I love everything to do with beauty. Only several years ago, I had a handful of not-so-good products. It was only when I got my first job that I started to invest in more, better quality makeup.
Recently, I have become more conscious about them though. What ingredients are used to make them? Where are they sourced from? Have they been tested on animals?
As a consumer, I have the power and responsibility to spend my money on whatever I want. So why should I be paying companies that are hurting fluffy, little bunnies? The problem is a lot of us just don’t think too much about what we’re putting into our shopping baskets.
I believe that making the first step towards buying ethical or Fairtrade items can be tricky. Where do you start? Well, if we all took some time to read product labels and do some research on the brands that we love, we can learn more about them.
Here’s what I’ve come across in my search for ethical/Fairtrade beauty:
Brands that are cruelty free usually show this on their packaging with an image of a bunny or explicitly say so.
Brands that are Fairtrade have the logo on their packaging.
A lot of the time if you’re unsure about the details, you can easily find your answers online.
Brands that I’ve found:
Lush: “Lush consistently works hard to source materials and develop relationships with producers that are as direct and transparent as possible […] Lush uses a variety of ingredients, some of which are not able to be certified Fairtrade.” They also fight against animal testing, hand-make their products and are suitable for vegetarians. (http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/en/buying-fairtrade/beauty-products/lush-cosmetics)
The Body Shop: is leading the way to all things Fairtrade and ethical, as well as running other important campaigns. Their website is jam packed with information with what they are actively doing to help the world. (http://www.thebodyshop.co.uk/values/index.aspx)
(by Superdrug): “It’s our vision to be part of what makes you and your life beautiful.” B. is both cruelty free and vegan friendly – the best of both worlds! As well as carrying makeup and skincare items, they also have a range of products for men. (http://www.superdrug.com/brandshop/B)
Sometimes when we think about making the transition to buying ethical/Fairtrade items, we often think about the higher price tag that is attached to them. But, what you should consider is the fact that you’re investing in something positive and supporting these companies.
It has been rewarding to learn so much about ethical/Fairtrade online, and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. There are countless videos on Youtube that talk about it.
When it comes down to the basics, we want to be purchasing from companies that are simply fair. If we all take small step towards investing in better products, we can all live in a better world and know that we are contributing to the greater good.
Ever wondered what happens to all those coffee grounds after the water’s run through it to make your cappuccino? Of course, it goes to landfill. We drink about 80 million cups of coffee every day, and that’s just the UK. But what else can you do with used coffee grounds?
One social enterprise has discovered a beautiful solution. At GroCycle, Adam and Eric have been using waste coffee since 2011 to grow gourmet Oyster mushrooms. Sounds weird, right? Well, according to Adam, the ‘traditional’ way to grow mushrooms is on straw and sawdust, so it’s not that weird after all.
In social enterprise schemes positive outcomes aren’t measured against monetary gains but environmental or social good. GroCycle are a not-for-profit Community Interest Company – all the money they make goes straight back towards making beneficial changes in the way we live. Their aim is pretty simple: to keep coffee waste out of landfill.
In their first year they collected 5 tonnes of the stuff. “We definitely got some strange looks when walking into some cafes and asking for their coffee waste to grow mushrooms on! But after we explain it, almost every café is really supportive and they’re happy to see their waste go to good use.” On top of finding a use for the waste, Adam says that “the brewing process pasteurises the grounds, making it an easier way to grow the mushrooms than the traditional method.”
In the early days they’d experimented growing other kinds of mushrooms like Shiitake, Lion’s Mane, King Oyster and Pioppino, but it was only the Oyster mushrooms that could grow on pure coffee. “Oyster mushrooms are well known to grow on lots of different substrates so if any mushrooms can grow on coffee, it’ll be them!”
From collecting 5 tonnes of coffee in their first year, last year GroCycle produced 5 tonnes of gourmet Oyster mushrooms, all from recycled coffee! They used more than 20,000 kilos of waste grounds – with a humble team of four people. “Although we are a small team, we are beginning to have a big impact,” Adam says. “More than 7000 people grew their own mushrooms at home with our kits, and we now run a popular online course which teaches people in 35 countries around the world how to grow mushrooms on coffee. This is a big part of what we’re about: spreading and teaching the idea to others.”
A big part of this is the way GroCycle is run, and Adam tells me he’d always seen business as a potential driver for positive change. “The motto ‘trading for people and planet’ is used by the Social Enterprise Mark, which we are accredited by, and I think it fits the bill perfectly. GroCycle achieves a meaningful social and environmental benefit in the work that we do.”
That benefit is partly achieved by the locality of the project; they’re now regularly collecting waste coffee from the five biggest cafés in Exeter city centre. For Adam, sourcing our food more locally is an integral part of forging a more sustainable future. “It’s an incredibly important part of how we can begin to reduce our impact on the planet and create a vibrant food economy. When you eat food that has been produced locally it will usually have consumed less energy, it’ll be fresher, it’ll taste better, and you will be supporting the people in your local community that are growing it.”
“Our biggest aim for the years ahead is to support others in countries around the world to set up growing mushrooms in a low impact way. We have built so much knowledge over the last few years and are often asked if we can assist people and offer advice. As a small non-profit organisation it can often be difficult to have enough time for this, but we have found teaching via an online course a great way to do it. We are currently planning a flagship course which will launch later this year. It’ll teach people how to set up grow rooms, and cover the practicalities and economics of production.”
As the beautiful Autumn colours begin to fade into the stark grey, white and blues of winter, the gardeners’ task changes from a focus on planting, watering, weeding and harvesting to one of replenishing the soil, picking the last of the harvest and tucking the garden in for the winter.
Besides the harvest in the Edible Garden, the campus and its surrounds contains so many edible plants that just ask to be foraged while the internet is a treasure trove of recipe ideas.
We had a bumper crop of blackberries in August, unusually early this year. On my way into work and at lunchtimes, I picked several pounds near Sparrows Farm and along the park cycle tracks. I took my home made scones, blackberry jelly and cream into work for the Clearing team. Some members had never tasted home-made jelly and all declared it far superior to the bought variety. The advantage of jelly over jam is that all the not-so-perfect fruit bits get strained out. I also used blackberries added to stewed apples and pears, sweetened with honey gathered from the beehives on the campus and sold in the student union shop.
I cooked rhubarb by chopping it into 2-3 cm lengths, spreading the pieces in a baking dish, adding grated ginger and a small amount of water then sprinkling it all with honey or brown sugar before and baking it for about 20 minutes at 180oC.
Tucked away at back of the campus I discovered a lone damson plum tree. These plums are tiny and taking their stones out is a nightmare so I made a batch of damson jelly; just as delicious as the blackberry version and just as nice with scones and cream!
We grew squashes in the garden that made wonderful soup while the courgettes (or zucchinis) were delicious cooked as a main course vegetable. The zucchini cakes I made using a recipe I found online sold like hotcakes at our MacMillan fundraiser during Freshers’ week.
We grew a bumper crop of tomatoes in our polytunnel which are lovely munched straight from the vine, eaten raw with salad or in snacks or cooked with other vegetables spiced with our chilli peppers. I made my first batch of green tomato chutney that I am itching to try but because it needs to mature it will not be ready until Christmas.
We are still picking the last of the rainbow chard and I have enjoyed steaming it or using it as a substitute for spinach in my spinach and brown rice bake – a family favourite from Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course book. My most recent experimentation has been making soup from our Jerusalem artichokes. Combined with onions, garlic, celery, carrots and chicken stock it tasted wonderful.
Spending time in the garden allows me time to relax and recharge away from the busy atmosphere of the Enquiry Unit. I have met so many lovely people there that I would never have met otherwise. Cooking and sharing food that I have helped to grow from seed is a wonderfully rewarding experience, and I cannot recommend it more highly.
Below: homemade jams, chutneys and cakes from garden produce.
There is no such thing as a free lunch…perhaps this is not so true especially if you know how to forage.
Foraging for wild food is what humans used to do before we became sedentary and reliant on agriculture. Now people are flooding back to foraging not only for the free food but to connect back with nature and learn more about the different foods that we tend not to find in the supermarket so much.
Alex and Emily from the Sustainability Team were invited to a foraging day in Abbey Wood by Barracuda Digital, a digital marketing agency. The day was hosted by the Caravan Club and Napiers, to put existing foraging skills to the test and to learn more about what to look out for and the history of these plants in herbal medicine. Below they recount what they learnt and how foraging could become a regular event at the University of Greenwich.
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On a beautiful spring morning we were invited to the Abbey Wood Caravan Club site to meet up with other London bloggers and delve into the world of foraging. We had had some experience of foraging but this was mostly limited to picking Sloes for gin and Blackberries for jam so were looking forward to learning more about the wild food available on our doorstep.
We started the day meeting Monica Wilde who was to be our guide for a 3 hour session around the site and Lenses Abbey Wood.
Monica is a director at Napiers- the herbal and plant remedy business, as well as an active foraging business.
“I live in a field in West Lothian. 4 wild acres where I am planting and encouraging medicinal and foraging species. I have been fascinated by herbs and plants since childhood. My original interest was sparked by a wild childhood in Kenya, where I was introduced to herbal medicine by a local Kikuyu herbalist at the age of six. We were outdoors most of the time and I remember with joy the freedom of those early years. I love foraging for wild food as well as wild medicine and would happily never visit a supermarket again.”
We started with the innocuous daisy found on most lawns and learnt a fancy dinner party trick that we will definitely be trying out. When picked, daisies will start to close up however once dropped in liquid they begin to slowly open up again. For a spectacular starter you can drop a couple of closed daisies onto your soup and your guests will be impressed as the daisies open up before their eyes.
Alex sampling some bitter cress.
We also took a look at the common dandelion which is a rich source of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. The leaves can be used in a salad or cooked. Flowers can be made into juice, or added into many recipes. You can even use the root and dry it to be used in dandelion tea.
There were many things to taste enroute and we sampled wild garlic, wild parsley hawthorn buds, common chickweed, pineapple weed and the favourite of the day which were the buds from a bramble bush which inexplicable taste like coconut!
Foraging for Wild Garlic and Wild Parsley, and learning about the dangers of Hemlock (also known as poison parsley)!
As well as expanding our knowledge in botany we also had a crash course in herbal medicine learning some historical applications of herbs as well as things we could benefit from now. Women have used the seeds from the wild carrot plant for centuries as a contraceptive, the earliest written reference dates back to the late 5th or 4th century B.C.
Wild carrot with its distinctive purple spot.
Now we may not be trying this one out for ourselves but Emily did try some crushed clove roots on her wisdom tooth and will be reaching for the clove oil in future and not the paracetamol.
Monica cleans and cut some clove roots for Emily’s tooth
Alex found it extremely useful to learn about how to use dock plant sap to sooth stings from nettles. After a lifetime of mindlessly rubbing her hands and legs with the leaves of the dock plant, we learnt how it is actually the sticky sap at the base of the plant that you should rub onto your stings! If you venture into the base of the dock plant, around the point that the leaves divide above ground, you will find a sticky substance ‘as if someone has blown their nose in the middle of the plant’, as Monica described it. It is gross, but very worth it!
Monica ventures into the base of the plant to find some of that magical dock sap
Foraging for food is extremely seasonal, allowing you find a huge variety of foods throughout the year. Successful foraging is also reliant on the ability to follow the food. Summer is a great time to forage on the coast for a huge range of edible seaweeds rich in iodine. Autumn is the perfect time to stock up on mushrooms (reliant on knowing what to pick of course!) and nuts for your winter larder.
We hope to return to Abbey Wood in autumn to see what seasonal changes have done to the wild food available.
The smell of wild garlic gave it away as to what Emily was eating.
Now that we have caught the foraging bug we hope to continue this on our own patch. Learning your area and watching how it changes over the year is a great way to start and we would like to bring together people from around the University who either already know something about foraging and would like to share this knowledge, or people who are interested in learning more.
Foraging is a great way to get outside, enjoy the seasons and connect back with an aspect of nature that was so important in our human history. Foraging can help us connect to history, what we put on our plates, health and or course can be a social event too.
Delving into the hogsweed looking for delicious buds.
Thanks to Monica from Napiers who provided a very interesting and fun day out, and the Caravan Club for having us rummage around the bushes of your site in Abbey Wood. We would like to send special thanks to Barracuda Digital for arranging and running the day and encouraging us to meet other London bloggers!
So if you are interested in foraging at the University or would like to know more about our visit please get in touch at sustainability@gre.ac.uk
Greetings to you all, my name is Charity Imagor a 3rd year undergraduate Public Health student at the University of Greenwich. It is indeed a great pleasure to be a part of the University of Greenwich Sustainability Team.
Pursuing a Public Health course at the University of Greenwich has greatly enhanced and extended my knowledge in acquiring skills on how to promote health through the environment, for example, encouraging walking and cycling is a good way of increasing physical activities. Regular physical activities reduce incidences of coronary heart diseases, stroke and chances of being obese. Therefore, creating active, safe and accessible greens spaces such as parks and community gardens will encourage individuals to participate more in physical activities and gaining knowledge in growing their own fruit and vegetables hence promoting a healthy lifestyle.
In my second year one of the modules that I undertook was environmental health and Housing. The information and knowledge I acquired during these lectures raised my awareness that there are certain circumstances that impact greatly on our health if our environment is not cared for appropriately. For example human behaviour that causes air pollution such pollution from cars and highly industrialised areas, is a leading environmental threat to human health. Particles in the air such as dust, dirt, soot, and smoke are one kind of air pollution that is known to cause health problems. People exposed to fine particles over a long period of time have more heart and lung problems such as Asthma than people who are not breathing this kind of air pollution.
The environment is one of the determinants of health and closely links to Public Health. For example the Physical environment which includes safe water and clean air, healthy workplaces, safe houses, communities and roads all contribute to good health among individuals and communities at large.
I hope through being on placement with the sustainability team, I will gain more Public Health knowledge and skills required to promote environmental issues and personal health including for those around me. I will also be able to share my knowledge and skills in combating the determinants of health with other Health Students on placement and with the Sustainability Team
I am so enthusiastic and cannot wait to meet with the sustainability team, to learn more from others about the environment in particular its benefits to the community. including how it could be conserved and preserved for the future generations.
Nnenna Nzeh
Hi, I’m Nnenna and I am currently writing my final year project in Public Health. I complement my studies with being one of the Green Impact Assistants and I’m also doing my work experience with the sustainability department. Great! Work experience is one of the requirements needed for the award of the degree that I have undertaken and to help prepare me for the roles ahead. I’ve been allocated to work with the Grey building team. I have undertaken an induction course with an amazing staff of the Green impact Team at the Grey building and this is in relation with the objectives that I have agreed with my tutor and sustainability. The objectives in a nutshell include; examine the interrelationship between behaviour change and health as part of a green impact process; to identify different areas that form part of Green Impact and to highlight other areas of personal improvement.
It’s been great working with Emily and Alex and I’m looking forward to working with the team at the Grey building and to upgrade my experience. The placement will give me a window of opportunity to see different aspects of sustainability and to apply these aspects in public health practice and more over to meet people from other fields of work.
Esther Oyeniran
Hello, my name is Esther I am currently in my final year studying Public Health at the University of Greenwich. I love listening to classical music and also play the Viola. I also love travelling and exploring new places. My studies at University of Greenwich has been very exciting so far and has widened my knowledge about public health issues both locally and globally
It is a great privilege to be part of the sustainability team working towards protecting the environment from pollution and the effects of climate change. Necessary to achieving this goal is a clear understanding of how the integrated social, economic and environmental aspects of our world affect sustainability. These aspects represent a related set of concepts that when considered together form a solid basis from which major decisions and actions can be made with regards to public health. The issue of sustainability is extremely important because of its immense impact on the present and in particular the future world. The choices we pursue and all the actions that we make today will affect how we live in the future. We need to make sound decisions at present in order to avoid limiting the choices of generations to come.
As an undergraduate undertaking a work placement with the sustainability team I hope to acquire the necessary skills that will help me in my future job role as a Public Health Practitioner.
Elizabeth Conteh
My name is Elizabeth Conteh. I will be doing my forty hours work experience with Sustainability team. I am a final year student at the University of Greenwich and I study Public Health in the School of Health and Social Care.
I love music and going to church with friends and family. I have no previous experience in sustainability, therefore doing this work experience with the sustainability team means so much because I want to learn more about growing food.
Additionally, I wish to work as health promoter in my future career to promote and increase awareness of the benefits of healthy eating, so for this placement I would also like to gain skills and knowledge in relation to organic gardening and healthy eating that can help me increase my knowledge of healthy eating.
Ruth M’bayo
Hi my name is Ruth, a final year public health student at the University of Greenwich. I’m so excited to join the sustainability team this February and March as part one of my courses. My objectives for this placement are:
To be able to identify the significance of the natural environment to public health and wellbeing. In other to achieve this objective, whilst doing my research on different edible gardens, I will try and explore some of the benefit and importance of the edible garden. This will include identifying how the edible garden promote mental wellbeing, social inclusion, healthy eating and life style and also community development.
To be able to explore the application of environmental policies to public health practice, in particular community gardening. The policies that will be observed during this placement with the sustainability team, whiles researching on the edible gardens will be, the sustainable development food and environmental policies. However I will be exploring the link between the policies and the localism agenda and how it relate to public health practices. Also I will be able to explore how they are similar and what goals they are all aiming to achieve.
To be able to demonstrate my public health knowledge and skills and highlight any areas for further personal improvement. In other to achieve this objective I will use the knowledge and skills acquired throughout the three years of my course to do research and bring back ideas to the team. Also whilst on this placement I will highlight any area I need to improve on, and develop this as it will be beneficial for future job roles.
I hope this experience will help broaden my knowledge in the sustainability field, by making me understand what sustainable development is all about. Also to understand what link it has to public health. Furthermore I hope this experience will lead to exciting opportunities in the future, and also enable me put my public health knowledge in to practices in terms of what will be required of me in my future job role. I look forward to meet and be a part of the team.
If you would like anymore information about work experience or internship opportunities within the team, please get in contact: sustainability@gre.ac.uk