Climate change, soil loss, the death and destruction of species and habitats, insectageddon: our world is dying, because we’re killing it.
Thankfully for our consciences, it may not be too late. Mother Earth may yet pull through if we pool our collective powers to breathe life back into her wheezing lungs.
After all, we all want to feel like we’re making a difference, don’t we? Even though at our core, we’re a bit lazy.
So, here are five brands doing the hard (but good) work for us.
THE FOODIE ONE
Detox Kitchen
Anyone who’s watched documentaries Cowspiracy or What The Health? knows the food industry is pretty much Satan’s work.
But is it even possible to dish up wokeness?
Can our food – the thing that nourishes our animal-loving minds, our mortal bodies, our sensitive, earth-born souls – reflect our newfound millennial ethics?
You bet it can. Detox Kitchen is an ethical food-delivery service that uses only fresh ingredients that are free from dairy, wheat and sugar, while its British meat is always free-range and its fish is sustainably sourced.
Subscribers can choose from six delivery options, including one for vegans, one called ‘active protein’ for customers who are regular gym-goers, and one for new mums.
It’ll help you feel better about yourself on the inside too.
THE FASHION ONE
Brothers We Stand
Fashion is the environmentally wasteful beast no man is quite sure how to tame.
A study by Levi’s, for instance, found that producing a single pair of jeans sucks up the same amount of water, energy and CO2 as running a garden hose for 106 minutes, driving 78 miles and powering a computer for 556 hours.
There are a handful of companies who are attempting to push back on fashion’s wasteful excess. Brothers We Stand are one.
The ethical menswear brand promises all its items have a positive social or environmental impact with reduced carbon footprints, no child or forced labour and a focus on sustainability.
They have one bricks-and-mortar store in Bristol and free online deliveries across the country. It’s not menswear, it’s wokewear.
THE WATER ONE
Brita
We’ve wrapped our lives in plastic: plastic bags, plastic packaging, plastic bottles.
It’s contaminating our land and suffocating our seas. Now, consider this: 7.7 billion single-use plastic water bottles are used each year in the UK, that’s around 150 each per person.
That is, by any standard, a phenomenal (and preventable) waste. Those empty bottles will end up at best in a ‘waste mountain’ on a landfill site in Kent, or at worst down the throat of a dolphin.
Brita can help. The company has launched a campaign called Swap For Good to help eradicate the use of single-use plastic bottles.
Their Style Jug (£31), for example, contains a state-of-the-art Maxtra+ filter that makes your tap water not only taste great, but helps you reduce your carbon footprint by eliminating your use of single-use plastic bottles.
You can’t tell the difference between Brita-filtered water and bottled water, yet the environmental difference between using Brita and bottled is literally a world: our one, which we quite like.
THE INTERIORS ONE
Pentatonic
Just like fashion, furniture is now about everchanging trends. But what if you could decorate your home with thrown-away furniture?
Not that old rat-nibbled office chair that someone left by the skip at the end of your road. We’re talking about furniture made entirely from rubbish.
London-based interior design firm Pentatonic is at the vanguard of turning trash to treasure.
Its team of engineers say they can turn “yesterday’s drinking bottles into beautiful, ergonomically designed chairs”, or your “cracked smartphone screen into high-end glassware”.
They make chairs, tables, cushions, coasters, glassware and, oh, jewellery from cigarette ends.
Also, they refuse to use toxins (glues, resins, paints or formaldehydes), so everything they produce is 100% recyclable and safe for your home.
THE TECH ONE
Wemo
Power poisons the planet. Not new information. But that doesn’t mean we can’t all do a little something about it.
One way is through Wemo. Described by its parent company Belkin as a home automation ecosystem, it makes smart electrical accessories that can be controlled by your phone.
Among its products is a plug adapter that lets you control any accessory or appliance that’s plugged into it using your smartphone.
You never have to worry about leaving an appliance on when you’ve gone to work – you can turn it off from your office using the Wemo app.
The plug also tracks how much energy is being used by whatever’s plugged into it, so you can monitor how much a space heater is costing you, or how much energy a particular room consumes.
Join the movement against plastic pollution and get a Brita jug or bottle to drink water with a great taste, in good conscience. Shop Brita’s cutting-edge products now.
