As seen on Ethical Superstore and Plastic Free July…
If you don’t follow me on Facebook or Twitter you may have missed some exciting news… I’m spreading my message and expanding my writing beyond this site! I’m currently writing a series of blog posts for the Ethical Superstore. So far three have been published, and there’s a few more in the pipeline.
If you want to read them, here are the links:
Treading My Own Path, Rethinking Waste and the Two New Kids
Not Just About the Chocolate…Can Electronics Be Fair Trade too?
Plastic Free July: Will You Accept the Challenge?
Whilst the messages are something you’ll probably recognise if you visit the site regularly, the content is completely new – no rehashing of old material from me!
In addition, I’m also writing a couple of posts for Plastic Free July’s 2014 campaign. They’re not ready for publishing yet, so keep your eye out!
Whilst I’m on the topic of Plastic Free July, I thought I’d mention the other exciting thing about this year’s 2014 campaign: the Bring One Get One Tree initiative which features my other half as poster boy extraordinaire! It is a local campaign to try to encourage more cafes to participate in reducing their packaging consumption.
You may remember I wrote a few weeks ago about him taking part in a photoshoot. Whilst I write away furiously about whatever hair-brained scheme I’ve concocted for the week ahead (zero-waste week anyone?), Glen is behind-the-scenes putting up with it all – and quietly taking his own bags, his own reusable coffee cup, his reusable cutlery set, and refusing straws and other plastic.
Plastic Free July asked him to feature as their “suited businessman” for the campaign, so now is his chance to shine! 
I’m not sure he’ll thank me for sharing, but I am in a sharing mood this afternoon it seems!
If you get a chance to read any of my Ethical Superstore blog posts I’d love to hear what you think! You can comment on their site or comment here. Also, if you have any thoughts for future blog posts I could write for them I’d love to hear your ideas!
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What exciting news! Congratulations :)
Thank you very much! : )
Congratulations, I just popped over and read your articles, very well done and informative. I love the idea of a tree being planted for each reusable cup being filled. The situation here is pretty bad when it comes to sustainable practices. Starbucks for example still uses it’s cups to measure your ingredients then pours your drink into your cup and the cup they mixed it in….it goes in the trash. So bringing your own doesn’t save on waste.
Ah, thanks Lois! We have a real takeaway cafe culture here, so hopefully it will make cafes think about how much waste they generate. I would love to set up a zero waste cafe and refuse takeaways to people who didn’t have their own cup, but I think I’d go out of business pretty soon… Hopefully this will start to get the word out a bit more.
Starbucks make me shudder! They have been pretty unsuccessful in Australia and I don’t think we have any in Perth. Most cafes here are independently owned which makes it easier for them to change…if they want to.
I would enjoy seeing a business that required people to bring their own reusable cups. ;-) I am not a fan of the coffee shops, I just don’t get wanting to stop for coffee each day at the prices places like Starbucks charge when it’s so easy to make at home. I like that Australia has rejected the Starbucks for independent cafes.
So you’d like my business, but you wouldn’t visit as you don’t like coffee shops?! I don’t think my business model is viable! : p
I like coffee as a special treat, or an occasion, but buying one every day seems ridiculous. I’m sure I saw a statistic that the average Australian buys 3 a day. If I buy 0 a day, does that mean some people buy 6?! Australia does have great coffee, I’ll admit – much better than you’d make at home – unless you drink black coffee (which I assume you do?) But at $4 a go, it’s an expensive habit! And how much milk should people really be drinking?!
Yes, the independent coffee culture is really refreshing. It’s nice to go into a cafe that doesn’t look exactly like all the other cafes either, or sell exactly the same products.
The UK is much like America with its chain coffee stores – and the coffee is pretty terrible too : /
Lindsay, I don’t drink coffee :-) but I do drink tea which I can get at our cafes. While I don’t like spending money eating out (or paying for tea) I do try to frequent the local (independent) cafes in my town to show my support at least once a year. I know it isn’t much help but I also tell people I know about the wonderful service and quality food hoping those who enjoy going out will instead frequent these places.
Once a year, that’s okay then : )
I’d stop by just to visit with you from time to time, guess I’d have to buy a cup of tea for that. :-)