A Day in My Life as an Imperfect Environmentalist
It's the effort that counts.
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My alarm (on my iPhone 14 Pro, which I bought new) goes off at 7.20am. I attempt to meditate - let’s be real, it’s five to ten minutes at most - before crawling sleepily to the bathroom. I brush my teeth with Superdrug’s charcoal toothpaste, a vegan favourite, while telling myself that it’s actually whitening my teeth. My skincare routine is the opposite of Korean influencers: just a cleanse with Ayumi Naturals Neem and Tea Tree Face Wash followed by The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA. I really cannot be bothered with fancy skincare (you know, the kind that claims to be high tech but somehow also entirely natural) and to be honest I doubt it makes much of a difference - for me, at least.
Breakfast, my favourite meal of the day, is most commonly a smoothie bowl or overnight oats with flaxseeds and chia seeds, peanut butter, cacao, bananas and some other fruit. I switch between plant milks made from soya, almond and oat, with coconut milk as an occasional guest star if I manage to find it unsweetened. The milk I use is most often from Aldi’s own brand, but I do use Alpro occasionally. Or Oatly Barista, if I can find it on sale. One of the best parts of my day is my coffee, which is usually Lavazza. It is rare that a non-Italian coffee brand enters our household, as my husband is a total coffee nerd and absolute gatekeeper of all things Italian. So no Fair Trade organic coffee here.
After breakfast, I do some freelance writing on my laptop - a secondhand MacBook Air. My husband got it for me from Facebook Marketplace and it’s a good few years old.
Before I start my official job, I get dressed. This is a must-do - despite working remotely since late 2016, I never - I repeat, never - work in my pyjamas. Chill-out clothes are for chill-out time. For work, I’ll usually put on a pair of jeans that I got on Depop. A good 90% of my wardrobe is secondhand, coming from apps such as Depop and Vinted, as well as local charity shops. I’ll also wear a Teams meeting-appropriate shirt that’s from a fast fashion brand - I got it over ten years ago, before I stopped shopping fast fashion, and it’s still going strong.
I work for an animal rights organisation, so a big part of my day is dedicated to finding ways in which we can promote a world that is kinder to animals, as well as encourage decision-makers to implement policies and practices that are respectful of animals. So, it will come as no surprise that my lunch is vegan - a wholegrain pasta or pearl barley salad (once again, the salad comes from Aldi and most likely is in a plastic bag) with beans, maybe tofu, and a handful of different veggies. I also take a vegan multivitamin from Holland & Barrett - gotta get that B12.
I eat at my desk (don’t judge) and take a walk on the seafront on my lunch break. Before leaving the house, I put on sunscreen - I am absolutely religious about it and wear it 365 days per year. Yes, even in a February snow storm. My go-to is, once again, from Superdrug’s own brand. An attempt at buying “reef safe” sunscreen left me disappointed when I found out that there isn’t really a guarantee that it is safe. So I’ve gone back to Superdrug’s finest. My foundation, mascara, eyeliner and lipstick are all from super-cheap vegan brand ELF, and my cruelty-free perfume is from my dear friends at Eden Perfumes. For my walk, I wear my favourite sneakers from NAE Vegan Shoes and carry a secondhand bag from vegan brand Matt and Nat, and put on my faux-leather biker jacket from Noize.
Mid-afternoon, I make myself some green tea (from Aldi) or maybe a matcha (the Clearspring brand - it’s organic!). Alternatively, if it’s a sunny day, my husband and I might have stopped for a quick oat-milk espresso macchiato (decaf for me) at our favourite Italian bar, La Mucca Nera, on our way back from the lunchtime walk.
After work, we go to the gym or for a run if it’s sunny. We walk to the gym - I never learned to drive and I don’t have a car, for environmental reasons but also because I’ve never really been interested. My favourite workout gear is from Organic Basics, but my shoes are Adidas, from Decathlon. Before heading off, I toss out the recycling - another thing I’m religious about. I separate everything carefully and make sure it goes in the right bin. All soft plastic packaging is taken to the bins at the big supermarkets, and so are any batteries. I nag my husband to no end when he puts the rubbish in the wrong bin, but I am also a bit dismayed at how much single-use plastic we do away with each day. Trying not to think of the 380 million tonnes of plastic produced each year, I continue living in the illusion that recycling really makes a difference. However, I probably do wish-cycle quite a bit. On our way back from the workout, we usually take a long walk in the park or on the seafront. If it’s unseasonably warm, I catch myself enjoying it, before steering my thoughts back to outrage over the climate crisis.
Back home, I take a shower using Aldi’s Lacura coconut shower gel (vegan and cruelty-free but not organic) and slather on some Faith in Nature coconut body lotion (this one is organic! And yep, there’s a bit of a coconut theme going on in my bathroom).
Then, we make dinner. I’ll probably oven-bake some Aldi veggies and pair them with some grilled tofu or tempeh from my local ethical food shop, Infinity Foods. I’ll also eat indecent amounts of bread and hummus, feeling a bit guilty once again when I toss the plastic hummus container into the recycling bin (yes, yes, I’ve tried to make my own. It’s a faff and doesn’t taste the same - but I know I should). I finish the meal with some fruit - mangoes or strawberries in summer, oranges or apples in winter. Finally, I’ll make a tea - well, if you can call it that, it’s just cinnamon and ginger powder in boiling water - and have a couple of squares of Montezuma’s 100% Absolute Black chocolate. Finding this (ethical, locally made) sugar-free chocolate has been a game-changer for me. I can eat chocolate nearly every day without making my dentist even richer! After dinner I might sign a petition for a cause I care about, like this one, and browse some flights for an upcoming trip I’m planning, as the shameless frequent traveller I am.
I finish the evening working on my Substack (this one!), take my makeup off with Superdrug’s biodegradable wipes, and finish off with some almond oil as moisturiser. Finally, I collapse into bed with a book from the library. Which I guess is an eco-friendly choice.
There are plenty of other people like me, who identify as environmentalists and try to do their best, but who are light years away from perfect. I don’t eat animal products, buy any newly produced clothes, drive, or have children - but I’m a frequent flier who’s neck-deep in single-use plastic. I’m obsessed with recycling but I’m pretty sure I do it wrong. I go ballistic if my husband forgets to turn the lights off, but I take the longest and hottest showers in the history of humankind. You’ll never catch me leaving the supermarket with a plastic bag, but I’m sure that if you looked in my kitchen and bathroom now, you wouldn’t find anything organic.
Our society isn’t set up for us to be perfect environmentalists. Organic food is pricey, ethical fashion is elusive, single-use plastic is everywhere. But does that mean we should give up? Absolutely not. I’ll keep shopping second hand, relying on public transport, and trying my best to recycle despite getting it wrong. And let’s not forget collective action. There is a lot we can do beyond individual lifestyle choices - campaigning efforts, joining activist groups, going on marches, signing petitions, contacting our elected officials, getting in touch with companies - all of this can make a monumental difference when it comes to tackling the climate crisis. Everyone can do something, and every little bit helps make a difference, as long as we all keep going. So if, despite your best efforts, you find yourself driving to Aldi instead of cycling to the farmer’s market, I wouldn’t feel too bad.
Photo by David Camilli