your living room, pick up that scrap of rubbish in someone else’s driveway. Every little bit really does help.
The True Cost of Vampire Devices
Quit the shame game!
Feeling guilty about your impact on the climate is as unsustainable as polystyrene cups nighttime recycling.
Reset the bar to “achievable” and stop eco-shaming yourself. Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
