Join the sustainable swrm
COVID cannot stop love! But now, more than ever, keeping it small, keeping it local, and keeping it sustainable are the very best ways to show your love for each other and our Earth. So, let’s take a walk down the aisle and say, “I do” to sustainability.
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There is no shortage of companies who are suddenly using phrases like carbon neutral, net zero, climate positive, and carbon negative in their marketing and communications. But how much of that is buzz and how much is backed by action? As consumers, we have to get smarter. We have to understand that simply throwing a ‘green’ or ‘eco’ phrase onto some packaging does not make the product, nor the company, an environmental or sustainability warrior. We have to dig deeper than that, to look beneath the words to see that there’s substance. And happily we can report that plenty of companies aren’t just paying the climate lip service – 23% of Fortune 500 companies have actual, robust and ambitious climate goals. This is largely due to the fact that we, the consumer, ARE digging deeper, and ARE expecting more from the companies we hand over our cash to. Great work, swrmers! So dive in to find out what some of the biggest global corporations are doing.
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Since we’ve all been in lockdown, many of us have been wondering how our efforts to continue living within a sustainable world would fair once things started to open up. What would our challenges be due to
Read moreWe talk ALOT about carbon footprints. It’s kind of our thing. Pretty much every activity we participate in and everything we purchase or consume has a carbon footprint. So, today, we’re going to do a little low carb(on) footprint cooking with Lexi and her dad’s hummus recipe! We’ve tested and tasted this one. Several times. Just to be sure
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Today we’re talking periods and plastic. Before you decide this doesn’t concern you as someone who doesn’t menstruate, stick around. This is a plastic pollution issue that concerns all of us. In the United States alone, approximately 12 billion pads and 7 billion tampons are discarded each year. Most of this ends up in landfill where it can take centuries to breakdown. Some ends up in our waterways and then washed up on our beaches – sanitary products are the fifth most common item found on Europe’s beaches, more widespread than single-use coffee cups, cutlery or straws.
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Plastics, and particularly single-use plastics, had been starting to decline in popularity all over the world. More and more countries have been introducing bans on plastic bags, plastic straws, plastic cutlery and so on, like France, Australia, England, 15 countries in Africa, China (who banned bags thinner than 35 microns in 2008, and are now going all in on plastic bags) and 8 states in the Unites States. But then 2020 came along, bringing COVID-19. Suddenly, here was an opportunity for purveyors of plastic to sneak the product back in front of us, under the guise of public health and safety. But is this based on science, or is it merely opportunistic fear mongering? We lay out some evidence and advice, and dispute some cheap tactics.
Read moreWe recently had the pleasure of chatting with Lindsay Karlsen, founder of VALYOS, an eco-friendly online platform for ethical shopping. The amount of research required to find sustainable products and brands is not always possible with life’s busy schedule. This is where VALYOS can help you connect with sustainable brands and second-hand sellers who share your same sustainability values.
Read moreToday, from the Hive, we bring you classic tales of intrigue, suspense, and true love of sustainability! Once upon a time, in a magical land…
Read moreIn 2015, the Sustainable Development, or Global Goals, were adopted by the 193 United Nations member states with the landmark 2030 Agenda. These goals are a universal call to action by all countries – rich, poor, and middle-income – to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that every human being enjoys peace and prosperity by 2030.
The 2030 Agenda and the SDGs are ultimately about what makes us human, and are a roadmap to building a sustainable future in the world with care and compassion for each other, and care and compassion for the Earth.
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Grab some fantastic sustainable shopping advice from eco-warrior Lindsay Karlsen, from VALYOS – an online eco-friendly marketplace!
Why is sustainable shopping important? The global population is expected to rise to 8.5 billion people by 2030 with the middle class increasing by 3 billion people over the next 20 years. Since 1990 the amount of natural resources extracted per person has risen from 8.1 tonnes to almost 12 tonnes in 2015. That’s a huge increase in demand which will continue to put a strain on the planetary boundaries, if not addressed.
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