'Pre-loved' does sound far more romantic than 'second-hand' doesn't it? Or worse yet 'used' goods?
Unsurprisingly given my lack of enthusiasm for it, my mission last week of doing some second-hand shopping was unexciting and not easy.
After unsuccessfully scouting local charity shops for the items I was after, I took my search online. I used eBay and Preloved (a UK site), but they sure don't make it easy to buy items from individuals. I was searching for some larger household items (like a full length mirror), which I would need to pick up - but eBay doesn't allow you to search for local sellers argh... So every listing I opened seemed to be from Nottinghamshire or some other such lovely named far away town. I miss TradeMe! In the end I have managed to put bids on a few items so I will just wait and see. I still think it's important to buy second-hand where possible so I won't be giving up just yet, but I do wish they'd make it easier...
This week I found myself thinking long and hard about what more I can do to go green. Every now and then I come across a piece of information or something that inspires me to want to take my eco-journey further and faster. This week it was for some reason this cute video of wild tiger cubs. I read the article that says there are around 3,200 tigers left in the wild - that's about the population of the high school I went to! Usually when I read something like this I go off on a bit of a research tangent and read a lot of interesting, inspiring articles. Now in a few internet twists and turns this lead me back to thinking about some of the big eco challenges - and the one that stuck with me this week was the production of meat and other animal foods.
Since my original challenge to go vegetarian I haven't eaten any red meat (success!), but I have still been consuming other animal products. I don't drink milk but I do consume some other lower-lactose dairy products, as well as eggs and the occasional piece of fish. I've decided if I really want to step up to the green challenge in a big way I'm going to need to try going vegan - dairy and fishing industries are hugely damaging to the environment. There's is plenty of motivational material online. If you like positive motivation, this is a great video series on having a happy vegan life: Making the Connection. If you need a bit of negative motivation to push you over the edge here is a shocking video narrated by Paul McCartney (warning, this made me cry): Glass Walls.
So this week I've pledged to go 30 days vegan.
I'm actually quite excited about this challenge because I love food, I loved going vegetarian, and I love trying new recipes. I'd love to hear any recipes or ideas that you might have out there??
To kick start on a good note I'm off to make a batch of lentil soup - it's a rainy miserable day (yes London in June feels a lot like winter) so it'll be a nice pick me up!
Unsurprisingly given my lack of enthusiasm for it, my mission last week of doing some second-hand shopping was unexciting and not easy.
After unsuccessfully scouting local charity shops for the items I was after, I took my search online. I used eBay and Preloved (a UK site), but they sure don't make it easy to buy items from individuals. I was searching for some larger household items (like a full length mirror), which I would need to pick up - but eBay doesn't allow you to search for local sellers argh... So every listing I opened seemed to be from Nottinghamshire or some other such lovely named far away town. I miss TradeMe! In the end I have managed to put bids on a few items so I will just wait and see. I still think it's important to buy second-hand where possible so I won't be giving up just yet, but I do wish they'd make it easier...
This week I found myself thinking long and hard about what more I can do to go green. Every now and then I come across a piece of information or something that inspires me to want to take my eco-journey further and faster. This week it was for some reason this cute video of wild tiger cubs. I read the article that says there are around 3,200 tigers left in the wild - that's about the population of the high school I went to! Usually when I read something like this I go off on a bit of a research tangent and read a lot of interesting, inspiring articles. Now in a few internet twists and turns this lead me back to thinking about some of the big eco challenges - and the one that stuck with me this week was the production of meat and other animal foods.
Since my original challenge to go vegetarian I haven't eaten any red meat (success!), but I have still been consuming other animal products. I don't drink milk but I do consume some other lower-lactose dairy products, as well as eggs and the occasional piece of fish. I've decided if I really want to step up to the green challenge in a big way I'm going to need to try going vegan - dairy and fishing industries are hugely damaging to the environment. There's is plenty of motivational material online. If you like positive motivation, this is a great video series on having a happy vegan life: Making the Connection. If you need a bit of negative motivation to push you over the edge here is a shocking video narrated by Paul McCartney (warning, this made me cry): Glass Walls.
So this week I've pledged to go 30 days vegan.
I'm actually quite excited about this challenge because I love food, I loved going vegetarian, and I love trying new recipes. I'd love to hear any recipes or ideas that you might have out there??
To kick start on a good note I'm off to make a batch of lentil soup - it's a rainy miserable day (yes London in June feels a lot like winter) so it'll be a nice pick me up!
