Be a sustainable Valentine 💌

It’s the season of love once again, whether you celebrate it romantically, with your best friends or by treating yourself. It can also be a time to show the planet some love too. In a time where every event/celebration/occasion has been hyper-commercialised (why am I seeing everything being made in pancake-flavour this year?!), Valentine’s can instead be a time to share real love, aside of the material things. Here’s a few tips for making this celebration lovely all round 💕

  • Don’t just buy, show you care – Valentine’s gifts like bears, plastic mementos and other material items are all well and good, but how much are they actually used once the 14th Feb has passed? While there can be a pre-Valentine panic to make sure you have something to give the special someone/people in your life, these items often end up contributing to the global waste problem and do not easily biodegrade. A more heartfelt way to show you care is to do something for someone instead, or share an experience together. It could be cooking them a homemade meal, hosting a move night in, or just setting aside time to spend together. These are the things that matter most and will be remembered longer than the last-minute gifts 🥰
  • Support local – If you do want to get a special gift that you know someone will love, take a look at local businesses and makers around your local area. Not only does this support your local community, but you’ll find something more unique that can be cherished for a long time. Where we choose to spend our money is one the biggest ways we have an impact on climate change and the environment, so by shopping small, the positive impact expands within your local community 💚
  • Roses or Lilies? – Flowers are synonymous with Valentines, but are they a sustainable choice? Cut flowers imported from overseas have a significant carbon footprint, due to the energy used to grow them and transport them. For fresh flowers, pick local and seasonal blooms, or choose dried bunches that will last much longer and can be reused. Still beautiful, just for longer. Even better, go and enjoy the first signs of spring flowers by taking a Valentine’s nature walk in your local patch 💐
  • Ethical chocolates – Another Valentine (and all year round) favourite, the chocolate box! Not all chocolates are made equal though, with chocolate production being a driver of deforestation and unethical labour practices. That’s why buying chocolate is another opportunity for us to use where our money is spent to build a better world. Brands in the UK like Tony’s Chocolonely, Seed and Bean and Divine are all good choices for ethical and tasty chocolate treats. Is this an excuse to buy chocolate..? 🍫

Whoever you celebrate with, share the love this Valentine’s day by showing the planet some love too, it definitely deserves and needs it right now. Love is more than single-use products marketed for one specific day, it’s quality time spent with loved ones and doing something kind for yourself. So avoid the waste, choose quality and show your loved ones just how much you care 💓

2026 New Year Goals

Happy New Year all! I think this may become an annual thing where I only acknowledge the new year right at the end of January on here. Hope your 2026 has been going well so far – we seem to have globally started much as we did in 2025, with a big political bang. Thinking about your own personal sustainability goals when the backdrop is all oil, threats and chaos can feel quite hopeless, but setting aims within your own control can help us combat feelings of eco-anxiety and help us frame action within our own lives. This is why I personally love January – a fresh start to begin again and decide how we want to spend this year. So grab a pen and paper, notes app or journal, and let’s set our sustainability intentions for 2026. Here are a few ideas I’ll be taking into this year…

  • Getting involved in positive campaigns – For many of us, the realisation has hit that no matter how much we recycle, walk to the shop or use a reusable coffee cup, without huge change to way big business and national government run, the impact on preventing the worst climate impacts will be negligible (although do keep doing those things!). That’s why this year I want to be part of a bigger movement looking to make more of a systematic change. Whether it’s a local cause or national movement, we have strength in numbers and can support in many ways. For example, in the UK there is movement to enact a Climate and Nature (CAN) Bill, which would provide the legal framework for this country to protect nature and the environment and take action on climate change. So far this has not been made into law, but every time it gets knocked back in parliament support continues, so I want to be part of the movement to make this official. This also stands for any other relevant campaigns that will make a big impact, whether opposing destructive behaviour or supporting positive new ideas. Our voices stand for a lot and 2026 is the time to use them 💬

  • Volunteering – It’s one thing to be concerned about nature loss and the environment and let these feelings make us feel low, then inactive, but it’s much more positive to feel those feelings and then get involved in a practical solution. So this year I want to get involved in local nature projects near me so I can be part of the positive stories of helping nature return and thrive. There are many different ways you can volunteer your time, from practical work to supporting others and taking on admin tasks. I’d really like to combine a few of my goals and do some practical volunteering in the outdoors, supporting the wonderful charities and organisations looking out for our natural spaces and making a difference 🌱

  • Time in nature – We know time in nature is so good for our health and wellbeing, and I for one spend a lot of time thinking about it/writing about it (in blog posts like this one). It is easy to fall into the trap of only spending time outdoors when you have the time, so I want to prioritise being in nature, being surrounded by wildlife and living a bit more in tune with the natural world, whether that’s taking camping trips or having tech-free days. There’s a whole world out there to be looked after, and it is also there to be enjoyed ☀️

  • Miscellaneous extra ideas! – Finding vegetarian lunchtime recipes for the office (so I can go packaging free), looking at small businesses first when making purchases, getting a refillable kitchen hand soap dispenser (already set up!), continuing to take the train for holidays and travel adventures and eating more fully plant-based meals 🌎

As we’re reminded each year, living sustainably really is a process and develops over time, which gives us the opportunity to refocus each year on what we can do. Imperfect progress is a much more positive mindset than striving for perfection by December and setting goals that you want to work towards will help on the journey to living better and with less impact on the planet. Got ideas of your own goals? Let us know in the comments! And with that, may 2026 be our year of making imperfect progress to be more sustainable. Happy New Year! 🪩

2025 Sustainability Wrapped

Happy New Year’s Eve folks! It doesn’t feel five minutes since we were just embarking on this new year and setting our 2025 goals. There have been global high and lows, and personal progress too this year, so before we look ahead to 2026, let’s reflect on sustainability in 2025…

In 2025 the story of the last few years continued, the scale of action needed for sustainability and climate action is still urgent, essential and a priority for this decade. As we move closer and closer to 2030 and the goals we set set as a global collective, real action will need to be expanded and doubled down upon. On one hand, this landmark year, being a decade on from the 2015 Paris Agreement and halfway through the 2020s on the path to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, did not come close to the ambition and impact we needed to see. Globally we have still seen division, inequality, climate denialism and rising emissions. But some progress has emerged during 2025, as complied from the BBC.

This includes the rise in global energy generated from renewable sources, overtaking coal as the world’s largest source of electricity. There have been some strengthening of environmental and nature based laws, such as the High Seas Treaty, to protect more marine areas and glimmers of hope in conservation success stories, such as the growing population of Green Turtles. While COP30 did not deliver the strong frameworks we were looking for, the significance of having a committed group of leaders to transitioning away from fossil fuels is a definite sign of progress compared to previous years. 2025 also marked the continuation of strengthening climate justice, by being bought to the International Court of Justice, helping to keep countries accountable for their climate impacts. Indigenous groups were also included more in this year’s global conferences, allowing more voices to be included in climate discussions.

On a more personal note, my 2025 sustainability goal was to have a No Buy Year. I wanted to see how much over-consumption and material purchases I could cut from my life, thus preventing excess waste and emissions. The result? Well, I did still buy things. However, the way I thought about shopping changed. Thinking about it now, most of the things I bought this year were for practical reasons – items for my new flat, clothing for my new job and replacing items that I had used beyond repair. When I needed things, I tried to buy items that would last, were from quality sources and that I know I would use. For nice to have things, like books etc, I noted these down and added them to wish lists for my birthday and Christmas, so that those who wanted to send gifts could choose something that I wanted and would use. I finally got myself a swimming wetsuit, which I purchased second hand and fixed up the slightly broken parts, and has been one of the best purchases of the year. So while I did still buy, it was in a more conscious way and very little was impulse driven. Going into 2026, I will keep this mindset up and look at borrowing, buying second hand and supporting local/independent businesses first whenever I’m looking to buy. 🛍️

Another key change for this year was using public transport for all of my holidays. In 2025 I was lucky enough to go a few trips, both abroad and at home, and I used the train for all of them. Having had a year of travelling much further by train I now feel much more comfortable and enjoy this way of travelling a lot more, and am looking to do more train trips next year. I have also taken many a day trip by bus this year, and seen places I hadn’t been able to before. All of this has meant that car travel is less of a significant mode of transport for me now, and going without is less of a limitation. I’m excited for more adventures by public transport next year. 🛤️

And finally, 2025 held significant change for me as I started my first role in sustainability. I have learnt a lot more measuring and reducing emissions and am looking forward to taking these skills into next year to expand the positive impact I can have and share with others. I also had my first piece of sustainability research published, and am excited to see how that progresses in the future. 🌍

So, 2026 huh? In a time where we are being increasingly polarised, silenced and it can feel very bleak, I want to go into the new year with the motivation to take on more active roles to stand up for our planet. Whether that’s joining volunteering days, becoming part of a local organisation or supporting political campaigns to secure strong legislation for our environment and collective futures, I want to make sure I’m being part of the solution. I will be continuing the No Buy mindset to enjoy the things I already have and be conscious with where I buy from. And work out what tasty veggie lunches I can make for the office.

What are your goals for 2026? What would you like to pledge to do for the planet next year? And do you have any good veggie lunch recipes you’d like to share? Please share in the comments below!

Finally, thank you for another year of your support of this blog – we have now been going for over 5 years! 😮 If you ever read, shared or have just found this space, thank for for being here. I’m excited for what 2026 might bring for the Ginger Leaf Living community. All that’s left to say is….. Happy New Year!

Simply having a wonderful Christmas time 🎀

Hello friends, it’s December again! Anyone else thinking that we seem to have missed a few weeks this year, we cannot nearly be at the end of 12 months again surely? But if our advent calendars are right, then we are just one week away from Christmas. It really is a wonderful time of year, but also one that can feel increasingly pressurised to have it all and result in less than seasonal gifts, like huge amounts of waste from food, decorations, packaging and unwanted presents. If you celebrate this season and need a reminder of how to approach Christmas more mindfully, here is our 2025 Sustainable Christmas guide.

Firstly, the presents. I recently saw this brilliant infographic by Jen Gale, the author of Sustainable(ish) which perfectly summarises the hierarchy of Christmas gift giving. Celebrating the end of another year and showing those you care for how much you love them really is all about the thought behind the present and spending time together, rather than buying something for the sake of it. How we spend our money at Christmas (and all the year round of course) is one of the biggest ways we influence the world around us – who we support, who loses out, their ethics and their footprint. So buying ethically, locally and second hand means supporting people within your own communities, whilst also finding a unique present idea. If the person you are buying for has something specific on their wish list, which you know is something they will love and use for a long time, then gifting them an item that they can enjoy for years to come is much more appreciated by recipient and the planet than one-off novelties. And if you normally end up having to buy loads for extended family, colleagues etc, you could try a Secret Santa – still loads of fun and you actually get to enjoy planning the gifts for the person you pick!

Handmade gifts are also a fantastic option, and a chance for you to share the things you love with the people you love. It could be crafting, cooking, baking or something else entirely, either way you get to enjoy the process of the making as well as the gifting. Or you don’t even need to gift something physical at all, organising an experience, shared day out or gifting a ticket or experience are all amazing ways to create excitement to take into next year.

What if you’ve sorted all your gifts? Well my organised elves, here’s a roundup of a few more festive tips to keep Christmas kind and joyful this year:

  • Wrapping – reuse pieces of fabric, wrap with recyclable paper and tape and sort your wrapping post-opening for reuse, other projects or recycling. No over-spilling bins on our watch! 🎁
  • Food – Christmas is about all the trimmings, but there’s no need for wasteful excess. Be creative with your leftovers, share with others around you and enjoy every single bite. Dust off those recipe books and enjoy having the time to actually enjoy the process of cooking 🍽️
  • Decorations – Keep those traditions alive and reuse your decorations from Christmas past, pick natural/biodegradable options and avoid anything single-use. We want to see it all looking merry and bright next year! 🕯️
  • Be kind – Make a donation to charity, check in on a friend, send a personal card; all things that we strive to do all year round but feel especially precious as the year draws to a close. End 2025 on something good by helping others and that Christmas spirit feeling will be stronger than ever. 💖

With just one week to go, let’s try to release the stresses of a perfect Christmas and enjoy the process – the putting up of generations-old decorations, of making gingerbread to give to friends, and bringing everyone together. These things are what makes Christmas and they don’t cost the Earth. So as those final festive advertisements push harder for your attention and try to convince you that you haven’t bought enough, just let them be. Content in the knowledge that for so many of us we already have all we need to enjoy this wonderful season. If you celebrate, I wish you a very Merry Christmas, and if you don’t then a wonderful restful break to finish the year on – Happy Christmas everyone! ❄️🎅🤶🎄

An ordinary human’s guide to COP30 🌍

If you keep up to date with environmental/sustainability/political news in any way, then you may have heard about the recent COP30 global meeting. Billed as the meeting that would finally bring together global action on climate change – 30 is a lovely round number, it is 10 years on from the 1.5 degree commitment of the Paris Agreement, 5 years left to meet 2030 targets – this years COP once again missed the mark in some style. However the ideas and direction of many of the worlds leaders are pointing in the right direction. Here are some of the key takeaways and what we can use of this in our own lives…

  • First of all, what is COP? Standing for ‘Conference of the Parties’, COP meetings have been annual international meetings since 1995 to review global progress on mitigating and adapting to climate change, including key targets such as global warming limits. They usually make the news a lot because they sound great, but after 30 years, in the face of rising emissions, increasing loss of nature, and more social upheaval around the world, have achieved very little. Leaders usually make the news for not attending, and a large proportion of people who profit from a business as usual approach usually enjoy making the most of a convenient global networking event and having fun causing chaos. As you might be able to tell, they are quite divisive events.

  • Team work makes the dream work – This COP the focus was on implementation. We’ve been chatting about this climate malarky for a while now, they thought, why don’t we try doing something about it? Well, have you ever tried to pick an activity/film/song/food that everyone in the family will like at Christmas? Then you’ll know you can rarely get anyone to agree. COP30 was a bit like that, if your Uncle profited by the millions from preventing you from watching The Holiday and your grandparents straight up refuse to get you what you asked for and remain committed to the faithful satsuma in the stocking approach. Despite being the driver of planetary warming and underpinning issue of the climate change topic, the world’s leaders could not agree together to phase fossil fuels out. For some countries, committing to this goal was a core reason for attending, and on a more positive note, many countries – in fact more than 80 of them – pushed for a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels. But for others whose whole economy was built on them, letting go and embracing a new era was still just too big of a step. Nostalgia is a powerful emotion. With agreements only coming at the final moment and disappointment on all sides, can this method of global decision making be the best method for the future? Should we really create global deals that impact everyone’s future by stopping to the lowest standard, rather than taking them with us on the ambitious pathway?

  • Words Vs Actions – We are all told that our actions are louder than words, but unfortunately at COP30, words and grammar must have been absolutely fascinating because they were a big part of discussion. For a global issue so physical in its causes and impacts, trying to solve it through clauses and word choices seems quite a disparity. Maybe the lesson here is to act positively albeit imperfectly, then perfect strategy in combination or once action has built momentum. Either way, it would be useful at this point to just do something.

  • Hope – On a personal note, while words like disappointing, heartbroken, angry and appalled do not do justice to just how frustrating the news of another failed deal was, I do feel motivated by the fact that deals are now failing because the minority of countries are holding deals back, rather than most countries being unwilling or dismissive of climate science. With over 80 countries backing the transition to move away from fossil fuels, there is hope they will honour this in their own national targets, actions and progress. Many countries are also having their own sustainability wins that aren’t always given the spotlight as huge events like COP. The very fact that leaders were exhausted from trying to push through an action focussed deal and were disappointed by the outcome shows that commitment to climate change action is still a priority across the globe, and despite the political noise isn’t going anywhere. It doesn’t make it great, but it is marginally better than world leaders going on a 2 week holiday, agreeing that global warming is a hoax and going to the pub.

  • What does this mean for me and you? We may not be attending global conferences, but keeping the momentum on climate action going lives on in all of us. We all know people of different opinions to us, who we can engage in the transition to sustainability in different ways, by appealing to their likes and values. We can focus on the local, get involved in community projects near us and look after our natural environment around us. Just because world leaders couldn’t pick a phrase they can all agree on doesn’t stop the amazing work going by ordinary people all across the globe. So keep doing good things, keep positive news alive and don’t stop the hope or the fight in the face of this deal. It will be the accumulative impact of every individual’s actions that shape our future, so keep making your difference a positive one.

Another year, another COP, another blog article with key takeaways. While the outcome was undesirable to say the least, what goes on at COP is just one part of the global agenda on climate change. Every year will we be pushing for more radical action, but for now, this should only spur us on to keep making change, and ultimately showing that community power can achieve more than these grand conferences. Feel let down, feel angry, then channel that into something good 💪

Resources:

Halloween 2025 🎃

Happy Halloween folks! If you are an autumn lover like me then October really feels like being in the best season of the year. But just because spooky season is here doesn’t mean we have to give our planet a trick – be kind this year and make your Halloween a sustainable treat! Looking for ideas? Read on if you dare…….

  • Pumpkins – My spirit vegetable, if there is such a thing! If it’s not enough that I usually dress like one at this time of year, I like decorating with them and eating them. But more often than not a huge amount of pumpkins are wasted every year at Halloween. To reduce this wastage, try to plan to make the most use out of your pumpkins. You could decorate one, then use it later for cooking. Or when carving, save the seeds for making into snacks and put your carved pumpkin in the food recycling bin once it’s looking a little scarier than intended. For me, I love making pumpkin soup, but get creative and see what seasonal recipes you can create using this wonderful plant. I’m quite a fan if you can’t tell! 🍲

  • Decorations – Central to Halloween, but all that single-use plastic is truly terrifying! For just one night of the year, we don’t need to buy new stuff every time it rolls around. Hold onto your decorations and reuse them each year, prioritising plastic free options. As an example, this year I have put up some paper honeycomb decorations, and used paper clips to keep the ‘honeycomb’ sphere in place, so that I can simple repack them after Halloween and reuse them next year without fear of squashing them beyond use. If you decorate outside your house, avoid any decorations that may harm wildlife, such as fake spiders webs, which birds may mistake for real ones or get caught in, and anything that could break free and become litter. And if you are visited by trick-or-treaters, make some plastic free sweet treat options or buy snacks in recyclable packaging that will keep them happy without any of the waste. 🍬

  • Costumes – Dressing up? It can be easy to think you’ll need a brand new outfit this Halloween. And with most costumes being made of plastic-based materials, this is another area where the amount of waste produced will have you looking ghostly! This year, upcycle something you already own, visit your local charity shop or search for second hand options, or do a swap with a friend from a previous costume. Making your own often means you can be more creative too, or you can opt for your own comfortable clothing just with a seasonal twist. 🧟‍♀️

Halloween doesn’t need to be a scare on our environment – make it fun and creative while reducing waste, eating seasonally and respecting our wildlife neighbours. Let’s make this Halloween no trick and all treat!🎃🧛‍♂️👻🐈‍⬛🦇

GLL Book Club: Less by Patrick Grant

Less by Patrick Grant ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Recently, I needed to buy some new formal clothes for my new job, in particular a few top options smart enough for meetings. I looked around various high street stores and hit the same issue each time – quality. Regardless of brand, price, even fabric, I found the majority of items to be so thin they were almost see-through. You would think that clothing having the ability to actually cover the body would be one its primary functions, so when did we reach a point that most of the clothes sold to us are such bad quality?

If you’ve been mulling over quality of items nowadays, or how we seem to be wading through so much stuff, why we are forever in a cycle of decluttering or how a system built on constant pursuit of growth and sales can ever be sustainable, this is the read for you.

Intertwined with stories from his time in the clothing industry and how Community Clothing came about, Grant takes us through a brief history of how humans innovated their way into making things that added meaning to life, to our current shift to overconsumption and waste. This book covers the why behind what is driving this increase in consumption, the ways quality has been gradually reduced from most products, the shift in work since manufacturing industries dominated, and why so many people work in jobs that feel meaningless and unfulfilling and how having less, but better, can make us happier.

I’ve been reading this book on my morning commute for the past month or so. Aside from being super informative and interesting, I think it epitomises the shift of feeling in sustainability. At the beginning, sustainability usually materialises as turning off the lights, recycling, and having a vegan sausage roll. These individual actions are great (and I personally love a vegan sausage roll), but if when you recycle it just gets shipped abroad, or when you turn off the light the government open a new power station, we don’t see any real progress. The inconvenient truth is that our current system does not work for us or our planet. We need more radical systems change. And a fashion system built on churning out cheap, low quality plastic clothes is not sustainable.

What I enjoyed most about reading Less was understanding the examples of companies and individuals doing things a different way: going back to natural materials, repurposing, making local, and see the huge society wide benefits and returning to what Grant describes as a “high value, low consumption” model. The detail given to how his company Community Clothing operates is really inspiring for others can do the same. The book provides many examples of companies making high quality products of various goods, showing us the places where our money does good and where we can enjoy the use of our clothes and things for many years to come. I love the idea of having items for a lifetime, with their own stories and memories that can be passed on through the generations. This book celebrates making, whether for work or enjoyment, taking pride in the local and living a life with less stuff, but so much more good.

Review: Even though its not a Patrick Grant memoir (which may disappoint some people!), this book is such a good read for understanding how production and purchasing behaviours have changed over time, how to tell quality from basically single use clothes and how to be part of a more sustainable, community driven way of getting the things you need. Written in a no-nonsense yet friendly style, read this book and feel empowered to take on the big polluters while drinking from your favourite mug ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Where to read: Borrow from a friend, the library, buy second hand, or support your local book shop https://www.waterstones.com/book/less/patrick-grant/9780008663971

The summer I turned sustainable 🐚☀️🌊

Happy August all! This title is a bit misleading because a) I haven’t watched TSITP as I don’t have Amazon Prime and b) I don’t think you ever ‘turn’ sustainable, and if I did have some transformative realisation, it definitely happened long before this summer! However, before the summer is up, I wanted to share my reflections on sustainability this season.

Bear with me on a short personal tangent, it does get relevant! End of last year we had to get rid of our family car. I live in a rural area where public transport routes are available, but limited, and most people use a car to get around. Even though I would use public transport where able to, the car was still a significant possession for ease of mobility. When it went and we were unable to replace it, public transport became our only travel-based option. Commuting moved onto the bus, longer journeys to the train. And while improvements to both systems still need to be made to make them more reliable, many positives came out of this…

I recently tried to go on a walk with a family member, where we drove around 40 minutes to the car park early one morning, only to find it full, the roads very congested, and return rather disappointed. Fast forward a couple of weeks, I went again, but this time by the bus that I’d seen pulling into the village where the car park was situated, and had a fantastic day. No parking stress, no rush to get back before the ticket expired, just transport direct to the walking location. Especially in the busy summer months, going car-free makes getting around much less stressful, and if more followed suit, congestion on the roads might ease a bit too.

Additionally, recently I visited some family in Lincoln. I had never visited before, and one of the main reasons for having never been was the distance from home, which made for an off-putting drive, let alone train journey. However, finding ourselves carless, the train it was! The journey was a number of hours each way, but all of those hours were enjoyable and whizzed by! It made getting cross country much simpler, even with the multiple changes that had always put me off. And a really lovely city too! Having done that journey, it opens up so much more of the country, knowing that train travel can get you to so many locations without having to sit in endless queues on the motorway……

Due to our lack of vehicle, every event, trip and plan we’ve had for this year we’ve attended by train – whether concert, holiday or day trip. If you’ve been looking for a sign that life without a car is indeed OK, this is it. We’ve reduced our emissions to these events considerably and had a fantastic time too!

Other sustainability related favourites of the summer include…..

  • Watching the butterflies in my garden – so so many of them! Absolutely beautiful, and what a joy to just take a few minutes and watch them sunbathe or flit between the flowers 🦋
  • Prioritising nature – Watching the sunset, exercising outside, going for walks, all so important for reconnecting ourselves with nature and with the seasons. Soak up the remaining warm air and sunshine, it is not only good for us but reminds of what is important and what we are looking after by embracing sustainability ⛰️
  • Eating homegrown produce – We are lucky to have some space to grow fruit and vegetables, so the summer is when we best get to enjoy the fruits of our labour (literally!). From beans and courgettes added to (almost all) recipes to fresh raspberries for dessert, this season makes eating fresh even more satisfying. And you don’t need an allotment or huge garden space, one of my favourites is using our little pot of basil to add to dishes just before serving 🍴🍓🫐🍅🌽🥬🫛

Sometimes in summer, with its outdoor living, seasonal local food and good weather, it can feel in some ways easier to be sustainable. But all the benefits we get in this season – connection to the environment, plant-focussed meals, active travel – we can take into the rest of the year too, leaning into seasonal differences. Maybe as one season comes to an end, this is a chance to reflect again on our goals, our impact and our values, and carry them on into the rest of the year. The headlines are pretty bleak out there, but we can create little positive wins in our own lives, that when scaled up as a collective, become major actions. Thank you summer 💛

July 🦋

A bit of news and some ideas for action for the month of July.

Today marks Earth Overshoot Day for 2025, the day when humanity has used up all of this year’s annual budget of natural resources. Only 7 months into the year. This is sobering news. The greed and constant want of our economic and social systems have pushed us to live well beyond our natural means, using up future resources as if today is all that matters. This landmark day, as well as the rest of the news, can make for depressing reading and exacerbate feelings of hopelessness. But there is potential for change. The #MoveTheDate campaign highlights how many days we can move the overshoot date by implementing different solutions, such as expanding renewable energy, preventing food waste and improving women’s reproductive health. We can take this news as another reason to despair, or we can use this to fuel us into moving the date back for 2026. If we humans have created this problem, it only serves that we can create the solution too 💪

Right, let’s do something positive now, shall we? If you are looking for something to do this weekend which is fun, free and quick to get involved in, make sure you get involved in the Big Butterfly Count. Running until the 10th August, all you need is 15 minutes to observe the butterflies in your garden or local space and submit your results online or via the app, to contribute to data on these beautiful creatures and help protect them. I did this last Friday, and saw 10 different species in my garden! It was so exciting to observe some new species and a very joyful 15 minutes to be surrounded by so many colourful butterflies and see the impact of the bounty of wildflowers in my garden. Looking to improve butterfly habitat in your own garden? The Butterfly Conservation website has plenty of information on planting for butterflies. My advice – Grow a Buddleia plant, butterflies and other insects adore this plant, and it also looks fab and smells amazing! And be messy – a joyful mix of wildflowers in your garden creates a mini meadow, fantastic for pollinators and a gorgeous sight in summer.

Quick fire actions for July…

  • Leave a dish of water out for wildlife – in hot weather finding water can be more challenging, so make sure as well as the good work you are doing creating habitats to leave out a shallow dish for drinking purposes 💦
  • Put the laundry on the line – If you have one at home, leave the tumble dryer firmly switched off and dry your clothes outside. Save the energy and let the sun do the job for you ⛅
  • Get off the phone! – Summer is here: Go on a bike ride, sit in the garden, take a walk in nature. Rewild yourself and let these principles guide you for the rest of the year 🌿
  • Mid-year check-in – If you set sustainability goals for yourself back in January, check in and see where you are up to with them. If you’ve slipped off track, what can you do to bring your focus back? If you’ve achieved your goal, how can you now expand that action? Be kind to yourself and reflect on what can help you be more sustainable as the year goes on 📝

A mixed bag of a post here! But the essence is, there is a huge amount of work to be done, but we don’t have to be the problem, we can be the solution. Everyday we can choose to have a good day, be kind and make a difference. Happy July 🌞

GLL Book Club: There is no planet B by Mike Berners-Lee

There is no planet B by Mike Berners-Lee ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I’ll be honest, it has taken me a little while to get to the end of this book and get round to writing this review, but not for lack of interest or a negative reading experience. I got my (signed!) copy of this book at a live event with the author in the autumn of 2023. The talk was really interesting, and having read How bad are bananas?, I wanted to read more. But I procrastinated starting the book, because as someone who spends a lot of time in climate and sustainability matters, sometimes you just don’t have the mental energy to spend your free time reading about it too. It takes a lot of resilience to be involved in climate action, in the face of constant setbacks, political narratives and terrifying science. But having read it now I can say if you feel this way – this is exactly the book you need.

While How bad are bananas? focussed more on carbon foot printing and everyday items, There is no planet B focusses more on the big systems stuff; think food, energy, money and values. Not only does it break down the problem, but uses the data and science available to put forward the best possible solutions and how they would work. If you’ve ever (or still do) felt like the more you read about climate, the more confused you become and the less clear finding a solution seems to be, go read this book. If you’ve ever wondered what is meant by systems change, and what system we could actually change to, read this book. And if you or someone you know is in any kind of position of power, they should be familiar with the contents of this book in order to understand where we are now and where we should be headed.

Reading this, though full of stark reminders and an urgent need to implement these actions, was somehow somewhat calming for my eco-anxiety – just knowing that there are completely possible solutions already out there to transition our energy and our food etc to sustainable production means we have something we can support, promote and use as answers when people ask ‘well what will we do then?’ (especially to politicians and leaders!). Additionally, this book was full of more radical systematic changes, which are easy to get behind, such as a citizens wage and prison reform. There is also a fantastic section on the skills and values all humans need for this era of humanity, something we can all develop. If you like to find answers and are a solutions-focussed person, this book is a great resource for taking stock and understanding what we, in every part of our lives, can do to improve.

Don’t make the mistake I did. Don’t leave these kinds of books on the shelf just because the subject is heavy and its easier to go watch something fun (although that should be included as part of the balance). Developing your knowledge and feeling equipped with answers is more helpful than avoidance. And if its something that concerns you, this book is written in a very informal and enjoyable style, so no complex science explanations here! A definite recommendation from me, and at this point, better read sooner rather than later.

Review: No brainer read for everyone, to help visualise the kind of positive future we can choose to create and how we get there ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Find out more: https://theresnoplanetb.net/

Buy: https://www.waterstones.com/book/there-is-no-planet-b/mike-berners-lee/9781108821575 (Or buy second hand, borrow from the library or pass onto family or friends – share the wisdom!)