Easy changes - Tips for more sustainable lifestyle

I chose these words by Carl Sagan, a famous American scientist, as an epigraph to our lesson with my second-year students last Wednesday (blended learning design of the lesson is available here). Together we explored the blogs of sustainable influencers in order to make a list of changes that everyone should introduce into their lives to help the environment.

Let's take a closer look at the word "sustainable". It has several meanings and you can read the definitions with examples in Oxford or Cambridge dictionaries. In our context it means "conserving an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources" or "causing little or no damage to the environment, and therefore able to continue for a long time". 

Sustainable lifestyle - стиль життя, що завдає мало шкоди навколишньому середовищу.

Synonyms of sustainable lifestyle - eco-friendly, green-living lifestyle.

Sustainable influencers are bloggers who use social media to promote a sustainable lifestyle.

 Here are my favourites:

1.Trash is Tossers by Lauren Singer from New York who lives a zero waste lifestyle.

2. Use Less by Signe Hansen from Denmark about a simple lifestyle with less waste.

3. Sustainably Chic by Natalie Kay from Florida with tips and tricks for creating an environmentally friendly wardrobe and beauty routine.

4. Sarah Wilson's blog about minimalism.

And here are some of the tips on the eco-friendly lifestyle that we posted on Twitter under hashtags #GoGreenandEcofriendly and #greenlifestyle.

Decluttering with Marie Kondo

Following the discussion about decluttering we had yesterday with the girls from my group I want to touch upon this topic in today's post.

Tidying up the shelves in our classroom we all agreed that gathering clutter isn't good so I mentioned Marie Kondo's book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. Kondo's method of organizing is known as the KonMari method, and consists of gathering together all of one's belongings, one category at a time, and then keeping only those things that "spark joy" and choosing a place for everything from then on.

Here's the link to the video I promised and a little vocabulary about decluttering.

Tidy up with KonMari #1 in New York

Vocabulary

stuff - речі

organize - організовувати

clutter - непотріб

declutter - позбуватися непотребу

tidy up - прибирати

pile - стопка

space - простір

storage space - простір для зберігання речей

category - категорія

sort by category - впорядковувати за категоріями

spark joy - викликати радість

drawer - ящик (столу, комоду)

fold - складати (одяг)

papers - папери

get rid of - позбуватися

garbage - сміття

closet - комора

store vertically - зберігати вертикально

put in order - приводити в порядок

Decluttering has become fashionable nowadays as more and more people decide that they need less things in their lives and start practising minimalism as their life philosophy. Minimalist vloggers (and bloggers) are immensely popular. There are lots of videos on Youtube where the concept and advantages of minimalism are explained. If you are interested in this topic, let me know in the comments and I'll guide you through minimalism-related stuff online.

Happy St. Valentine's Day

All over the UK people are making, wearing and sharing green hearts in the run-up to Valentine’s Day, for the things we love and want to protect from climate change. It’s a beautiful way to begin a conversation about the things we love that climate change threatens, and the clean energy choices we must make to protect our world.

Make your green heart to show your love to the Earth.

Learn more here.

Today is Meatless Monday

Meatless Monday is an international campaign that encourages people not to eat meat on Mondays to improve their health and the health of the planet. It was started in 2003 as a public health awareness program. Meatless Monday is based in the United States, but meatless days (Monday in particular) are gaining popularity worldwide. Meat-free Mondays exist in the United Kingdom, Brazil, Australia, Izrael, Croatia etc. On April 6, 2010, San Francisco became the first US city to officially declare Mondays to be "meat free", calling it their Vegetarian Day.

Why is eating less meat an important issue nowadays? There are several reasons:

1. Meat production pollutes the environment producing loads of carbone dioxide and contributing to the global warming process.

2.  Animals on factory farms live in atrocious conditions and their treatment is unbelievably cruel.

3. There are many observational studies showing that red meat consumption is associated with an increased risk of cancer, heart disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes so eating less meat is good for health.

Watch the video to learn more about Meatless Mondays.

For better understanding of the video see this article.