Ep 16 & 17: A Sustainable Christmas
Episode 16 & 17 is all about Christmas! I sat down with sustainable guru Cate Russell, fellow actor and friend and we delved into sustainable solutions for Christmas from gift suggestions to recipe suggestions. All businesses mentioned are linked below. Don’t forget to share this episode with a friend!
In Part 1 we covered:
- An quick intro to Cate and how we feel about Christmas.
- Real vs Fake trees.
- Decorations: fairy lights, garlands, tinsel, baubles, making your own.
- Where & how to recycle electronics. Find your local WEEE drop off point here.
- GIFTS (see detailed description & links below).
Gifts
- Monitor what you need to get and how much you’re spending. I mention this Xmas Gift app.
- Ask your friends/family what they’d like or need.
- Offset their carbon with a charity like Vita.
- Plant a tree with a charity or company like Grown.
- Gift a plant.
- For kids you can make them a book with scraps of paper, paint a t-shirt, knit a toy.
- Sustainable clothes, accessories, jewellery or candles. Brands linked below!
Clothes, Bags, Accessories:
- Jump The Hedges – upcycled tarpaulin to water resistant yoga bags, bum bags etc.
- Grown – organic cotton t-shirts & jumpers & they plant a tree for every sale.
- The Upcycle Movement – upcycled wetsuits to bags, earrings, pencil cases etc.
- Cork Crafts. – traditional cork products (learn about cork in episode one!) such as shoes, bags wallets etc.
- ReKINDle. – beautiful hand-painted denim jackets, patches & tote bags with earth friendly messages.
- Fresh Cuts. – shop in Dublin selling their own eco branded clothes among other brands.
Socks & Underwear:
- Stór – bamboo and organic cotton underwear for men.
- Rapanui – underwear and clothes and they take their own stock back to recycle.
- Thought – organic catoon, bamboo & hemp socks, underwear & other clothes.
- Ecoalf – swimwear and clothes from recycled nylon plastic taken from the ocean and beaches.
- Stripe & Stare – mostly use modal from beechtrees to make knickers and other clothes and, their knickers are compostable.
- Patagonia – have a shop in Dublin as well as an online store and sell outdoor wear including sustainable warm socks.
- Molke – all their colourful underwear is manufactured in Scotland and sustainably sourced.
- Swedish Stockings – luxury detailed tights and stockings from sustainable material (plus they have this amazing scheme for taking back old tights which I didn’t mention in the episode!).
Books:
Jewellery:
Candles:
Technology:
- Mind your technology to make it last with covers like Pela and anti virus software etc.
- Purchase second hand from CeX.
Toiletries:
Make sure they’ll actually use what you give them!
- LUSH – all ethical, mostly vegan, take back their plastic containers to recycle into new ones.
- Bodyshop – cruelty free natural products (though they use a fair bit of plastic).
- Superdrug – own brand toiletries are all free from animal testing but again, they use plastic.
You can buy sustainable soaps and toiletries (and more!) from these Irish retailers:
Cards:
- LoopLoop Crafts – Seeded Wildflower Cards.
- Nadine Love Ink – Tree Free, Dublin made cards.
In Part 2 we continued on discussing:
- Gift wrapping alternatives.
- Christmas cards.
- Dinner.
- Pets for Christmas.
- Mental Health.
- Upcoming Markets.
Dinner:
- Keep This Cracker – reusable cracker available at The Conscious Christmas Store.
- PlanetnSustie – compostable partyware.
- Sova Vegan Butcher – ‘Turkey’ Roulade.
- The Happy Pear – Veggie & Vegan recipes.
- BOSH! – vegan recipes.
- Tofurky – vegan roast available in most health food stores.
- Moodley Manor – Irish company making plant based meat substitutes.
Upcoming Christmas Markets
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One Reply to “Ep 16 & 17: A Sustainable Christmas”
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Inspirational!