Tell Us About Challenge
Dear friends. Welcome to our last Tell Us About challenge of 2024.
This month UK blogger Rosie Amber chose the prompt, and it's Going Green. It's been interpreted in several different ways by bloggers from across the world.
I'm going to start by describing some of the green initiatives in the 60s and 70s. At that time they were more about saving money than the planet, because we didn't know much about environmental damage at that time.
Fizzy pop, as we called it, came in glass bottles which we returned for a few pennies. Milk was delivered daily in bottles and we returned our empties.
Shops sold broken biscuits, fish and chip shops gave away batter scraps. Lights, the lungs of an animal, could be picked up free at the butcher's and were cooked for pets. Sherry and other drinks could bought from a barrel and dispensed into a container of your own.
Old newspapers were re-used, either cut up into squares as emergency toilet paper, or rolled and tied to form paper ‘logs’ to light the coal fire. Food scraps were often burned on the fire: vegetable peelings went onto the garden compost heap.
It was quite normal to have "hand me down" clothes. Mine came from a neighbour's daughter and the daughter of friends of my parents. Socks were invariably darned, jeans wore patches. Our bikes were also passed down among siblings.
Plastic packaging for food was not very common. There were hardly any big supermarkets in the 60s and 70s so we tended to use small village shops: the butcher, baker, grocery, off-licence, fishmonger.
Cooking from scratch was pretty much the norm. The only fast food outlets were Wimpey and fish and chip shops. Ready meals first arrived in the form of Vesta meals (in cardboard boxes). They seemed very exotic! We didn't have cling film. Sandwiches were wrapped in greaseproof paper.
Fossil Fuels
Of course we were guilty of using fossil fuels. The Clean Air Act was passed in 1956 and central heating started to become available. We had a fireplace in our home until around 1970. It was pretty cold in the bedrooms, heated occasionally with small convector heaters. Hot water bottles were the norm.
Coal burning factories contributed to the great smog of London in 1952 when thousands of lives were lost.
Christmas
Christmas decorations in the 60s and 70s were a lot more homespun. I remember at school painting twigs white and making paper chains, which were draped across rooms. For Christmas we usually had one " big" present - something like Spirograph- and a few smaller ones, plus nuts and tangerines.
GREEN LIVING IN THE 2020s
In 2019 I wrote a post a few years ago about what I was doing to try to stop using plastic.
Like most people, we try to take measures to save the planet. These seem small, individually, but it all adds up.
We have stopped running two petrol cars and now share one electric car. It makes sense now we're not working.
When our boiler needs replacing, I'll be canvassing for a heat pump.
I mostly use eco friendly cleaning products.
I wash my cleansing wipes and never use wet wipes. I look out for makeup recycling and glass bottles. I tried soap hair shampoo but it isn't good enough, yet.
When I buy presents for the grandchildren I try to avoid plastic, although it's very difficult!
More than half the clothes I buy are now second hand, and I regularly donate to charity shops.
In the garden I no longer use compost that contains peat; I try not to use plastic flower pots, and I conserve rain water in a large butt. I also try to plant for bees and butterflies.
The UK as a whole has made substantial progress in shifting towards renewable energy sources. In 2020, the UK marked a historic milestone when electricity generated from renewable energy sources outstripped that from fossil fuels.
HOW MY BLOGGER FRIENDS COVERED GOING GREEN
Penny from Frugal Fashion Shopper (UK) thinks that Going Green is very much about changing one’s lifestyle to be more environmentally aware to reduce one’s personal waste and carbon footprint. However, if she was younger she would definitely be acting in a far more radical way. However, there is still much one can do and maybe 2025 is a year to make some changes!
Leslie from Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After (US) has been going green since the dark ages of her junior year of college! Before going green was even a thing!! Stop by to find out how.
Debbie from Deb's World (Australia) goes green in a slightly different way with fashion and native flowers. She also shares some eco friendly products.
Marsha from Marsha in the Middle (US) has a couple of things recycled by her dad way before recycling was a thing. One of them is a treasure. The other lives with her son. In the early days of recycling at her hometown, Marsha was definitely a hands-on recycler!
Jill from Grownup Glamour (Australia) is focusing on the impact appreciating the natural world can have in our every day lives.
Portugal based Suzy from Suzy Turner writes about her love for the colour green and shares practical ways she incorporates sustainability into her life, from recycling and shopping second-hand on Vinted to embracing the charm of pre-loved furniture.
What would be your spin on Going Green? Do tell in the comments.
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