Welcome to Green and Natural Living
Hi I am Jackie Elton. I help busy people who are worried about the state of the environment. Who often feel overwhelmed and confused around what to do to be greener. I help you to start living a greener, happier and healthier life, with easy everyday actions that will help the environment and save you money.
It is very easy to do a Google search for how to do anything in this digital age. On a daily basis we are bombarded by headlines and news about how we are facing a climate crisis like never before. Or how plastic waste is everywhere. This access to information means it is very easy to become overwhelmed, fearful and confused. This can then lead you to doing nothing as you really don’t know what to do for the best.
However, I am here to help you overcome the information overload and help you to start living a greener life today. I will show you easy daily eco-friendly actions that do make a difference. Greener swaps that will fit with your lifestyle, whether you live in a busy city or a small market town.
Don’t worry if you are new to going green as I will be sharing lots of easy ways to go green. Including simple everyday actions that will get you going green the fun and easy way.
Being green and eco-friendly can be easy, fun and better for your health, especially if you have access to someone that has done tonnes of research about green living and the environment.
In the blog section you can find posts about green living and my life in the Lincolnshire countryside. If you want to know more about me head over to my About page.
If you want to connect with other like minded people why not join my free Green and Natural Living Facebook group.
Removing Toxic Chemicals from your Home
Living in our modern world means we are exposed to more toxic chemicals than ever before. There are some sources of chemicals that we have more control over than others. For example the chemicals we have in our homes is one place where we have the most control. Therefore thinking about the products we clean our homes with and switching to eco-friendly products is a good start, especially if you have children or pets.
Looking at the skincare products that you use on a daily basis and checking that they don’t have any nasty chemicals in.
Reducing waste and recycling
Reducing waste is very close to my heart as I used to work as a recycling and waste minimisation officer for a local council back in 2000. I was also employed as the Lincolnshire Real Nappy Campaign co-ordinator in 2004. Waste minimisation and zero waste is talked about a lot now, however we still produce 26,897 tonnes of household waste in the UK in 2017 and recycled 45.7% of that waste.
So we need to work at reducing the amount of waste we produce and recycling even more.
Nature and wildlife
I am very lucky in that I live in the countryside and can sit in my garden listening to birdsong and bees buzzing. I can watch the bees and butterflies on the flowers that I have planted for them. One of the reasons I became interested in the environment was through species and habitat conservation via the WWF and local Wildlife trust. I also remember learning about Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring at school in Biology. I don’t want to live in a world where there is no birdsong or bees buzzing.
If you follow me on Instagram you will see lots of pictures of the bees and flowers I love.
Reducing Plastic
Going Plastic free seems a huge step as plastic can be found everywhere, in the kitchen wrapping our food to the bathroom containing our toiletries and everywhere in between. However there are many easy plastic free swaps.
Reducing the amount of plastic we use every day, especially the type that is difficult to recycle is a great way to reduce overall waste. There are lots of simple plastic-free swaps like using a solid soap rather than liquid handwash.
Watch this video about some easy plastic swaps.
Climate Change
Climate change is the biggest environmental issue of our time as it impacts on so many other areas and is such a complex issue. However, there are lots of everyday actions you can take to reduce your own carbon dioxide emissions. Read this blog post about 5 ways to reduce climate change
