Sustainable September 2016 - Day Thirteen

Hi everyone, 

So I am back home in Perth and it's been wonderful to see my family again. 

I was even able to cook for the family for Meat Free Monday today! Did anyone else have a delicious MeatFree Monday meal? 

 

We had Sautéed Leek, Cabbage, Celery, Garlic and Cauliflower on a bed of Zoodles (noodles made out of zucchini) with crunchy Gluten Free onion rings on top. It was surprisingly delicious and yet super easy!

The challenging Sustainable September idea for today has been all about tea. Using loose leaf tea instead of tea bags. 

So, naturally, I had some of my local Australian loose leaf English Breakfast Tea in an infuser. 

 

 

I am usually pretty keen to get out my beautiful teapots and gorgeous cups but this morning I was so knackered from my trip home last night I just needed a wake up cuppa. So I'm afraid it's not so pretty. 

In my research yesterday I was fascinated to learn that apparently Tea bags were created by accident. A tea merchant, Thomas Sullivan, would send out little silk sample bags full of tea to customers to taste test. The customers often got confused and just dunked the whole little tester bag and all into a tea pot instead of pouring the contents into an infuser. So Thomas saw his opportunity to create a new product and began selling the tea bags as more than samples. Clever really. 

From The History Of Tea

Today's is less about tea and more about the worlds other favourite hot beverage... coffee. 

Now for me this is almost a day off because I do not drink coffee but I still think there are enough coffee drinkers out there to make this a very important Sustainable September idea. 

Sustainable September Day Thirteen - Change coffee sachets or coffee pods to bulk coffee beans and grind them yourself or start using a coffee plunger and bulk coffee. 

Last year I talked about how bad these coffee pods are for the environment. 

"One “press button, get coffee” at a time, we’re clogging up the world’s landfills with tiny containers" 

SBS News 2016

Until last year I didn't realise what a huge environmental issue these cute little pods actually were. So I began my investigation into Coffee Pods last year, if you want to check it out you can 

here

"When you only use a couple of small coffee pods a day, it’s hard to see how these might amount to a growing environmental problem. Fast, efficient, and relatively cheap, these disposable capsules are continuing to invade caffeine-dependent households and offices accross the country. Which means they add up - according to some reports, Australians consume around 3 million single-serve coffee pods every single day.

Even though individual pods look tiny and innocuous, millions of kilograms of aluminium have potentially ended up in landfills since Nespresso introduced their colourful pods into the market."

SBS News 2016

It's pretty bad when even "...the guy who invented one of the world’s most popular coffee pods has slammed his creation as expensive and bad for the environment" 

News Limited 2016

Kindness idea: treat yourself to a decent cup of tea/coffee. Take a moment to yourself. Breathe. Take off your shoes and go for a walk on some grass. Hug a tree. Do whatever you need to get your strength and energy back whilst being kind to yourself, others and the environment. 

Often when we talk about kindness ideas we forget to think about ways we can be be kind to ourselves. And sometimes taking a moment to ourselves, doing something we enjoy and breathing is just as important as getting everything done. 

Front lines: for those who like comedy to fight injustice you might really like this next one. When I was researching this one I found a really funny/dramatic video about coffee pods that I think you may like: however there is a Language Warning. 

I hope you had a little giggle, like I did... See you tomorrow. Have a great day! 

Cheers

Daena xx