Hello and welcome to my first “smart short” – I intend on writing more concise overviews of topics which might go alongside some of the lengthier stuff I address in other posts. In this case, I am planning a couple of “shorts” which go alongside the current series on sustainable consumerism. Let me know if …
Continue reading “Smart Shorts I: Freeganism and dumpster diving”
Hello again lovely people! This blog post is the second of a series on sustainable consumerism, focusing mainly on the environmental benefits and limitations of different purchasing patterns. Today I will introduce minimalism as a concept, why people do it, and what these environmental impacts might be. This topic is very broad and covers a …
Hi folks! I’m taking a new direction again today and focusing on sustainable consumerism, starting with the idea of the sharing economy, what it is, how it works and why it might be considered sustainable. This article is the first of a couple (plus some short ones) on the topic – feel free to comment …
Continue reading “Sustainable Consumerism I: the Sharing Economy”
Today’s post is a little different. Through the bombardment of news updates, rules, regulations and scaremongering around the current Covid-19 pandemic, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and hopeless. As such, this article will look at some of the positive aspects of the global situation: firstly in terms of the potential environmental benefits, then in …
Welcome to the second part of this two-part special collaboration on palm oil (Part I here!). Both of these posts are a collaboration with fellow science blogger Beth from Green Ambition, so if you enjoy what you read here check out her site! In part one, we examined the reasons behind palm oil’s undeniable negative …
Welcome to this two-part special series on the impacts and production of palm oil. Both of these posts are a collaboration with fellow science blogger Beth from Green Ambition (https://greenambition.co.uk/) so if you enjoy what you read here check out her fantastic site! Introduction Over the last decade, palm oil has become the most widely …
Okay, so I thought that perhaps a nice way to summarise what I had learned about veganism so far in previous blog posts would be to do it for myself. And what better time than the glorious period of failed resolutions that is January? I joined the approximately half a million people (since 2014) who …
Continue reading “Veganuary: going cold tofu on meat and dairy”
According to a study by Oxford University, going vegan is the single biggest way to reduce your impact on the planet (The Guardian, 2019). Our current food system causes biodiversity loss (through deforestation of woodlands for pasture land), competition for land, water and energy with other industries, and greenhouse gas emissions (Peters et al., 2016). …
Continue reading “Sustainability and veganism II: the environmental impacts of diet”
Introduction to air quality Anthropogenic activities are a major cause of air pollution. Whilst historically it was the actions of the industrial sector which led to major air pollution events (such as the famous Great Smog of London in 1952) in the Western world, today the transport sector plays an increasingly devastating role in making …
Continue reading “Air quality and exercise: should I be worried?”
Sustainability and diet Sustainability is one of those environmental “hot topics”, which is so often talked about but rarely specifically explained. According to the Brundtland definition (presented in the Brundtland Report of 1987 to the UN General Assembly), sustainable development is: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future …
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