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Our Green Journey has a wake up call
COVID-19 has taken a big hit on nearly all businesses. We’ve all had to take a look at how we’re spending money. This applies to us as much as anyone else, and during lockdown we’ve definitely let our green credentials slip, much to my chagrin.
What went wrong?
Complacency. Life is good. It will always be good.
Coronavirus came as a bit of a shock to us. Back in December 2019, Coronavirus was just another item of world news. It was sad for those affected, but not relevant to us. We had heard of several similar health related crisis’ before (such as Ebola) but they hadn’t impacted our lives in the UK, so why should this?
January 2020 went by, COVID-19 was still not affecting us. February went by and our sympathies carried on being with those affected. March came, and all of a sudden COVID-19 suddenly came a little close for comfort, but still it was something that wasn’t immediately effecting us. It was common to hear the phrase ‘it’s just flu’ so we didn’t overly worry about it. We were complacent, and unprepared.
Suddenly, we were learning a new vocabulary: self-isolation, lockdown, containment. Then a new acronym was coined: wfh.
WFH?
WFH sounded positively rude! I was slow to find out it meant work from home! WFH became a reality. Then home school became a reality. All of a sudden, our lives were turned upside down. Many people panicked and bulk bought items they were scared would run out. They wanted to have enough stock in the house for the coming Armageddon. The list included toilet roll! Every shop in our vicinity started running out of usual supplies, and zero-waste shopping became increasingly difficult.
Of course, had I seen this coming I would have bulk bought zero-waste items before it was too late. As they say, hindsight is a wonderful thing. I was forced to just buy what the shops had, wrapped in plastic.
It also became a necessity to shop as cheap as possible, and only leave the house once a week for that shopping trip. Online shopping was no better, slots for delivery were like gold dust. (Also, online food shopping comes with LOTS of extra plastic anyway so that was never really an option.)
What else went wrong?
Whilst adapting to the new situation of WFH and home-school and losing a chunk of income, living according to our eco-friendly standards fell by the wayside. We became pre-occupied with our daily dose of Joe Wicks (PE), Let’s Go Live (science), various online learning platforms for the kids and generally coping with seeing each other 24/7. Finding time to clean the bathrooms, hamster and stop our plants from dying took up more time. I found we were more busy, not less, and the order of the day was very much – just put one foot in front of the other.
Our online /offline suppliers of soap, shampoo bars and other zero-waste items (even toilet roll!) either became a lot more expensive, were out of stock or shops were shut. By the time I got round to ordering some of my favourite eco-friendly products, it wasn’t even an option.
What was the wake up call?
Recently, a good friend told me of a zero-waste shop that had opened up nearby that I didn’t even know about (see pic above). I suddenly realised that my head had been buried in the sand for the previous 7 weeks.
It was time to step out into the sunshine and start living again.
I have been waiting for this shop MY WHOLE LIFE! I couldn’t lose sight of that now. Ok we were slightly down on money, and it will cost slightly more to shop at Weigh Ahead than elsewhere, or at least more than supermarket value items. But does that mean I should rule it out completely? I hadn’t consciously given up my eco principles, but it became clear I definitely wasn’t consciously following them either.
How did the wake up call effect me?
It got me thinking. Why had I given up so easily during this season of hardship, rather than innovating and finding new ways to follow the path of our green journey? I don’t really know if I’m honest, apart from the reasons outlined above of being consumed with the pandemic. I will take my own advice and speak kindly to my heart. Forgiveness and healing are what we all need to come out the other side of this pandemic in one piece.
If I am to shop once more in eco-friendly shops which are slightly more expensive than budget foods, I need to carefully look at our spending. How should we spend our money? How many non-essential personal possessions and ‘treats’ that we spend so much money on do we actually need? And, most importantly, for the possessions that we do need, do they have to be bought new?
How can we as a family prioritise making eco-friendly choices whilst living on less? By learning to live on less. By counting our blessings one by one and by doing so, realising we are far, far richer than we think we are. By prioritising – what do we really need in this life to be happy? Each choice that we make does make a difference in this world. Each financial choice makes a difference in our hearts. It makes a difference for the example we set our children, friends and neighbours.
Of course there’s a lot more we need to do on our green journey than just spending our money wisely, but it’s a good place to start.
