Every year i try to add one more sustainable thing into my routine (its been a slow 8 year or so process, but I am a person where sticking to one habit for a long time works best). Last year was composting. This year I think I am finally going to try to cut animal products completely.
"The western world’s obsession with avocado has been placing unprecedented demand on avocado farmers, pushing up prices to the point where there are even reports of Mexican drug cartels controlling lucrative exports,” Thank you for mentioning avocados. No one seems to know or talk about them or their negative impact.
I have virtually stopped eating avocados. I can find the same nutrience elsewhere, and if I have to suffer a bit and give up my precious avocados for the sake of humanity and the planet, I will.
as a Chilean, I agree 100%. They have literally stolen the water from rivers and even dried up some, just to water the huge avocado plantations. We are going through the worst drought in Chilean history, and they are just stealing the water from people.
I live in London UK and I hace oddbox, a vegetable box delivery service that sends you perfectly edible supermarket rejects. Sometimes we get 🥑 in there because of skin marks or very small ones, so I stopped buying any additional ones.
People think I'm weird because I "inconvenience myself." A little extra time and energy doesn't seem like an inconvenience after how much beauty the earth gives us.
yes even my own boyfriend thinks I 'complicate my life' but I enjoy doing all this things, they make me happy, if I didn't do them I wouldn't feel okay about myself or aligned with my true self. what's more important ? people think convenience and comfort is everything. it's not.
You are so cute and motivating. You also help me relax and just do the best I can. I’m an old American hippie and am soooo happy that the new generations love Mother Earth as much as me. 🤗
Thank you so much for mentioning Avocados and their environmental impact! I´d like to add here, for people who are interested, the VANILLA bean. I know there´s a ton of recipes especially in the US that add vanilla extract to everything. But they are seriously bad for the place they are produced, which is pretty much only the island of Madagascar. They have about 10 to 20% of the local rain forest left (although many people still think of Madagascar as a tropical, diverse paradise), the rest of it is vanilla farms, which often involve child labor and exploitation of the locals. The local mafia is very involved and the government is rather corrupt so nobody really talks about what is happening. I have met a scientist who works as a herpetologist (identifying new species of tiny frogs in the Madagascan rain forest) by the name of Dr. Mark D. Scherz and he has told us about how little the vanilla farmers care about the precious ecosystem and rain forest because it is virtually the only way to earn money in the country. Its incredibly hard to find exact information on this, since as said the government has no agencies who take stock of the environmental impact of the agriculture or any such thing. I´ve found an article that summarizes it, if you´re interested: www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/31/madagascars-vanilla-wars-prized-spice-drives-death-and-deforestation. Also this is a helpful statistic: rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/archive/Madagascar.htm. And here I have an article from Dr. Scherz in which he mentions the issues at the end: theconversation.com/meet-the-mini-frogs-of-madagascar-the-new-species-weve-discovered-113946 Please, if you use vanilla in your everyday life, take a close look at where it was sourced! To end on a happy note though, there are people fighting to save the rain-forest and specifically the work of Dr. Scherz and other biologists contributes by putting endangered species on the red list, thus establishing clear reasons for protecting the rain forest.
My husband and I, recently, had to upgrade our bed but in doing so it made our current bed cotton sheets obsolete. I didn't throw them away, though. As the only female in my house I use the most toilet paper. I cut the old bed sheets and made "family wipes". I still have bamboo TP for my guests and the members of my family who find the "family wipes"... undesirable But I find that I save so much money and I get a special thrill knowing I'm doing a small part to save the world. Making them by hand also helped me quit smoking.
Congratulations on your quitting smoking!!! It’s so hard, but it’s freeing when you do! I’m considering using family wipes but not sure I’m quite ready to take the plunge just yet. I love the bamboo TP because I feel like it actually gets down there cleaner because it doesn’t “rip” like regular tp
I’m going to make my own produce bags and buy from a zero waste shop for the first time! My mom and sister are supportive and are also thinking or joining me on my grocery trip !!!
@@kentolicia7789 Hi there! The palm oil isnt a zero waste objective but an environmental aspect due to rainforest being cut down and habitats being destroyed especially in Indonesia. I think that it is one little thing that we can be aware of when we buy products because there are so many items that we know nothing of their footprint before they make it into the product we are buying
I boycott palm oil too and it is really hard especially if your grandma’s diet consists solely of highly processed food and every time she bring home a treat it always always always has palm oil in it. And whenever you go out to eat at a dinner or at a friends house all the food they have has palm oil in it too. It’s really hard :/
If you have to fly halfway across the world to see friends and family (especially in christmas time) or even a long distance partner, i feel people shouldn’t feel completely guilty about it. Sometimes, it’s just not feasible. People has to book days in advance for time off work. But what you could do is make a multi-trip, try and plan future trips in the same trip especially if it’s in the same country. And opt for non flights options in the local country. :D obviously there’s carbon offsetting for plane travel, not the solution for plane co2 emissions, but it’s there for “now”. 🤷🏻♀️ Also, clearing up your email inboxes and cloud drives / google drives also takes in carbon emissions. And if you’re going to declutter your email inboxes, might as well unsub those sales newsletters. 😹 if you don’t see sales promotions, you’ll be less inclined to buy unnecessary shit too! We’re simple minded creatures: we see shit, we want to buy shit. 😬
Spot on. Really liked your comment. It's not about stop flying and never see those far away loved ones, it's about being mindful of the impact of those flights, and minimise them while maximizing the experience of sharing with set lived ones ...
I'm happy you mentioned this. I've been in a long distance relationship for 7 years and just recently closed the distance (May 2019) with my husband living in Costa Rica coming to live with me in the U.S. I've made 6 trips to see him overall, and he's made 2. Without those trips, we wouldn't of lasted. Now as we are apart from his family, we are going to need to plan trips to see them for the holidays or emergencies. I'm trying everything I can to reduce my waste, but I think traveling is something I won't give up. It's something that I love and cherish that many people in the U.S. don't get to do.
@@Hikari1997 Same here. I travelled to the uk for a friend's wedding last july but used the same trip to see friends in other places in the uk cause it just made more sense. (Plus, the majority of my friends are UK based anyway, so if I could move back to the UK I would honestly!) Since I'm a freelance writer, I can at least bring my work with me and use the cross country train (I missed travelling by trains anyway! I do love train travel even though the UK trains can be stupid at times lol) / coach commute (or whenever I have downtime!) to get work done. :D I was in a long distance relationship before as well (not that I'm with them anymore), which was why I wanted to mention that sometimes quitting travelling (or 'flying' rather!) isn't always feasible. Seeing your LDR partner in person makes so much difference compared to the several skype sessions. It's always the trip that you look forward to honestly! But even if I'm not in a committed relationship right now, I've always seen myself travelling / backpacking (van life if I could ha!) in the near future. And in that case, if I have no alternative but to fly I would take the plane. And choose the least carbon emitted transport in the local country (often it's public transport and is usually the cheapest option). phew, sorry for the long comment btw!
The problem with flights in Europe, though, is that it's much, much cheaper and faster... There are busses and trains between countries, but if I have to choose between 50$ bus and sit there for 20 hours or a 15$ 2 hour flight, my choice is obvious...
@@languagetraveller I had that exact same problem when I was interrailling in 2012! It was far cheaper to fly back to london from amsterdam, then getting the eurostar back. Would have loved to get the eurostar, but even booking it a few months in advance was expensive! It's the same problem in the USA. The one way to lessen your carbon footprint is to travel with less weight - less weight means less fuel consumption being used!
Here in California, we do not actually have choices for energy providers, but I am using Tesla as my electrical system. I have the luxury of owning my own roof, so I may be different from some people, but this has turned out to be an amazing alternative that few people here really understand. I have paid nothing at all to Tesla in 3 years except for the actual electricity I use, and I pay at least 20% less than our electrical provider charges. Sometimes 40% less. I don't own the equipment, I just provide my roof as support for the panels, and Tesla takes care of everything. Any overage I produce goes back into the grid, so I am providing zero carbon energy to my neighbors. I am still getting a lot of skepticism and resistance from people I speak to about it, and I don't understand that at all. For me, this is a win/win situation. After nearly 50 years of struggling to get people to listen to my environmental rants, I am so buoyed and delighted to see young people like you taking up the banner for sustainability. Well done!
@@ellnine66 - You can go to Tesla.com, and select the "Energy" tab. It gives you access to all their information, as well as helping you set up a consultation. I love their customer service, and never once felt in any way pressured.
Something I recently realized is when your phone starts dying on you, you can just buy a new battery for 30-50€ and have someone install it for you. I recently switched my iPhone 6s to a refurbished iPhone 8 on Swappie, and was very upset when I saw an iPhone 6s battery for 30€ in my local electronics shop. I could literally have saved 250€ because my 6s has no other issues other than battery life! But I will buy the battery, have someone techier than me install it for me and gift it to my mom who badly needs a new phone. But I guess I now know to switch the battery before buying an entirely new device...
I just developed an allergy to textiles. I am still dealing with full body eczema that is not being controlled too well. My body had its limit with synthetic materials. I got a few organic undyed clothing items.100% Organic hemp rocks!!!
another note on DVDs -- especially if you live in the states -- your local public library likely has any film or tv show you could want to watch on DVD. and it's free!
I used to work for Vindstød in Denmark - an electricity company with 100% natural electricity from windmills. People living In Denmark should definitely switch. So easy!
Don't know if it's like this anywhere else, but in norway you can borrow DVDs for movies and TV-show from the library. Meaning you can skip both buying the DVDs and also the netflix, hulu, ect subscriptions. Also, the library card is free so you can save some money as well!
I wish we had the option of switching our energy in the US. I’m only allowed the energy company that is in my area. Really when you think about it it’s a monopoly.
In the US you can, in Chicago you have comed as your energy company but they get their energy from many suppliers. So you can then request which supplier you would like. I don't know if it's possible for you but I would look into that
Stephanie Cappello glad you have a choice but the vast majority of us do not have any other option. I live in NC and for my area there are 2 providers however it depends on which part you live for who serves you. Again we don’t have a choice.
I live in California, where avocados are native. We have an avocado tree in our yard (it's huge and old, and rarely produces edible avocados). So like, if you check labels, you can get avocados from california when they are in season. If you don't live here, though, you won't be eating locally, which is as important, if not more important than just avoiding any individual food.
I love avocados & in Australia we also have alot of locally grown trees in many different areas. I as a rule only by local or Australian or the next best if really have to get it . I didn't know about the Mexican Avos, so that was interesting. :)
I think you're wonderful, and I definitely don't want to diminish you or your awesome message, or seem to 'nitpick'...but, yeah, I'm going to say this to you because, honestly, I would want someone to say it to me in your shoes. I hope my comment is received in the same vein it is given: with kindness and good intentions. So here goes: This is the third video I've heard you mis-pronounce "planned obsolescence". It's an important concept and I applaud you for educating people about it, and you deserve to be heard loud and clear, without any confusion or distraction that a mispronounciation could cause. I understand that you're perhaps not a native English speaker, and generally you do a reasonably adequate job in speaking English. But so yeahno, if I were a public speaker then I would hope that someone would kindly correct me if I were mispronouncing a word or making some other mistake in my public speaking. Thank you for all the good you do, and have a beautiful day!
There is also the fairphone. It's not the most tech feature heavy smart phone, the camera is comparable to 2018 standards of the big name phone producers and the bezels are rather bully , however physical specs being clunky the phones digital specs are just as up to date as most others on the market and the physical body is produced with non conflict and ethically mined materials and the shell is made with over 40% recycled plastic and it's a modular design that can be fixed and serviced instead of being discarded or sent back to the company.
I appreciate the “non-basic edition”... some good ideas given here and definite food for thought (and action). On the topic of food, your food shots always make me drool... yummy! Also, I thought the screen shots of documented info were a great addition to your video. Lastly, I REALLY LOVED your final comment about how inconveniencing ourselves and making small sacrifices does result in a positive outcome and a positive mindset when it comes to a sustainable lifestyle.
I think people often forget the 2 hrs you are required ahead of a flight at the airport... surely this adds to the overall journey time, therefore the train trip may not be not longer .. great tips 👍. One more I’d add is if you have the space learn to grow your own, few seeds no food miles 😊
Love all these tips! I appreciate how you give all the information and your opinion without blaming or being judgey. Thank you for always keeping us informed and for advocating for change. 💜😊
I live in a country where bidets are the basics of every toilet ever (with exceptions for malls and traditional washrooms) Anyway, great video. My view of the world surely has been broaden!
Just a tip if you are getting rid of kitchen appliances that can't be used (we had a fridge quit working that couldn't be fixed) some places (like here in Michigan) the electric company will pick it up AND give you money for it so they can properly dispose of it and they reuse the parts that would otherwise go to waste!
I just found your channel, been binge watching your videos! I’m really trying to learn more about living more zero waste and your channel is so helpful, thank you! 💛
Another tip using metal, wooden or bamboo clothes hangers instead of plastic ones, these can break easily and are not good for the planet. In some shops you can give the hangers back to the company at the till so they can use them again. This is really simple but I don’t see very many RU-vidrs talking about this.
It is hard to get one hundred percent I found a very nice 80 percent wool sweater. If you get as high as eighty percent will it have all the lovely properties of one hundred percent wool. I have found viscose is not too bad
out of all of this I really resonated with the point that, even though some things (not all!!) may be inconveniencing me, I might have to actively avoid something and put in more effort by avoiding it, it's still worth it for me to be sustainable. it makes me happier and more satisfied with life!
Also if you are in the place to afford it invest in one or two guppy bags to wash your synthetics in. Catches the microplastics and allows you to put it in the recycling!
Another tip with clothing, is learn how to make your own! Then you’re fully in control of the quality and fabric you use, plus you don’t have to replace your clothes as often because you can alter them when you grow, or simply mend them if they rip :)
100% natural fibre fabrics are really easy to find compared to going to a store/thrift store to try and find 100% natural fibre clothing, plus then you’re not contributing to the shortages at thrift stores for people who really need/can only afford second hand clothing. There’s plenty of free patterns you can find online or look in store, and though tricky it’s definitely possible to find brands that still sell natural fibre thread on wooden spools. This is my own little tangent now, but I love historical fashion and tools, and that’s more the aesthetic I lean towards, which fully contains of zero waste things, so sewing not only helps me create clothing in a style I’m happy with, but produces less waste and more sustainable practices
I love this idea of advanced zero waste ideas that is going beyond single use plastics so this video is great to help those already switched on take some steps! More “advanced content” please in future💚 love everything you do (I never comment on videos lol) but I really wanted to say how happy I am to see this kind of info on your channel. You’re great!
You're so inspiring! I just started my eco-journey, but I'm trying my best. Today is my first day as a vegetarian, also my second try and I hope it will be the last 😄
don't be too hard on yourself, for some people going 'all or nothing' makes it feel too restrictive and they end up giving up. even if you go 90 percent, that's so much better 🙂
For those of you interested in saving waste with fabric consider buying one item in the synthetic fibers and undo all of the seams and use the dismantled pieces as a pattern for making your own patterns!! As you get better at making your own patterns out of organic fabrics you will learn to alter your preexisting patterns to suit new styles. The best part of using synthetic fabric as a pattern is no paper patterns that can easily tear this your patterns could potentially last generations!
Regarding palm oil, the problem with it, linked to deforestation, for example, is that it's a "flex crop", that means that the purpose of the crop can be changed according to the demand of the market. Let me give you an example: since palm oil can be used to produce biofuels as well if we stop eating food that contains palm oil but use more biofuels coming from palm oil the crop will still be there and the damage will be the same. The same thing happens for example with sugarcane production, soy and many more. If you are interested there are several articles that talk about the problem of "flex crops". Unfortunately being 100% sustainable today is very difficult, especially if we want to avoid being greenwashed :/ With this comment, I don't want to say that we should stop to use biofuels but just underline that when we take a sustainable choice we really have to dig into a lot of aspects and connections that I think we are not really used to think about, that's the big challenge here. Love your videos!!
My boyfriend and I recently got a bidet and it works fabulously! (We got a tushy) and so far our toilet paper has nearly doubled in the amount of time it takes to use up a roll :-)
When I built my tiny home. I realized I don’t need a huge stove and oven. I just needs a toaster oven and it has a ton of buttons I never use and I have a plug in burner. And got a small refrigerator. Get a rv toliet if you are not ready to stop water that way you can control how much.
Oh, I'm so glad you mentioned avocado and trendy vegan food! 🙏🏻I feel like a lot of vegans forget that they "vote" with their money as well and can have a bad impact on the environment.
I'm pretty sure they don't forget that seeing as, you know, they are VEGAN. Sure avocadoes might in some parts of mexico be linked to a drug cartel but wait until you hear about animal agriculture...
@@larissag7886 Yes, some vegan forget about the impact of what they consume. Maybe not you or the ones you know, but I do know some that are far from environmentalists. They don't eat meat because they are against animal cruelty. But that's it. They don't care where their food come from or how it has been produced as long as it's not from an animal (which is already better than nothing at all, I'm just saying that they don't look at the whole picture).
💚🌿 Gittemary, your journey to zero waste is inspiring! Your content educates and empowers others for a sustainable, mindful lifestyle. 💪 #ZeroWasteLiving #SustainabilityChampion
Thanks a lot for this new video Gittemary. As always it was very instructive and I just LOVE your energy !!! One thing that I did and you haven't mentioned it was to move my money and savings to a more sustainable bank. I live in France and we have a bank called Crédit Coopératif which is really great because all the money is invested in local economy and you can even choose to which organization (always local and good for the environment and with ethicals rules) you want to redistribute a part of your benefits. I don't know if that kind of solution exists in Danemark but it can be a really great solution to reduce your impact. Have a lovely day !
Don't know why I'd like to specifically comment on this but thanks so much for including avocados. Some things are so often overseen in the whole eco-friendly lifestyle world...
Concerning streaming: I love videos like yours, and I don’t want to give up learning about such topics in that nice way. But I do know about the problem with online data storage and streaming. My solution for that is, that I turned the quality for RU-vid videos on low. I hope this makes a difference.
While I agree to some extent, there's also so many cool places in Australia to explore. So many fellow Aussies I know have travelled all around Europe but never seen the local tourist destinations. Also Australia is so massive that different cities and states are so differently beautiful.
Same with the U.S., a trip cross country is 3+ days, vs 3 hours on a plane, essentially taking all your vacation time just to get there and back, but I think this is beyond the point she is saying. She’s talking about those who do live in countries that you can travel to several countries within a couple of days (as I hear some parts of Europe are like).
I don't feel guilty about veggie scraps, because in Malmö they use our food waste to make biofuel that powers our buses. But as a Southamerican, I am very much against letting food go to waste, so the waste is minimal. Mostly coffee grounds.
There is videos on making veggie burgers and bread with bananas peel. I have a dyhadrader and take the onion peels and make spice. Broccoli, mushrooms, cauliflower, kale, mustard greens stems can be chopped and cooked longer but taste good. If you can't eat all that celery, you can freeze it and put it in cook stuff. I also regrow one but just every time I plant it the squirrels eat it up. Thanks for this video.
Loved the video! I'm currently staying in England and I came here by train from Germany. It took me around 12 hours but it was totally fine! I think it also helped me mentally, taking my time to move from one place to the other. This way I had no issues with adapting to the new situation. Since you focus a lot on what we as individuals can do, I wondered what your take is on collective action and political pressure. I agree that it's important to change your own lifestyle, but I think we need political solutions soon. And I assume that big corporations and politicians are really behind the idea that everyone should just fix it for themselves and we'll be fine, while they continue to wreck our future. Anyway, I know that you are aware of that, are you thinking about making videos about collective action at some point? Hope you have a good day :)
It could definitely be interesting to make a video about collective action, because it is in no way irrelevant when it comes to public pressure and changing how we consume goods (and what's being produced) Moreover, individuals can push governments for greener taxes and laws and it's so important that the political body can see what we want - in short, I am big on collective action 🙌🙌🙌
Have you ever thought how much water do you use in order to get all the dirt off? I peel potatoes, carrots that I can use less water washing them. Not the other way around. 🙈
@@kristinyt When I say scraps I don't mean peelings - usually it's cilantro stems, onion/green pepper/carrot/celery that's been in the fridge for awhile, etc. That being said I don't usually peel potatoes anyway since the skin has lots of nutrients.
if you are the type of person that wants to newest phone, you can lease your new phone and return the old one to upgrade to the newer version. they either recycle/reuse the materials or resell for lower price.
Love!! Im not hopping on the documentary about avacodos because Im always skeptical about whos supporting these movies, but i do like how theres these movies to challenge our thinking about our lifestyles
Hillary M I don’t know what doc you are thinking about, I guess the Netflix one Rotten? Haven’t actually seen that yet, you can find this info from many different sources. Sadly, it’s the truth.
I'm taking on sustainability related open uni courses and applying to study business. I believe there are many ways to make and promote change, and sustainable business could be mine!
So you said that buying DVDs is not more sustainable than streaming stuff online, but if I know that I will watch the movie over and over again and / or I know that I have friends who are going to borrow the DVD to watch it themselves, would that make it more sustainable?
I love your video very much! If you don't mind, I'd like to ask your permission to share your video to the other website in China for the embarrassing reason that RU-vid is bolcked from accessing in China. My original intention is to make more people aware of the importance of environmental protection. Of course, I will give sources of the original website. Thank you very much !
Absolutely not feasible to travel across the us other than by plane. Sure, I COULD drive from NY to CO to see my family, but I'd have to take 2 weeks off work.... or I could fly and do a 4 day weekend. However, my boyfriend and I are moving to Europe in a couple years and we plan on moving there by going by boat. It isn't that much more than a plane, it has a lot of amenities like cruises do and it takes about a week. Much better for the environment and it will be an experience.
I tried that with my cell phone and I got scammed by a third party Amazon seller a better idea for me was to get my phone with the removable battery ( always insist on removable battery) that way you can keep the phone a long time past the battery life. I will be repairing my old phone and saving it as a backup. I don't go on vacation the last vacation I went on for me where I was refreshed was 1997. I like to have micro staycations instead or hang out with friends within ten to two hundred miles instead.
The saddest thing is that is we stop eating palm oil, it would be used as a fuel for our cars and we would need even more. There seems to be no solution 😢
Loved your comment "try to inconvenience yourself a little bit everyday.. it makes a huge diference" I think I´ve said that to people for years now. If only everyone did just a little thing to change we would go a long way...
I love love love avocados and since I live in california most come from within my state but it still takes a ton of water....but I recently developed an allergy to it so cant have it anyway.
I use family cloth(flannel wipes that get washed instead of flushed) instead of toilet paper and I would NEVER go back. It's so much cleaner - conventional toilet paper contains 100,000 chemicals (sorry guys, but the concept of "clean" toilet paper is just a myth! same goes for all paper products. Paper is good for writing on - and nothing else). It's also super sustainable. The CDC says 50 degrees is enough to kill any anything that can hurt us - it's good enough to wash towels and underwear in and that's all it takes to get cloth tp clean. I get why people are moving towards bidets but water isn't the greatest idea either - if you don't get your skin properly dry after use you risk encouraging yeast growth. Cloth actually makes the job of cleaning yourself up much less messy than you would think if you've only ever used paper. I personally love that I can bring my own wipes, especially in public toilets - being able to use a restroom while touching as little as possible while there - priceless! :)
@@Gittemary I'm not saying that it's not true, just that it was awkward 😶 But I will tell you this, mexicans don't consume as much avocado as foreigners do, most of the production is for exporting. The increasing demand of this product called the green gold, is what has driven the cartels to be interested in the avocado crops. So your statement was true, sadly.
