For a Sustainable Lifestyle
Zero Waste Spring Cleaning Guide
What if we turned Black Friday into Green Friday?
Black Friday is a concept born in the USA and continues to spread all over the world. It marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season and bargain hunting, encouraging overproduction and overconsumption without worrying about its environmental impact. Some are not fooled and counterattack by pleading for a Green Friday.
The origins of Black Friday
The origin of the term “Black Friday” as we know it today goes back to the 50's in Philadelphia. It was invented by the city police who dreaded the day after Thanksgiving, the last Thursday in November. Indeed, this day officially opens the Christmas shopping season and the approach of the Army-Navy football game. An impressive crowd would then come to town causing terrible traffic jams, traffic accidents, crowded sidewalks, shoplifting and other scenes of violence. No need to tell you that the term Black Friday did not have a positive connotation. The brands tried to change the term in vain. With all of the sales made, the Friday after Thanksgiving has become one of the most profitable days of the year. And because accountants used black ink to signify profit when recording each day's entries (and red to indicate loss), the name ultimately stuck...
Today, Black Friday has become a real tradition and has spread around the world. This is THE day of discounted deals! In fact, the sales now run from Thanksgiving until the following Monday. Monday is called Cyber Monday, the day for exclusively online promotions, and has even overtaken Black Friday in terms of revenue.
In 2019, Black Friday weekend generated $25 billion in the United States. An increasing share of the sales is now done online which unfortunately does not prevent scenes of hysteria in stores where some come to hands for a television or a simple sweater... 2020 will probably be different on this point and it is good news!
Black Friday: a real bargain?
Although Black Friday remains a day of incredible promotions, some consumers are increasingly skeptical of this phenomenon. With sales all year round, sometimes slashing prices up to 80%, you end up wondering what the real price of a product is and if we are not just getting ripped off the rest of the year.
But more importantly, the awareness of climate change, the impact of hyper-consumption on our natural resources and on our environment is giving rise to more and more reflection.
Black Friday is responsible for tons of greenhouse gas emissions, due to the traffic of clients to the malls but also to the transportation of millions of packages home delivered, not to mention the waste produced by packaging and the accumulation of unnecessary products that will eventually be thrown in the trash.
If we take the example of textile, the 3rd most polluting industry in the world, this represents huge amounts of poor quality clothing, made from plastic (nylon, polyester, acrylic or polyamide) which requires toxic chemicals during their manufacturing process, polluting the air, the rivers but also the soils and the oceans once discarded. I was shocked to learn that in the United States clothes are on average worn 5-7 times before being put in the trash and that 60% of clothes are thrown away within a year of manufacture! To this incredible waste is added the working conditions and exploitation of textile workers (women and even children).
Facing this (literally) black Friday for the environment, new movements want to take the opposite view of Black Friday such as the “Buy Nothing Day” born in Canada in 1992 or the “Small Business Saturday” which encourages to support small local businesses. But it is above all “Green Friday” that has been gaining ground in recent years.
What do we do for Green Friday?
Green Friday aims to make as many people as possible aware of the dangers of overproduction and overconsumption and offers alternatives. Here are a few examples to consider:
- We go outside! But we are not going to lock ourselves up in the stores, we go outside to reconnect with nature by taking a good breath of fresh air in the forest, at the sea, in the mountains. I guarantee you a much higher level of happiness than if you buy the latest gadget at half price.
- If you want to do your Christmas shopping or treat yourself, prefer local shops, small businesses and responsible and sustainable products! Visit second-hand websites, there are new or very good quality items at low prices.
- Take part in a waste collection in the forest, on a beach or even in your neighborhood.
- Take online classes to learn how to sew, repair household appliances, cook, grow your own food...
The idea here is not to make consumers feel guilty but to make them think about what they really need, to buy responsibly and thus push companies to change their practices.
So, are you ready to make Black Friday green?
10 eco-friendly habits we should keep after the COVID-19 crisis
Photo by Erik Mclean
The coronavirus pandemic has forced us to change many habits in our daily lives. Some of them, such as the use of plastic gloves, bags or disposable wipes and masks can definitely not become the new norm. Yet some others are worth keeping for the sake of our health and the environment after the coronavirus crisis.
A better diet for us and our planet
It’s safe to say that our food consumption has been one of the habits most impacted by the lockdown. Restaurants and bars had to close their dining rooms and quickly pivot to home delivery and curbside pick-up. Pasta, bread, flour, and meat have been difficult to find at grocery stores after everyone stocked up on food and beverages. As a result, most people have found themselves cooking more than usual, as shown by the surge in cooking and recipes websites traffic.[1]
1. Grocery shopping efficiency
With fewer trips to the grocery store to limit our exposure to the virus, we’ve had to get more organized and rethink the way we make our grocery shopping list, plan our meals for the week, and store fresh food.
Because of that, we now spend less time wandering supermarket aisles, which means less temptations, and we’ve mostly been focusing on purchasing necessities.
The extension of home deliveries and curbside pick-up have become very convenient and felt safer especially for people at risk. Here in Charlotte, NC, Farm Fresh Carolinas does a great job bringing fresh local and organic produce directly to homes and offices. I have personally reduced drastically my plastic waste and number of trips to the grocery stores as Farm Fresh Carolinas uses reusable insulated bags and accepts my reusable produce bags to pack and deliver delicious fruits and veggies.
Another great resource for the Charlotte area readers is Lake View Farms, they are your good old milkman guys, who deliver hormone free, antibiotic free, free range dairy in glass bottles that are sanitized and reused for other home deliveries.
Local producers are feeding their community and deserve all of our support. On top of supporting a small business, local products are full of flavor and nutrients as they don't travel long distances to reach our kitchen, while their carbon footprint is significantly reduced too.
The support to local farmers and shops has provided a sense of community. During the pandemic, there has been a shift to communities that has helped local businesses carry out initiatives and give back to the world. Locally, The Loyalist Market, a restaurant downtown Matthews, NC coordinated with other businesses, the distribution of a free sandwich to any child eligible for free lunches in the North Carolina school system, feeding up to 700 children a day!
2. Homemade baking and cooking
Your social media feed has likely been filled with mouthwatering images of sourdough breads. During the lockdown, people have rediscovered the joy of cooking and baking. Google even shows recipe trends by state: pound cake in North and South Carolina, crepes in Utah, pancakes in Vermont, egg salad in Colorado. The most-searched recipe in America during the confinement was the banana bread.
Home-cooked meals help to save money and have a positive impact on your health by reducing "chronic diet-related illnesses, like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity".[2]
3. Grow your food
Home gardening bloomed around the world with quarantine. U.S. seed company W. Atlee Burpee & Co sold more seed in March 2020 than any time in its 144-year history[3]. There are different reasons for this sudden enthusiasm: some are concerned over food security and try to be more self-sufficient, while others are looking for a soothing activity (though the two aren’t mutually exclusive).
Growing plants boasts many benefits. It lowers stress and improves overall mood, releasing dopamine and serotonin in our bodies and is a great way to get moving.
If you would like to grow your own food or have already started your small corner of paradise in the Charlotte, NC area and think you could use some advice, Erin at the Patio Farmer is your go-to person.
4. Compost
What's better than feeding your garden soil with your food scraps?
About 30% of our kitchen trash can is made up of food scraps. Once discharged in the landfill, this organic material gets trapped with the rest of our solid waste and lacks the oxygen it needs to decompose. It produces methane, a greenhouse gas that’s 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide and is the main cause of global warming.
There are many ways you can deal with food scraps. If you live in an apartment, the Bokashi or the worm bin are great composting systems for small spaces. And if you don’t want to start your own compost, see if one of your neighbors (or perhaps a farmer) has one and would be interested in your food waste. If you live in Charlotte, NC, check out Crown Town Compost Services! Enter the code "EKOLOGICALL" when you sign-up for their composting services and get one month free ($20-$30 value).
A caring lifestyle
1. Exercise
Because most gyms and parks are closed, streets have been filled with people of all ages in pursuit of some exercise and fresh air. Cities like New York, Seattle, Oakland or Charlotte even opened vast stretches of their streets to walkers, joggers, bicyclists and others seeking outdoor space. We all know that exercise has many benefits on our physical and mental health. If you have started exercising during the confinement or just kept practicing an activity, continue as it is a great way to support your immune system and mental health.
2. Slow down
Lockdown also rhymes with slow down. We’ve suddenly had more time to enjoy the simple things, like having a nice chat with a neighbor, watching the plants bloom, and calling friends and relatives.
The quarantine pushed some of us to reflect on our lives that can feel like a hamster wheel sometimes: run from one place to another, jump from a meeting to the next, attend as many events as our agenda can fit, wait for the weekend, rest and repeat.
A lot of people question the desire to go back to this “normal”. Maybe we don’t need to put so much pressure on ourselves, maybe we don’t need to fill every moment with a commitment.
Of course, for some other less privileged people, the lockdown did not mean more time to reflect on life but instead meant more work and more stress.
Nevertheless, we all need to take time to slow down from time to time and think about what makes us feel good instead of rushing through life with closed eyes.
3. Care for others
The Covid-19 crisis was another demonstration on how everything in our world is interconnected. In response, we have shown that we can come together as a worldwide community to protect people at higher risks, including our elderly and all of the front-liners, and look out for each other. Donors have shown an incredible generosity during these unprecedented times. More than $1bn-worth of charity was given by individual Americans at the beginning of May, 2020.[4]
In the South Charlotte area, our community has raised, between mid-March and beginning of June 2020, over $60,000 to help our neighbors in need, feeding 65 families that couldn’t count on the school cafeteria to provide free meals to their children anymore.
This is a sign of hope that shows the world’s capacity to make a difference.
Hopefully, these changes have contributed to nurture our mental health and urged us to reconsider our true priorities.
Conscious consumerism
1. Homemade - DIY
The lockdown, not only, encouraged us to cook more but also to try to make our own cleaning wipes, hand sanitizer as well as sew our own masks. Many people realized it’s easier and cheaper to DIY instead of buying.
2. Rethink our purchases
Staying home has also allowed us to reflect on our consumption habits and reconsider where we want to spend our money. Many of us have been supporting local retailers, avoiding purchasing items that are manufactured at the other end of the world.
Also not succumbing to the temptation to buy gadgets or clothes probably helped many to realize that their consumer behavior is about instant gratification, not lasting happiness. Happiness is not for sale, it’s hidden in simple things.
People had also more time at home to sort out their belongings and sell online those they don’t use anymore. The second hand clothing market now represents $32 Billion which pushed Walmart to partner with ThredUp “a resale marketplace for used fashion items ... to sell through its online platform”. The fashion industry is the third most polluting industry in the world, so that's good news for our planet.
Making our products, buying second hand and purchasing less, reduce our impact on the planet by limiting the amount of natural resources extracted for Earth, the energy necessary to produce and transport those items and eventually the demand on companies to produce always more and cheaper. The cherry on the top: your wallet thanks you!
3. Work from home
Up to half of American workers are currently working from home versus 15% pre-Covid-19.[5]
Beyond the multiple positive effects that working from home has: no commute, increased productivity, more flexibility, drop of CO2 emissions, less gas... It also has several positive outcomes on goods consumption. We use less paper, energy, coffee cups’ lids, beverage bottles, utensils, food packaging, plastic bags and apparel!
Work from home has eliminated business travel almost overnight and the need to commute for most of us. Transportation accounts for 28% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., and light-duty vehicles are responsible for 59% percent of the transportation sector's emissions, way ahead of aircraft (9%), work commute plays its part in it. Remote work reduces greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel consumption and improves air and water quality.
The benefits for the workers, the companies and the environment will likely change the way we work and travel for business post Covid-19.
***
Nobody wants to see people lose their lives, their loved ones, or their livelihoods. But crises bring changes, and not all of those changes are bad. Times like these give us the opportunity to take care of our physical and mental health, improve our quality of life, and protect our planet. It’s important to seize this opportunity and develop new ways of thinking, new behavior, and new habits. If you are thinking about becoming a more conscious consumer and lower your waste at home, sign up for a free zero-waste online class.
The changes we’ve had to make come with many positive outcomes:
- Reducing food waste
- A healthier lifestyle
- Saving money
- Spend time on what makes us happy
- Decluttering our lives from the unnecessary
- Reducing pollution
It’s worth keeping those habits, don't you think? What habits from the confinement will you keep?
As I write this blog post, numbers of cases are still increasing in North Carolina and other states in the USA. Please wear a mask, stay six feet away from each other and be safe.
[2]https://time.com/5827315/coronavirus-diet/
[4]https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2020/05/06/how-generous-are-americas-rich
[5] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/06/09/magazine/remote-work-covid.html