As we come to the end of Plastic Free July I wanted to highlight that making positive choices for the benefit of our environment goes beyond July!
You may think what has ‘Plastic Free’ got to do with our nutrition? But, by the time you have finished reading this post 3 truckloads of plastic waste will have been dumped into our oceans.
Big pieces of plastic will entangle our wildlife, smaller pieces ending up in their stomachs which will inevitably end up on our plates and in our guts!
If I, as a Nutrition Coach, am trying to improve the overall health and wellbeing of the people whose lives I touch I also need to talk about the bigger picture.
It may seem like a daunting task.
How can we save our planet?
We have more power than we give ourselves credit for. Small actions = Big impact. If we concentrate on what we CAN DO not what we can’t we will have a positive impact on our environment.
Use your Consumer Power for good
Thanks to the increase in choices available to us, we can have a bigger impact than ever by deciding where we spend our money.
Big companies monitor consumer spending, if we are voting with our spending, ie purchasing more environmentally friendly products, big business will invest more in these areas which will also drive the prices down.
It wasn’t that long ago that all farming was Organic, post World War II and the population boom saw the rise in the need for higher-yielding crops and the introduction of pesticides and fertilisers. Now we pay more for Organic foods but the more people making the choice to switch to Organic farming choices drives the cost down and our overall health up 🙂
Anyway, I digress, back to plastic!
What else can you do?
- Household recycling
- Avoid plastic water bottles wherever possible
- Reusable nappies
- Refillable products
- Use ‘Bring your own container‘ shops
- Take your own ‘bag for life’ shopping
- Be conscious of your hair and body products
- Use natural cleaners
My best friend had a big influence on me from a young age, she was into ‘Being Green’ and taking care of the environment when I didn’t even know what it was! She opened my eyes and made me question how our actions have an impact on our planet.
I have always had an interest in health and wellness, I read health magazines from my early adulthood. Here I started to learn about beauty products and the latest environmental trends.
It is no surprise then that when I was introduced to Forever Living Products in 2008 that I jumped at the chance to be part of a forward-thinking company, supplying natural health and skincare products that I was able to purchase at a wholesale price and share them through my business owners retail shop with others who were interested in more natural skincare and health products.
Most recently I have found Tropic Skincare and again their values spoke to me and it was a no brainer to become an Ambassador as I would be purchasing the products for myself and recommending them to my family, friends and clients.
Why use Tropic Skincare?
The ‘Greener’ part of Tropics Infinite Purpose covers how we give back to the planet and aim to do as much as possible to minimise our environmental impact. Personal care and beauty products account for one-third of all landfill waste* and Tropic wants to lead the way in creating more sustainable options within the beauty industry. *Reuters
DID YOU KNOW?
Tropic is a certified CarbonNeutral® company and has double offset their carbon emissions. This means the global environmental projects that have been invested in have counteracted the greenhouse gases produced twice over.
They invest in the Acre Amazonian Rainforest Conservation project in South America, an initiative that aims to protect biodiverse habitats by preventing deforestation across 105,000 hectares of pristine forest.
They support The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve, which works with local communities to protect 65,000 hectares of forests in Indonesia from the threat of unsustainable palm oil conversion.
Last year, only 0.52% of their entire operations waste went to landfill. This year, they’re striving for 0%.
Tropic use sustainable packaging options as much as possible where it won’t impact the functionality of the products. Lipsticks, Bath Oils, Mineral Foundations, Hand Wash and all Colour Palette products are completely refillable.
Tropic use recyclable materials as much as possible across the entire product range. Many of the collections are eco or have an eco option to reduce packaging use, and they’re aiming to offer refillable packaging for most of our skincare by the end of 2020.
Why use Forever Living Products?
Forevers aloe leaves are hand-picked and treated with great care. The leaves are processed within hours, ensuring the purest, freshest aloe vera gel, intact with all its inherent qualities, over 85,000kg are processed per day.
Approximately 30,000 of those kilograms could be seen as waste, they use the inner gel and leave the rind, but instead of wasting the rind it is ground up and put back in the soil as a natural fertiliser. Forever don’t use chemical fertilisers on their aloe. Similarly, they don’t use traditional pesticides on their plantations, plantations which are home to over 30 million aloe plants.
The best pest control introduced to the fields is in the form of their world-famous aloe goats, a fleet of goats eat all the unwanted weeds which allow a superb crop to grow without compromising the health of the aloe.
Forever are also always looking to see what they can do to reduce their carbon footprint and have recently made some changes in their packaging as a result of this. They have also introduced a tight and regulated recycling programme at Aloe Vera of America to ensure they are not wasting anything that does not need to be wasted.
TetraPak cartons can be recycled into many pulp-products that would have otherwise been made with virgin pulp. Due to the characteristics of wood fibres no paper product is infinitely recyclable like aluminum, but unlike aluminium, glass, and plastic it is a fully renewable resource that will biodegrade into soil.
Treehugger.com
I am by no means perfect and don’t beat myself up that I’m not, I just try to educate myself and anyone else who wants to learn more to think and try and make better more informed choices.
Every Tuesday I share more information about the products I use and why over on my social media channels, links below.
Join my Facebook group ‘It’s all about Balance’ for special offers available on Tuesdays along with tips and recipes through the week to help you lead a healthy balanced lifestyle.
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If you would like to chat with me about your unique menopause transition, book a Wild Well-Being call and come away inspired and motivated to begin your journey to optimal health.