Hannah's Veggie Lifestyle

In my last blog post on fast fashion I promised I'd share some tips for reducing the amount of fast fashion we buy, so here it is! Below you'll find lots of options for keeping your wardrobe fresh without giving into the temptation of fast fashion as a quick fix. If you've got good intentions to stop buying fast fashion but it's feeling like an overwhelming challenge, why not take part in Oxfam's Second Hand September ? Or if you want to start right now, you could do your own version in August instead! Once you've completed a month, hopefully quitting forever won't seem as hard.  And if you do end up buying fast fashion, don't give up completely. Just like with any lifestyle change, slipping up is often inevitable, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. Admit that you made a mistake, return the item if you can (or if not, make sure you get good wear out of it), and carry on with your commitment to buying less fast fashion. Lowering the amount...

XR's hourglass logo, to represent time running out for many species. At the beginning of my second year of university I realised I felt a bit useless. First year of university flew by with settling in, going out, and getting to grips with my course. I was very lucky to be coming back to Cardiff last September with an amazing church family, course-mates I could always count on and a fab group of housemates.  But after the first couple of weeks of settling back in, I realised that other than church, I wasn't really doing anything to help other people and make a lasting impact. I decided I wanted it to be something environmental, so, I messaged my friend Sophie after seeing her post about Extinction Rebellion online. After chatting to Sophie, I decided to go along to a meeting. I went along to a meeting (dragging my housemate along too because I was a bit nervous) having done absolutely no research on what, or who, Extinction Rebellion were. I don't really know why, as I...

Lots of people are using extra free time to have a spring clean and redecorate the house (or just watch Netflix- which is totally fine too). But if you're feeling extra motivated to changes things up around the house, why not make some changes for the good of the planet too? Here are 5 easy ways to make your home more eco-friendly...  1. Get serious about food waste. Via Unsplash It's become pretty common to have a food waste bin now, but we should still be trying to put as little in it as possible. When you chuck out food, you're not only wasting money, but also wasting all the energy and resources used to produce and transport it. Even if you're pretty good at not letting the edible parts of food go to waste, there are lots of ways to reuse food scraps. Potato peelings can be baked with a little oil, salt and pepper for some zero-waste crisps, coffee grounds are a great fertiliser for your plants, and you can regrow loads of fruits and vegetables from scraps (...

Is its versatility speeding up deforestation? I gave up counting years ago how many times I'm asked 'what about the environmental impact of soya?' when people find out I'm a vegetarian. I understand why they ask- it's a hugely argued topic that just seems to cause more and more concern as we're encouraged to eat less and less meat. But if it's true that 90% of soya is used for animal production, then why are veggies and vegans always the first to get the blame? It's true- soybean production is on the rise. Since the 1950s, it has increased 15 times over. Even if you don't think you're eating it, you probably are. It's in the obvious like soy sauce, tofu and some veggie burgers. But it's also in a lot of everyday foods that we consume without even realising. Around 27% of vegetable oil is made from soya, and it's also commonly found in many household staple like bread, ice cream and cereal. According to WWF , soya production is t...

Is the water consumption worth it? Daria Shevtsova ~ Pexels Yes, you might have spent the last 15 minutes perfecting that avo-on-toast picture to let your Instagram followers know  you're #cleaneating. But if I were to tell you that the avocado industry is causing families living nearby to lose their clean water supply, does it still count as clean eating? A world without avocados everywhere might sound odd now, but when they were first brought to the UK in the 1960's they were not a big hit. Marks and Spencer introduced them as 'Avocado pears' in shops in 1968, but the name caused a lot of confusion. One customer sent in a complaint after stewing the 'pear' and serving it with custard. It wasn't until the 2010's that the fruit (I know, no wonder people got confused) really took off. Now it seems to be in everything- from chocolate mousse to sushi, french fries to soup... you name it, it probably (definitely) exists. There's even a Nati...

Is your morning coffee costing the lives of billions of bees? There's no denying it- plant-based milk is everywhere. In 2018, there was uproar in the US as a shortage of the popular oat milk brand 'Oatly' broke out, due to sales growing faster than even the company expected.  Demand for cow's milk is falling as people begin to choose alternative milks such as coconut, soya and even pea. However, this isn't without causing some controversy, of course. One plant milk in particular has come under fire recently, due to claims that its production is causing the deaths of billions of honey bees. Now, I'm not saying that we should just give up and switch back to drinking cow's milk. The 2018 University of Oxford study shows that dairy milk produces almost three times more greenhouse gasses than any milk alternative available.   So whichever plant milk you choose, it's still so much better for the environment than dairy. But if you're an almond milk lo...

As veganism continues to rise in popularity, so does the amount of backlash claiming that going vegan isn't as good for the planet as people think. From avocados to coconuts, foods popular in vegan diets are now claimed to be causing serious harm to the environment. But what really is the truth?  Vegans eat more than just salad, right? So you've seen the news. Climate change is happening, and unless we start to significantly reduce carbon emissions, it's only going to get worse. More and more people are changing their lifestyles to reduce their individual carbon footprint, whether that's ditching flying, cutting down on plastic. One of the biggest ways people are doing their bit for the environment is by reducing meat and dairy intake. A University of Oxford study found that if everybody followed a plant-based diet, greenhouse gas emissions from food production would be reduced by 49%, and there would be a whopping 76% reduction in land use.   Early Bird...