Everlane to the rescue?

I am really struggling lately with living somewhere cold, needing warm clothes, wanting them to be sustainable but also, being vegan. I feel like I can not be the only person with this dilemma but also can not find an obvious solution! I can find sweatshirts and fleeces all over but nothing that I can wear in an office environment that doesn't contain wool. Which butts heads with the vegan part. I know I could go to a second hand store and find some vegan options, but they are never cotton (believe me, I have spent HOURS on this project) and I really don't want to wear spun plastic. So where does that leave me? Well so far, very cold in Michigan.

I happened to be on Everlane earlier this week as they had some new underwear (my current selection is reaching the end of it's tenure in my drawer...) and saw that have some cotton sweaters coming soon!! Everlane is such a great place to go to know that anything you get is made as fairly and thoughtfully as possible but I always see things I love made of leather or wool, so to see somethings that aren't tees or sweaters come out made of cotton makes me very excited. I have to wait a month or so but I am so hopeful this will be the answer to the issues I have been having over the past 3 winters! When I was in England it was never as much of an issue because it was never this cold...

New beginnings

I recently wanted an episode of Adam Ruins Everything on 'Going Green' and his ending take away was that, as individuals, we will not make any differences significant enough to make real change and therefore, our best bet is to try and build community action and inspire each other as nothing apart from big business is going to change the environment in the dramatic way we need to.

As you can tell based on the name of my blog I do not totally agree with the sentiment... But it did inspire me to get back on my blog (and Instagram page!) and get back to writing about living zero waste!

I recently got a new job in a sustainability related department and it's so great being surrounded by people thinking about the environment and trying to make a difference on a truly global scale. I'm learning a lot about our research projects and meeting so many students with amazing ideas who are applying for funding to get to put those ideas into action.

Thanks to the generous endowments to the Institute, so many projects are getting off the ground and communities all over the world are benefiting from this work. From research into preserving the Great Lakes to conserving natural habitats in  Ghana to helping build up communities in Detroit, so much is being learned and shared. And this wouldn't be possible without the one man who started it all with a donation to sustainability research... So Adam, I've said it before and I'll say it again. One person is plenty.

Summer Living

It's been a month since my last post and boy, has it been a busy few weeks for me! Summer finally hit us here in Michigan and with it, a whole host of new zero waste challenges for grilling with friends, enjoying time by the pool and traveling. Sadly the weather has only been nice for one weekend since Memorial Day, but it's given me plenty of time to prepare for the rest of the summer without creating more waste in the mean time!

Being busy for me often means creating more waste. I have less time to prepare and think about what I need and therefore I inevitably have to buy something in packaging I don't want. Our first warm weekend we were desperate to get outside and hangout by the pool and eat with friends. Suddenly it became clear we have nothing suitable to bring drinks to the pool with us (we have rules about glass and open containers!), nothing for me to bring to grill on (as I'm vegan I don't generally like putting my food directly on a shared grill) and no suitable covering for our serving bowl to take a dish to a potluck. We quickly learned we needed to be more prepared if we wanted to maintain the low amount of waste we have been making.

I mentioned to a friend at work my issue with grilling and if she had any suggestions as to what I could buy to cook on a grill with. The next day, she brought me in a spare cast iron pan she had at home for me to use! It's the perfect size for a veggie burger and some veggies to grill and small enough to carry in your bag without weighing it down too much! How awesome are friends?? Patrick and I also purchased two stainless steel tumbler mugs and straws from Corkcicle to solve our outdoor drinks problem. They keep your drink cool for hours, even in the sun! Perfect for lemonade or maybe some sangria by the pool. They even have a special grippy surface on the bottom minimising the chance that it will be knocked over.

I'm still on the lookout for something suitable to act as a more secure cover for our serving dish but in the meantime holding a tea towel around the top seems to be doing the trick if we aren't going far.

This weekend is scheduled to be gorgeous here in Ann Arbor and with July 4th right around the corner too, I'm looking forward to getting a lot of use out of our new waste minimising additions!

Sustainable Business

I recently went to the Positive Business Conference facilitated by Michigan Ross School of Business. It was a two day event focusing on positive culture in the workplace, case studies of great places, places that turned things around, research studies, and workshops to better understand why this is so important and how to ensure that your workplace is living up to this standard. It was so awesome and inspiring to be in a room full of such empowering people and hearing them speak about their journeys and the thing that struck me the most as the level of authenticity in everything they said. There was no hidden agenda, they were open with their personal experiences of hardship and depression and also with their business practices because they are all wonderful people doing wonderful things!

I was also struck by how much they talked about sustainability and how it is the only purpose that fits every business in the entire world. That it is no longer a sideline issue and for companies to succeed, consumers are forcing them to care more about these issues. Yes, that's right. WE, the consumer, are making a difference by acting with our wallets. Every time we buy something we are sending a message about the kinds of things we want and what type of product we are interested in and every time we buy something that is more sustainable than our alternatives, we are sending the right message - and they are listening!

Since Unilever bought Seventh Generation they have vowed to increase their sustainability efforts across all their product lines which I think is a massive step in the right direction. I always try and support small and local businesses where I can, but seeing a huge company make a commitment to being sustainable means that so much more of a difference could be made. I have realised from these comments from the conference, that I am making more of a difference being one person in a huge institution trying to make a difference by joining forces with other like minded individuals that I would be if I left and created my own perfectly sustainable company. I feel inspired to make even more of an impact during my time here and to keep that goal in mind as I move through my career. My three take aways: Be Authentic, Be Sustainable, Be Positive. What wonderful words to try and live by.