5 Helpful Tips For Ethical Living

Have you ever thought about ethical living?

Ethical living is the philosophy of making decisions for daily life which take into account your ethics and morals when it comes to sustainability, consumerism, wildlife and animal welfare and environmentalism. I am sure plenty of us practice some elements of ethical living in our day to day lives but could we be doing better? I know I probably could! Here are my top 5 tips for ethical living.

• Reduce waste – I try so hard with this, aiming to recycle everything that can possibly be recycled. Being a blogger and entering competitions too means a lot of cardboard and plastic comes my way so I try to make sure it is all recycled. I also try to recycle as much food waste as possible using the little caddies our local council have provided. My Dad even uses some of his food waste for his compost heap in his garden which leads me straight into my next point…
• Grow your own food – I don’t really have the capabilities to grow my own food here except for some inside chilli plants perhaps. I privately rent and cannot just dig up the garden to grow my own fruit and veg. However, myself and Jack love nothing more than visiting my parents to see what he is growing now. Jack loves helping my Dad pick fruit and veg when it is ready to be picked and we always get given plenty to take home with us. Myself and Steve have discussed growing our own when we move into a place we can properly call ours and it is something we will definitely do.
• Support local businesses – To reduce carbon footprints and promote local businesses who may otherwise get bypassed for the bigger brand names in this consumer led world, consider supporting local businesses. I love buying from local businesses and I especially love the different fairs and fetes my county holds, especially in my village. We have recently had three Christmas style markets and fetes and the opportunity to support local businesses was rife. I don’t see why anyone wouldn’t want to support their local businesses and turn it into a thriving local business community.
• Bank with an ethical bank – Banks are a funny thing, aren’t they? A lot of them don’t behave very ethically at all so if you are really keen to give ethical living a go, consider switching to an ethical bank such as Triodos Bank. They are the world leader in sustainable banking and their mission is to make money work for positive cultural, environmental and social change. They are open about every organisation they lend to on their website and opt to work with organisations who put the planet and people above profits.
• Conserve water – Conserving water is something I try to do but I am probably not as great as I should be at it. There are numerous ways you could make a small difference such as taking shorter showers or turning off the tap when using your toothbrush rather than leaving the water running. Again my parents are pretty hot on this one too, my Dad has a water catchment system where he catches the rainwater which he then uses to water his plants and seeds. It is the best birthday present anyone has ever bought him apparently!

What tips for ethical living do you have? I would love to hear them! You also have the chance of winning this fantastic Fairtrade hamper from CafeDirect! UK only, ends at 5.30pm on the 11th of December. Good luck!

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