Sustainable You

How much are we all washing our hands these days?! A lot! But now, practicing good hand hygiene doesn't have to mean excessive plastic waste. Today we chat with Josh Howard, the founder of Single Use Ain't Sexy. He started the business because he loves this planet of ours and he couldn't get his head around, how many single-use plastic bottles we all use!

With over 60 million single-use plastic bottles ending up in landfill everyday, he knew that he had to make some changes. So he made it his mission to find a solution to this problem - that's how Single Use Ain't Sexy was born. His cutting edge cleaning and personal care products make it so simple - just add water.

We had a great chat with Josh and it was so inspiring to hear about how his business has already saved over 31,000 plastic bottles from landfill in three short months.

What have you been up to during "Iso"? Jacqui and Lisa have been going through the ups and downs of home-schooling, getting out into nature, kids on devices, and honing vegetable gardening skills. Here they share some sustainable-focussed gems that they have found in recent times.

Watching

Oh no you’ve been greenwashed again!

While we are thinking of ways to become more sustainable and make better environmental choices, companies are spending a lot of time and money to confuse us into thinking that their product or service is a safer, greener, better choice - but in actual fact, it isn’t.

In this week's episode, Jacqui and Lisa shed some light on the term greenwashing and discuss what it actually is, as well as highlighting some of the ways they themselves have been caught out. They chat about everything from food packaging to bank and superannuation choices.

How do you take over 13 tonnes of textiles out of landfill in a 6 month period? Easy! Start with socks! Lisa and Jacqui chat with Michael from Manrags - and find out how what started as a men’s essentials subscription business turned into the world’s first circular subscription club. Manrags take responsibility for the entire life-cycle of their products while keeping them out of landfill. Along with their partner - Textile Recyclers Australia, they repurpose, repair and recycle into new threads, creating a completely circular system.

In this episode, Lisa shares information about her Primary School Fete held in mid-March. She found herself on the Fete Committee late in 2019, and decided that if she got a say on how the event was organised, she'd try and make it as sustainable as possible! And the rest of the committee were all in. They had some wins and some losses, but overall the event had way less waste than it could have. Hear how they tried to reduce waste at their event, what worked and what could have been improved for next time. Listen in to find out tips on how to incorporate sustainability into your next event, large or small.

Roving Refills was created in 2019 by two sisters, who had a passion for environmental protection and a growing concern at the amount of plastic packaging in the world. They started Roving Refills to provide people with locally made, eco-friendly alternatives to highly packaged products that have traveled many miles and are not safe for waterways.

Lisa and Jacqui chat with Andrea Dunkley of Roving Refills Frankston, who saw a business opportunity that would harness her passion for the environment and to support and educate the community to reduce single-use plastics. Hear about her beginnings, get an understanding of her roving operations, and learn about her visions for the future.

We are back for part two of our chat with Mark Spencer from the Climactic Podcast Network.

If you missed part one, stop now and go back and have a listen! It will make more sense and give you some context.

In this episode, we talk about our visions and hopes for the future and the power that podcasts like Climactic and Sustainable You have in building relationships, reaching out to others and sharing their stories, and ultimately creating community.

We are excited about the future, and are grateful for the friendship that we now have with Mark.

If you are into climate-related podcasts, chances are you have heard the name Climactic, or the voice of Mark Spencer. In April 2018 Mark saw a huge opportunity to connect everyday people with ideas to share about living well in the time of climate change, and Climactic was born.

He will tell you that his podcast had humble beginnings, but Mark is a natural story-teller, and in a few short years, he's successfully gained interviews with politicians, sustainability experts, health professionals, filmmakers and many regular people making a difference.

The Climactic Collective podcast has since released more than 100 hours of published audio over 150 episodes, and has recently topped one hundred thousand downloads.

He co-founded this platform to share people’s stories in their daily struggle to live sustainable lives. We feel privileged that amongst all of this, he connected with us, and gave us some of his time to get to know a little bit more about his personal story.

Do you know a volunteer Firie? Have you wondered what happens when they go off to fight a bushfire and save our communities from destruction? Lisa's dad Mike is a long-serving member of the CFA, and has been deployed on several strike teams so far this Summer. This episode, Mike shares both his experiences of being a volunteer firefighter, and his thoughts on community, slowing down and helping one another.