World Environment Day is held on the 5^th of June each year by the United Nations, bringing attention to global environmental issues and calling for collective action to celebrate, protect and restore our planet. This year’s theme is Only One Earth, an initiative aimed at protecting our planet and ensuring that it’s healthy and thriving for future generations.

Making sustainable living the default option is the only way that we can keep our lifestyles from harming our planet. As a business we’re committed to treading softly on the earth and operating sustainably; powering our candle production with our own energy produced from solar panels, wind turbine and biomass, using recyclable packaging, and reducing single-use plastics across our ranges.

In recognition of this important awareness day, we’ve put together this guide full of tips for living more sustainably.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

It’s a saying that many of us instantly associate with sustainability, but it can never hurt to renew our commitment to following the ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ mindset!

• Reduce: In today’s world of fast-fashion and disposable products, reducing the amount that we purchase is a great way to lower our waste and impact and we can do this by buying longer-lasting products, shopping second hand, and opting for repairs rather than replacing old or broken items.
• Reuse: While it’s not doable for everyone to commit to a zero-waste lifestyle, we can significantly reduce the amount we produce by reusing items instead of throwing them away. From our beautiful candle pots to our timeless kraft tins, our candles are often developed with reuse in mind and can easily be repurposed into planters and organisers, and from milk bottles and jars that can be reused for storage at home, and clothes that can be donated to second hand or charity shops, there are so many interesting ways to reuse. One suggestion that interested us recently was using cards and envelopes from Christmas and Birthdays as scrap paper for shopping lists and notes - giving them a second life before recycling! 
• Recycle: At home we can simply recycle our rubbish according to our local council regulations, which reduces the amount of waste we send directly to landfill. Aside from your own personal recycling, why not also see if you can enact some change and see if your workplace will implement recycling bins if they don’t already? 

Energy

One of the biggest and most vital ways that we can all live more sustainably is by being aware of our energy consumption and doing all we can to realistically reduce our impact. While it isn’t feasible to say that we’ll all cut our energy use to zero, pledging to reduce energy waste and explore sustainable options for our energy is an attainable goal. From turning off electronics when not in use and cutting down on screen time, to investing in green energy options if we can, there are so many ways that we can start to change our energy habits – and all of them contribute to us living more sustainable lives.

Travel

Our lives often depend on us travelling, and most of the time our journeys have us using our own cars and motorbikes which isn’t the most environmentally friendly method of travel. Why not try an alternative? Public transportation like trains, busses and park & rides can decrease congestion and cut down on the number of vehicles heading to the same place and similarly car sharing with friends and family is a great alternative if public transport isn’t available. Instead of hopping in the car when you’re travelling a short distance, why not take the opportunity to walk or bike instead, getting in some exercise and time with nature whilst also reducing your fuel consumption!

Nature

 

One of the biggest impacts of climate change is habitat loss and its effect on biodiversity, but there are things that we can all do to try and mitigate this loss and protect our environment. We take much of our inspiration from nature, and we feel keenly our responsibility to protect our local wildlife. We have our own wildflower haven onsite here at St. Eval to encourage native species of flora to flourish and offer pollinators a place to thrive. Planting native wildflowers, introducing wildlife areas into your garden, and taking part in local litter picks are all amazing ways to support your local wildlife and help nature to thrive.

Education

By staying curious about our planet and keeping up to date on sustainability we can make sure that we’re in the most informed position to adapt our own behaviour and enact wider change. The World Environment Day website has an amazing page full of facts and figures and is a great place to start finding out more about our planet! You can find the page here.

#WorldEnvironmentDay #OnlyOneEarth