Landlocked Mermaid

Recently, I've been feeling like my efforts to reduce plastic consumption have plateaued. Is this a good thing? Have I found my threshold or am I just getting lazy and complacent? Honestly, it is more likely the latter. Hence why I have made it a goal of mine this year to get back into action! Now, I have reduced a lot of plastic use across my life: I have more reusable cups than one person needs, I use shampoo bars, I buy loose fruit and veg, etc etc etc. So I had to look at what plastic I am still using. There are still items in my food shop which contain plastic - pasta, rice, bread, etc - I recycle what I can but I honestly feel like I cannot change this until the alternative is readily available. Our closest packaging free store is in Shrewsbury and it feels counter intuitive to drive forty minutes each way for our weekly food shop. All the good I'd do with no packaging would be undone by our carbon footprint! So that is another mission for another time, I feel. (Unle...

Earth Day is a thing I've only really heard of on American television, but since discovering 4ocean my Instagram is now full of their Earth Day bracelet campaign, among others which I will get to later. So having very little idea what Earth Day was about, I decided to do some digging. The 4ocean bracelet made from one pound of recycled plastic pulled from the sea. It started in 1970 and was founded by Gaylord Nelson, a US Senator at the time. It's largely considered to be the birth of the modern environmental movement. At the time pollution was synonymous with success and prosperity, there was little conern for the long term effects on the environment. A book entitled Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, released a few years prior, was what opened Nelson's eyes to the issue. April 22nd, 1970, saw the first Earth Day. It was initially to educate and promote the idea of being sustainable and environmentally friendly. Over the years it gained traction and it beca...