Seedling Magazine Issue #3 - Feb | March 2019

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Sustainable Living on a budget by mary imgrund Living ethically and sustainably is a privilege, in that not every household has the means or time to live according to their values; that being said, the idea that you can buy your way out of waste is a marketing ploy by companies who just want your wellmeaning dollars. It’s an oxymoron that you can buy more things to reduce human waste, and frankly the tenets of capitalism and collectivist action are often at odds. It’s hard to wade through all of these sponsored posts, aspirational blogs, and lifestyle gurus to find out what works for you on your budget. It’s also easy to be discouraged. Personally, I began my journey towards sustainable and ethical living through my insatiable appetite for politics and environmental justice (though I didn’t call it that at the time). Being an activist isn’t just about reading the news or tweeting, so I began changing my lifestyle to better reflect my values. I did it through both undergrad and graduate school, and for a lot of that time, I had next to no money. Here’s my advice on how to do the same, no matter your budget. 1. The Perfect is the Enemy of the Good The first and most important thing in this journey is to realize that no one is perfect, and just making an effort to stay informed and be an advocate, in any capacity, is the end goal. The destination is the journey. Don’t feel bad if you need new work shoes or want to buy seedling magazine | 16
something frivolous or order delivery once in a while. The bulk of the blame for pollution and human exploitation lies at the feet of the companies that make that choice. We need policy change in both the private and public sector, and living sustainably is your way of doing what you can today. You don’t need to do everything at once, and you don’t need to hold yourself to ridiculous standards. That just sets you up for for failure. 2. Sustainable Eating The kitchen is one of the most wasteful rooms of your house, or corners of your dorm. Everything is packaged and a lot of foods have either a high carbon footprint (meat) or cause social harm (quinoa). Whilst I don’t advise you to try to photosynthesize instead, you can make a few very small changes to have a drastic impact. For food, you want to avoid things packaged in plastic and yes, that unfortunately includes vegan meat alternatives. You can DIY many alternatives, like oat milk, which end up being cheaper per pound than what you can get at the grocery store anyway. It’s also not necessary to eat organic food, but you can still try to avoid the “dirty dozen”. The rest of your kitchen likely generates waste as well. Simple replacements can make a huge impact. For containers, vintage stores are your friend. You can find glassware to store your veggies in to make them last longer, which will be cheap, more easily recyclable than plastic, and look beautiful. Why buy a pack of mason jars on Amazon when you could find dozens for next to nothing at the thrift store? Finally, if you meal prep and make your lunches for work over the weekend, you won’t need to (or have an excuse to) eat out at the office. These small expenses add up over the weeks, and by avoiding eating out, you’ll be healthier, save money, and live more sustainably. Just make sure you use your reusable containers (which you can get at the thrift store). 3. Invest, Patch, and Thrift Think of your clothes, no matter how much you paid for them, as an investment. If you can’t afford expensive ethicallymade clothing, that’s ok! These brands (at least the honest ones that aren’t upcharging to pay for Patched jeans advertisements) pay more for their materials and labor, so their pieces are simply worth more. That doesn’t mean that you should treat fast fashion as fast fashion if that’s what you can afford. Learn to patch your clothes, and don’t wash them unless they’re actually dirty. You shouldn’t wash your hair every day, so imagine what happens to your clothes when you wash them harshly after every wear. Besides treating your clothes with care, when they do rip or become damaged, find ways to fix or repurpose them. Patching and altering clothes extends their life and can often make them look more stylish. Patched elbows can look posh, and there are myriad methods of mending holes artfully, like darning or embroidery. If you do need new clothes, check your local thrift store. Admittedly, if you live in a rural or suburban area, you might not find such stylish clothes as you’d find in an urban area, but the great thing about thrift stores is that their offerings are always shifting. Thrifting supports a circular economy that continues to give purpose to the goods we’ve already made, which preserves more materials and creates less waste even than recycling. 4. A Sustainable Home Home renovations are incredibly expensive. I recently walked into a home renovations store to price cabinets and walked right back out when the first I saw was $1,000. If you can afford to pay an artisan to make handmade items, absolutely do so. My boyfriend makes tables and other wooden goods from all salvaged materials, and his clients actually help keep wood from being discarded, but not everyone has that privilege. seedling magazine | 17
Page 1 and 2: seedling ISSUE #2 | DEC/JAN 2018-19
Page 3 and 4: "You can have confidence in the Inn
Page 5 and 6: what you're saying "This is excelle
Page 7 and 8: soul 10......making new habits: the
Page 9 and 10: going to give What The Health a try
Page 11 and 12: with Adriene. Not only is she chari
Page 13 and 14: seedling magazine | 13
Page 15: "life is either a daring adventure
Page 21 and 22: system. We also have a daughter now
Page 23 and 24: What our kids have learned from our
Page 25 and 26: But I didn't mind. Knowing what wen
Page 27 and 28: yummy vegan Recipes from vegan cook
Page 29 and 30: Ingredients - 1 large sweet potato
Page 31 and 32: Healthy Naturally sweetened Full of
Page 33 and 34: Chocolate Whiskey Sauce 100g dai
Page 35 and 36: carotene vitamin A, and vitamin K.
Page 37 and 38: If you’re interested in the circu
Page 39 and 40: to drive this bad boy home. Other i
Page 41 and 42: imbalances, and this can sometimes
Page 43 and 44: Carmarthenshire, Wales By Sabree Si
Page 45 and 46: This is all well and good, but how
Page 49 and 50: ut they last years and will likely
Page 51: get involved Seedling magazine is l

Seedling Magazine Issue #3 - Feb | March 2019

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