The whole truth about plastic numbers*
You have actually no idea of the secret life of plastic. It is wilder than most of us would ever think! The truth lies in the plastic numbers.
Author: Kerly
Eating local food doesn’t matter – what you eat does!
If you want to be more environmentally friendly, then you should eat local food. We all know that, right? But how wrong we have been believing that!
Every month is Veganuary
Now when the most important month for the environment and animals is over, continuous attention to Veganuary is much needed.
I had no idea for the longest time what Veganuary was. I had never participated in it in and so never recommended it. Now that I have been vegan for more than three years, I am more awake. I know that there is a need to spread the word. Not only in January.
What is Veganuary?
Veganuary is a UK non-profit organization founded in 2014. It seeks to bring awareness to a vegan lifestyle free of animal products every January. In a way, you can call it the vegan awareness month. The participants of this groundbreaking event have more than doubled every year since its start 6 years ago. Luckily, the idea of being a plant-based consumer for a whole month is getting more and more popular:
- The 2017 campaign had 50,000 participants signed up as of January 4.
- In 2018 170,000 people signed up, a 183% increase over 2017 numbers.
- The 2019 event signups were reported to be as many as 14,000 per day for a total of 250,000 signups from 193 countries.
- By January 5th, 2020 a record 350,000 people had registered to take part in Veganuary.
These numbers speak loud and clear that things are changing. And for the better. Hopefully. But it is quite disappointing that all the attention is for just one month. Why not every month? It is
Think of Veganuary every month
The extra awareness for veganism for the first month of the year is highly needed, but why not take an extra step and think of Veganuary every month. There are many positive effects of going vegan for more than one month, as it can promote better health for you and those around you, contribute to a better environmental state, and make the lives of animals better.
Being vegan is proven to promote good health and increase vitality, which makes you feel good. But perhaps more important to many of us is the well-being of dear ones around us. We can have our family and friends longer with us. Eating meat is not suitable for any of us, it is harmful to our health. Did you know that the length of our and all herbivores’ intestines is 27 times longer than the body? This is because breaking down cellulose in plant foods is a GINORMOUS job that requires ”untold billions of bacteria which do the breaking down for the herbivore.” Carnivores like lions, unlike rabbits and humans, have sharp teeth to shred meant and short powerful intestines to digest the flesh quickly. Imagine the meat you eat taking so long to travel through your long intestines? The bacteria aren’t meant to digest that! And it is not only meat that causes many health problems. It is also dairy.
Look at the simple graph below from the documentary. The two little dots on the left are data sections for the other two leading causes of deaths. The first is violence, wars, etc. and the middle describes accidental deaths. You can barely see those, because chronic disease kills annually 30 000 000 people in total, leaving them far behind.
Dairy
When drinking milk and using dairy products, we consume bodily liquids of a cow, who is lactating to feed its baby. Unfortunately, after her calf is born, they will lose their mother and their rightful nutrition, which goes to humans. The female cow becomes just a milking machine, not for her calves, but for humans. The male calves will be killed and sold as veal, as they are no use for the dairy industry. Female calves are raised for the same reason as their mothers – to produce milk for humans. Contrary to popular propaganda, drinking milk does no good for the body. Dairy companies had bought the scientist for the longest time, to fool us all to believe that milk gives you good bones and lots of protein. It doesn’t really work like that. As those nations that consume the most cow’s milk and other dairy products have the highest rates of osteoporosis and hip fracture.
Environment
Raising animals, producing products out of them, etc. is very exhausting for our planet. Cow cattle need lots of space, lots of water and lots of feed. And even more water is needed when the flesh of animals is processed for human taste buds. Oftentimes, the country where the cattle are raised does not have enough feed. So then it has to be transported from another country. More forests are cut down to grow more food for animals. It is all adding to the high greenhouse gas emissions.
We have a water crisis. Though it may seem that we have lots of oceans and water should not be a problem, but only a little part of the water is good for human consumption. Animal agriculture is destroying this water and also the oceans– home of sea life.
There are dead zones in the oceans. This is due to the massive amounts of nitrogen put into the oceans and coral reefs dying for the same reason. Animal agriculture is the main reason for global warming as well. One of three fish caught from the ocean is fed to the animal raised in agriculture. Hence overfishing is causing problems for us. As it really puts our future at stake as well.
Animals
Animals are living in cramped conditions. They can’t enjoy their lives to the fullest: run around, gaze and grow up with their loving parent. Males in animal agriculture, are killed including calves and chicks. Females are raised in bad conditions – to be slaves for human needs.
No death is humane. There is no happy meat or happy eggs. Free-range eggs are just a myth, to make us feel better. Not a single egg manufacturer can provide the needed space for hen’s normal well-being. This is not financially possible for them.
We abuse animals in so many fields. Not only for food but for pleasure too (zoo, circus, entertainment) as well. Not to forget fashion – for our shoes, bags, belts, and jackets, animals ‘have’ to die. But animals are individuals – they have feelings, needs and they also know what pain is.
If you are a pet owner, consider the fact that you are not eating your pets. So why should you eat other animals then altogether?
So….every month is Veganuary, right?
It is very difficult not to think of every month as a Veganuary after watching “Let us be Heroes – The True Cost of our Food Choices (2018)“. Though, as a vegan I have seen a fair amount of such documentaries, they still have an immense effect on me because the message is always so simple, but yet so powerful:
go vegan
for your health,
the planet,
the animals!
These are enough reasons to put the needs of your tastebuds aside and start making changes in your life, which would not harm animals or our home – planet Earth as we all need to manage and dwell happily here. Yet, animal agriculture, in other words, the majority’s eating and lifestyle habits, are straining the world and, we are at the edge of a catastrophe. It is here actually, no matter if you feel it in your corner of the world or not.
Take steps and stop eating animal products, as that way you also contribute to a better today and better future. Spread the word and make a change!
Why love your soap bar?
Should you grab that soap bar? Yes, definitely, if you want to save money and eliminate plastic in your bathroom! Don’t worry about the germs!
What to know about a shampoo (bar)?
Nature lovers headache: who would have known that a transfer from your everyday shampoo to an all-organic shampoo bar can be such a hassle?
Mattress odors “be gone” with these simple steps
We are happy owners of the old new bed. But there is a slight issue of odors, we have to tackle before our sleep can be safe and sound.
After the cleaning of our new old mattress, it’s time to tackle the odors problem. As previously mentioned, it came from a smoker’s household which means it had a nasty stench of smoke. Sounds quite nasty and I can imagine you all squinting while reading these lines, but rest assured the mattress came with a mattress protector and a full-on zip cover, which we took off and all we saw was an old-school foam mattress of an IKEA bed.
Was it that bad?
The cover was stained, and the odors of smoke were strong. Neither of us can stand the smell of smoke, so naturally, we oppose smoking. By now, you can imagine how little we wanted this addition in our clean and tidy household.
I ripped off the covers of the mattress and squeezed it all into the bathtub (thank god for having one!). I used the hottest tap water to clean the preliminary filth off. I got most of the surface dirt out after soaking it for half an hour. Then I put the mattress cover and the protector to the washer and washed it at the highest temperature to clean it as much as possible.
While the covers were in a washing machine, I started wrestling with the 2-meter long mattress on our balcony. Before that, I did thorough research on how to get cigarette smell out of the mattress. Unfortunately, there is not much information out there. The wisdom I obtained from the few sources proved the be trustworthy and will become a good help.
Simple steps, for a clean and fresh smelling mattress:
- Use a vacuum on a low suction setting. Vacuum the mattress with the vacuum’s upholstery attachment to remove any dirt and dust, which are in the cover. If you have a traditional mattress, remove the cover and do the same covering both sides.
- If you notice vacuuming doesn’t give results, then try the old-school tapping the mattress with a carpet flapper.
- Using a spray bottle fill it with equal amounts of water and distilled white vinegar. Lightly spray the surface of the mattress. Apply enough of the solution to dampen the upholstery but not to saturate it. The same goes for the plain foam mattress.
- Allow the mattress to air-dry. Flip it over and spray the other side similarly. Allow it to air-dry.
- Cover the mattress in a thin coat of baking soda. Let it sit overnight and soak up the odors. Vacuum the baking soda off the mattress in the morning.
- Flip the mattress and cover the other side with baking soda. Let it sit overnight. Vacuum it off in the morning.
- If possible take your mattress on the tarp out for the day, letting it absorb the direct sunlight. Bring the mattress indoors overnight, then expose the other side to the sun the following day or keep it in a balcony, as what I did. We had quite warm nights and no rain, so luck was on our side!
Keep going, a full night’s rest will be your reward!
I repeated points 2, 3 and 7 over and over to make sure that the smoke stench had disappeared. I was really surprised about the vinegar-water solution, which really made the whole situation hopeful for me and indeed provided us a clean-smelling mattress.
When the mattress cover and the mattress protector were all nicely wind-dried on the clothesline I put them back on the mattress. Finally, I sprinkled some lavender essential oil on them to add a nice and relaxing fragrance of our favorite plant.
Ah, the smell of success!
In all, it took me a week to get the mattress to the frame of the bed, so we could enjoy our 10€ salvaged bed. I can tell that those 15 minutes I spent every day working on the mattress was completely worth it. Good luck working on yours. If you come across any new tips, please be kind and share them below in the comments.
You may profit from reading this article on how to get odors out of your mattress.
*UPDATE – I have successfully cleaned the vintage shoulder bag inner lining, which smelled like mold and old things, but the vinegar-water solution really did the game again.
Give promises that matter and keep them!
It is the beginning of the new year – time to give yourself some promises and keep them! Think of yourself, but also of the world around you.
First steps on shopping plastic-free
A year ago we decided to cut down bringing plastic into our home. How did we do on our first trying plastic-free shopping more than a year ago? We are glad to admit, that we are glad past is not present!
November – no spend month!
Some call it Morevember, we call it no spend November! In other words, we decided not to spend any money, but the universe had other plans!
We like challenges and we always like to take new steps to help our Earth in crisis. Most of the food we get on these days is free. We try to avoid plastic packaging and supermarkets. Our means of transportation is public or bike. We swap our clothes instead of buying them. So it should be no surprise that we decided to call November a no spend a month.
Why did I spend on wafer i.e. failing on the first day
Well, after a long day I found myself starving and heading to a grocery store. I usually do not buy food from stores like that, but I was in a pickle and needed to grab something. My first pick would have been a banana. Love these and they come package-free. But unfortunately, they were really green, so this option was out.
Secondly, I was looking at a Stollen. I never had that, though I have purchased it as a present for the family for Christmas. I realized that it was actually vegan. Sure, I wanted it! But since it was wrapped in a plastic wrapping and deeply covered in powdered sugar, I decided to pass. I couldn’t imagine myself biting into it and walking in the streets while carrying heavy bags. Then I saw the package of four wafers, similar to the world-famous Austrian Manner wafer, packed in an alu foil. It seems that this is a bit better material than just plain clear plastic. The price was wonderful at 0.99 cents. So this was the first purchase we did on the 1st day of no spend November.
Money is spent, but for the others
The failure on the first days was made up nicely, as we didn’t buy anything for ourselves for weeks. Money was still spent, as we entertained a few times and needed some groceries bought. If we wouldn’t have had anybody coming over, we wouldn’t have bought those items. I am not going to list them, as they were a whipped cream for a Thanksgiving pumpkin pie we baked, some potatoes, bok choy, etc.
Groceries for others: 15,22 €
Most of the money we spent on others was due to approaching the Christmas holidays. Since it will be for some time the last Christmas we are going to spend with family, we wanted to pamper then this time. Then again, if you look at the number below it is not much. But it is not final, some items have to be added.
Presents for others: 138,20 €
We are not materialistic people and we do not put so much value on the fancy stuff people usually are. Like no iPhone gadgets will be gifted or some brand names bought. We had names drawn and so we each make presents based on the list of that person had written down. We will add come little items, we know they want for sure.
What we spend on ourselves
The total of money spend, except the tickets we had to buy to commute to work, was 16,95 €.
Items bought:
- 0,99 wafer 1.11 – kind of necessary
- 2,79 Veganz cookies 18.11 – unnecessary
- 1,99 vegan ice cream for the date night 26.11 – kind of necessary
- 2,40 € sweets to share with our friend, when she was visiting 29.11 – not really needed
- 2,49 € toilet paper 30.11 – ran out, could have used the extra free tissue we had obtained…
- 6,29 € surprise present for Eve – I could have waited for December to buy it, so unnecessary
Eating out: 21 €
10 € for a shared vegan meal combo, while meeting a friend
11 € on Black Friday, when we were out with friends and got some little things for family, we both had burrito bowls.
Conclusion
As you can see we didn’t manage to avoid not spending any money. 16,95 € is not a whole lot of money shared between two people but could have definitely avoided. We just gave in to our needs. Sugar craving crept in. This is another subject we will try to manage after the holidays. Eating out twice during the holiday season wasn’t that bad as well. It probably will happen again.
We will definitely try to spend no money in 30 days again. It was fun and it was refreshing. Most of all I liked the idea of not going to any stores and not needing anything. Hopefully, we can try this again in January, as we have still lots of food at home, which we can make many meals out of. This will also inspire saving food from canteen and food sharing. This would be the main place to get out fruits and vegetables.
That leaves us just the toilet paper issue…