January was my "buy nothing new" month. I did actually fail a bit - I "accidentally" bought an umbrella. That said not having bought it wouldn't have done much because I did need one, so not buying it for the whole of January would only have delayed me buying it til february, and then I may not have seen the charity umbrella that I ended up buying. There were also several other things I needed which I put off buying until February (for instance a new eyebrow pencil, the good shopping guide etc). Most of these I have actually still not bought, but I don't think the challenge will reduce my consumption of those things, I have not been using my eyebrow pencil any less for instance, so buying one in january would just have meant i had it ready to start using sooner. There were a few items I probably would have bought if it hadn't been the challenge, which I have now forgotten about and no longer want, so the challenge was successful with those things.

Talking of things which haven't been bought and therefore have slipped from the mind, hence I didn't really want.... I wonder how many of the possessions in my own home are actually category instances of that that just managed to get past the first filter. Which of the things in my home would I not have missed had I never bought them? Time to find those things and get them out, free up the house and mind, and try not to fill it with these things again!

I think a challenge is a good way to focus the mind. Obviously I was already aware that everything I buy has a carbon and a waste value associated with it, both post consumer and in production. In fact production is something that has been bothering me more and more of late, but I think i will leave that barely touched upon for now, and will come back to that issue another time.

So even though I knew all that, and do think about it when I buy things I think sometimes I push it to the back of my mind, whereas the challenge brought it to the front of my mind (most of the time, except when I was in tescos and bought the umbrella). So, even though I am not continuing with the challenge this month, I am still thinking about all new purchases and trying to decide how necessary they are. I am trying to buy predominantly used where possible, or not at all. Most of the things we buy we were living perfectly happily without for many years before, we don't really need them at all. Of course part of being a human is having some things we don't need, but do like, and I am happy with that. I try to make these things things which make me feel happy, and if possible fair trade and sustainable. Where this isn't possible I am not going to beat myself up for tiny things. I am on a journey and doing the best I can, and doing better over time.

My buy nothing new challenge

I had been debating having a "green" new year's resolution, but couldn't think of one that I thought was meaningful, or significantly challenging or worthwhile for this year at least.

I decided on something quite separate for an entirely different reason. I made two:
1) look after the house and garden more
2) live more frugally.

It is the second which is or interest to this particular post. So, I have already decided I am to live more frugally. As I say this is not for green purposes, but does come after the consideration and rejection of some similar green style resolutions:
-buy no more new clothes, only second hand
-buy less
-only buy basic clothing etc

I dismissed these for various reasons.

Then today I was reading about the compact whose aim is to buy nothing new. I don't want to permanently go down this route since lots of the new things i buy are fair trade which will directly impact on the lives of others if I stop buying them (don't worry I am not deluding myself by how much it will or won't help - but it certainly won't help people in poor communities if people in rich communities all stop buying their products and instead start living off the waste products of other rich people). Mr Green-Eyed also tells me that we have to consume more in order for the world to carry on turning pretty much. Which I accept, but I actually think that world economics is wrong and we should switch to a non-growth economy. Either way, I don't believe in excess consumption, but I don't think just switching to buying other people's waste is the answer either. The reason there are such good "waste" products in charity shops and on ebay is because people are consuming more new things, so a reduction in consumption in general would be more my speed.

However, I like a challenge, even one riddled with ethical nightmares such as this!

So, my January challenge is to buy nothing new. Nothing new for one month.

Things I am allowed to buy:
-used second hand items
-food and drinks
-food and drinks which come with free gifts so long as the food or drink item would have been bought regardless of the gift.

I will keep you updated :)

we had a white christmas, and a green christmas!

It snowed on christmas day, for maybe the first time in my entire life! We already had snow on the ground, then it snowed just past midnight, we were still up and saw it, and so we had the snow in the garden, and about a quarter of an inch of fresh snow. Apparently bookies paid out on bets of white christmas in nottingham.

So one colour was fixed, what about the other? Green?

Of course the ultimate green christmas would have been sitting in the dark without a christmas tree eating food foraged or gained freganistically meditating or something.

Obviously I didn't take things that far, but I made some green choices where I could.

• we ate vegetarian (as I always do, but some of the other 7 wouldn't normally)


• I home cooked a vegan loaf to reduce a) animal products and b) packaging and processing costs


• I bought all veg british and where possible locally grown


• I have already talked about the ethical dilemma I had with the christmas tree and how i resolved this (I bought a real tree in a pot which I intend to keep for next year and beyond)


• all my decorations are made of natural materials, no plastic whatsoever (although to be fair, at least part of this is aesthetics!)


• I didn't buy a single card or piece of wrapping paper - I made cards (although I did use new card, but hopefully people will like them and treasure them), and I used pre-used paper

I bought people ethical gifts where possible -

• my husband got a recycled bicycle tyre belt and


• some recycled computer keyboard cufflinks!


• My mum got a fair trade afghan blown glass wine glass

People also know I like these things too, and I received a ring made from a teaspoon handle, and some table mats and coasters made from recycled fireman's hose.

I also received Leo Hickman's book - A Life Stripped Bare, Anthony Gidden's Politics of Climate Change and Time Out's Great Train Journey's of the World. I did a train holiday this year and believe this is without a doubt the ultimate way forward.

To improve my green christmas for next year i need to:

• reduce produced items such as real eat roast


• buy fairtrade crackers (if I had known about these before I bought mine I would have bought them, but I already had some. Of course some people say that crackers are a terrible bane for the environmentalist, this is somehting I shall have to think about. I did put all the recyclables in the recycling though)


• more green presents for others


• less electric lighting and more candles


• cards made from recycled materials


• reuse this year's tree

Sustainable Art?

When we went to the Deep in Hull they had an exhibition by Martin Waters.

I found this work to be not only beautiful but also to highlight the effects of living in a disposable society. Much of his work is made from remnants of things he has collected from the beach. There was a collection of plastic forks, a collection of toy guns/water pistols that sort of thing, there were others arranged by colour.

I would like to try my hand at these, but with city waste. I would like to try it with the children but I am concerned about the health and safety aspects of that. I think I need to build up my collection of junk and then I too can make a disposed of montage.

Watch this space for green-eyed's environmental art.