Friday 6 October 2017

Linking Veganism & Sustainable Living.

Let's talk about how I went from veganism to sustainable living, alongside sharing some thoughts around how you can live a more sustainable life too.


For me, transitioning towards living a more sustainable and environmentally friendly life feels like it's come about very organically following going vegan almost 2 years ago. My switch to veganism was initially very much about the animals. Calling it a moral awakening sounds a bit cliche, but it really was the catalyst for becoming aware of far more than just myself. And I don't mean that to say that I was self-centred or didn't think of others before, because I've always thoughts of others, that being people, probably too much and to my own detriment at times. But I never really considered my impact on the Earth. 

It's like I was in a little human bubble and then I started to consider the lives of animals and how modern society and agriculture uses them and the bubble popped. And when the bubble popped I couldn't wear my blinkers anymore. I couldn't not see the impact that our lives have on the planet. The plastic wrapped everything that will taken hundreds of years to degrade and fills both landfill and the oceans. The mass production of products driven by consumerism and the need for more. The intensive farming of animals that produces almost 20% of all greenhouse gas emissions each year. The poor living and working conditions that others were having to deal with in order for me to have my "nice" things. 

Life would be far easier if I didn't acknowledge all these things. But, you see, now I've become far more aware of them I can't not acknowledge them or my contribution towards them. This has led me to make more conscious choices around my actions - as we're seeing now with veganism and the increased availability of vegan products, your voice counts. And so as demand for less plastic and more sustainable and ethical products increases, the availability of these should increase, making it easier for more people to make more sustainable choices too.

I'm not here to tell you that you should go vegan or zero waste or only buy ethically source products, because I appreciate that isn't feasible for everyone. I also completely appreciated that you have to do what is best for you and for your life. But our planet is for everyone and I believe we all have a moral responsibility to do what we can to preserve it for future generations. To do something that's above and beyond ourselves. Be that through reducing waste, recycling more, stepping away from consumerist or fast fashion purchasing, or even reducing your intake of animal based products one day per week - all of these things will have some impact on the planet, and a small, positive impact is better than no impact at all.

Am I perfect? Hell no. I still produce far more waste than I would like and still struggle against modern day consumerism telling me I need all the things. But I'm making conscious choices everyday and finding more and more ways that I can reduce my footprint. I really aspire towards leaving the planet in a better place than I found it - so for me even teeny, tiny baby steps are progress.

Let's start a conversation:
I'd love to hear your views on sustainable living and how we can be working towards a more environmentally friendly life. Why not leave your thoughts in the comments below, or drop me a tweet @_hellojordan


Let's talk about how I went from veganism to sustainable living, alongside sharing some thoughts around how you can live a more sustainable life too.


2 comments:

  1. Sustainability is definitely something I've started thinking about more recently. I've only made small changes so far, but every little helps I guess! I think I may make myself a list of changes I think would be manageable for me and start working through them. x

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  2. I love your description of the bubble popping, because that's what it felt like when I first started thinking about sustainability and waste etc - you can't ignore it anymore. I agree that it's important to do what you can to reduce your impact, whatever that may be xx

    Toasty

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Jordan xx