living lightly in ireland

Easy Sustainable Switches

Routine enables us to breeze through our days with very little effort and thought. This might sound like a bad thing but without it we’d waste time over daily deliberations on when to have our first coffee, where to have our first coffee, how to have our first coffee. What a waste of brain power. We have to short-circuit these decisions to free up time and brain power for idle contemplation of the more important questions in life, like when / where / how to have the first cake of the day!

In this article I’ve listed easy sustainable switches that you can make with very little change to your routine.

Homemade Lip balm (and Vaseline)

tube of lipbalm and flower on wooden table

I hate the idea of putting synthetic chemicals in or on my body so I’m always keen to find cosmetics and treatments made with food-grade ingredients. I had this recipe for DIY (non) Petroleum Jelly bookmarked for ages before I got a chance to make it. I’m so glad I did, it’s been a great success. Here it is for you to give a go.

Eco Folklore, Greenwashing and Misunderstandings

Since I’ve been publishing this website I’ve learned a lot about the difference between the theory of sustainable living and the reality. In our increasingly interconnected world nothing is straightforward and the distance between us and the nexus of events makes it so difficult to distinguish truth from spin. It’s a greenwasher’s dream! This might be why I keep seeing the same misconceptions repeated over and over again in the media, both social and mainstream, and it’s amazing just how resilient these mis-truths are and how hard it’s proving to replace them with the truth. As the saying goes ‘A lie will be half-way around the world before the truth had put it’s socks on’

Here are a few of my ‘favourite’ mis-truths and misconceptions. Please feel free to dispel them at every opportunity!

Creating an Ornamental Garden; Mid Summer Colour

There tends to be a gap in flowering from June to July as the lushness of early summer gives way to the more intense heat and light. It can be hard to keep the garden looking fresh during these weeks, unless you succumb to single-season bedding plants, which I try to avoid because of their plastic pots and pesticide saturated foliage and compost. It never ceases to amazes me that at a time when we’re all doing our best to help save pollinating insects retailers sell bee-friendly plants coated in bee-killing pesticides. It’s one thing to willingly spray pesticides on your garden but very few people are aware that the plants they’re buying to help insects may be doing them harm.

Here are some options that won’t have you rushing to the bedding plant section mid summer;

Sustainable Ethical Barbeques 2026

Big Green Egg shaped barbecue in a field

Here’s hoping that this year’s summer is condusive to lots of outdoor parties! Whether it’s a communal Streetfeast or a private soiree everyone loves a good get together. But how can we make our gatherings greener? Quite easily actually, read on for 10 ways to have an eco friendly barbeque.