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Sustainable Living ideas

8 Twitter Accounts for Environmentalists

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Calling all environmentalists. Like all social media, there is good and bad. Since becoming familiar with navigating Twitter, now called X owned by Elon Musk, I have found it’s a fabulous place for creating a network with like-minded individuals who care about the things you care about and there is a lot to learn.

The thing I like about social media platforms is that it’s easy to find the latest news and a twitter account from people who care about the environment the way I do; climate scientists, environmental activist, those who understand climate science, and those seeking environmental justice. 

In recent years, the need for clean energy has become a louder issue with the urgent need to phase out fossil fuels to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. This is a growing interest in young people looking towards environmental activism in order to take direct action. 

Photo by Markus Spiske: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-blue-jacket-holding-white-and-black-i-am-happy-to-be-happy-print-paper-2559749/

Here are just a few environmentalist profiles I follow in no particular order

Treehugger.com

@Treehugger – ‘Sustainability for All’ as their tagline, Treehugger is based in New York, USA and was established in 2004. A good place for information about the environment which is jam packed with a plethora of articles, latest information, news and advice about climate justice, climate politics, journal trends, and sustainability news.

Surfers Against Sewage

@sascampaigns Account perfect for environmentalists – Set up in 1990 in a little village hall in Porthtowan, Cornwall. Protecting the oceans, beaches and wildlife is their mission. It started out when the surfing community found they were surfing in raw sewage and sanitary products. It’s not just surfers to care and campaign, it’s dog walkers, swimmers, children playing and sunbathers. Thanks to the hard work of Surfers Against Sewage, their donors and volunteers, we in the UK enjoy some of the cleanest beaches.

Ecosia

@ecosia – I heard about Ecosia about a year ago when I was helping out with a local litter picking. One of the other volunteers mentioned a site that plants trees when you use it’s search engine. As you can imagine, I got my phone out to have a look. It’s very easy to use, instead of searching on Google, search on Ecosia instead. They’re environmentalists who plant trees based on the number of searches.

Dr Elaine Cox

@ElaineCox11 – I’ve been following Elaine for a while and she is a passionate advocate for the environment. She is a senior lecturer, an environmentalist and an author and tweets about a range of environmental issues; impact of climate change, HS2 and the expansion of Heathrow Airport. Her passion oozes through and I would highly recommend following her.

Orangutan Land Trust

@orangulandtrust – I came across their account when I posted a blog about Palm Oil. Based in Derbyshire, England, they work tirelessly to protect and preserve the Orangutan’s natural environment. Ensuring their habitats are safe with the goal of long-term survival of the orangutan in the wild. Perfect for any environmentalists out there.

Break Free From Plastic Movement

@brkfreeplastic – Plastic is such a bugbear for me so I am in good company when I see @brkfreeplastic on my twitter feed. They started in 2016 and are working towards a future free from plastic pollution. Their brand audit reports names and shames top corporate companies. Who produce the most plastic and work tirelessly towards corporate responsibility, changing policy and shifting the narrative. They’ve got a lot to say and will open your eyes too.

Licypriya Kangujam

@LicypriyaK – This is one of the young activists who is incredibly passionate about fighting for environmental conservation and climate change mitigation. Inspired by Greta Thunberg, Licypriya regularly protests outside Parliament House in India for the leaders to pass a climate change law and curb their carbon emissions. In October 2020, she protested to find a permanent solution to Delhi’s air pollution crisis. Soon afterwards, she was briefly detained and then released. 13 days later, the President on India enacted a new law to fight air pollution in Delhi.

Greta Thunberg

@GretaThunberg – I can’t put together a list without adding Greta. Greta is a climate change activist and has encouraged children to face this issue by schools climate strikes on Fridays, a growing environmental movement. I am a massive fan of Greta and completely understand why she’s passionate and angry. Politicians are politicians, not scientists – listen to the science. She gets a lot of grief, maybe adults don’t like children telling them what to do. Greta isn’t shy about commenting and voicing her environmental concerns and despite the trolling she gets on social media, and some of it is absolutely vile, it hasn’t and won’t stop her. I absolutely love her!

Photo by Paddy O Sullivan: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-wearing-blue-long-sleeved-shirt-while-raising-hands-2369217/

Extreme weather events caused by the climate crisis and global warming is an issue that affects all of us, not just a few. Renewable energy is the key and environmental policy should be heavily focussed on this, especially when it comes to the fossil fuel industry

If there are any Twitter accounts that post regular tweets you think are worth following, let us know 💚

These are some ideas that work for me but may not work for everyone. Here are my terms & conditions for further reading

Self-care, Sustainable Living ideas

Litter Picking At The Beach

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Last month, in the UK, the kids were off for a week for half-term. I asked my 6-year-old what she wanted to do and one of the things she asked to do was litter picking on the beach.

Being an eco-warrior myself, I couldn’t help smiling.

We usually go litter picking in our local area and we have had positive comments and smiles from people passing but we’ve never done it on the beach.

It was a bright, sunny day on the beach in Folkestone, Kent, armed with our litter pickers we asked my friend, Rachel, to join us as she lived locally.

When we’re litter picking in our local park, we tend to find the usual suspects; crisp packets, McDonald’s packaging, sweet wrappers, bottles and polystyrene fast food trays.

Here’s a few photos of what we found at the beach

We found the odd bottle cap and sweet wrappers but the main thing we found was bit of nets used in fishing. There were so many little pieces of them littered everywhere along the stretch of beach.

Who knows how long they’ve been in the sea or sitting on the beach ready to be washed out again by the tide and we all know what this does to wildlife.

If you’ve got 30-minutes to spare, grab a litter picker and a bag and pick up litter – it doesn’t even have to be at the beach. You’ll get a bit of exercise, some fresh air, you’ll be doing something for your community and it’s free to do!

Do something green today 💚

Self-care, Sustainable Living ideas

My First Litter Pick

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On a very bitter, cold Saturday morning, I joined my first ever litter pick in Ashford. The area targeted for litter picking was a park in Ashford called Victoria Park.

The litter pick was organised by a local group who have a Facebook page called Keep Ashford Clean. I’ve seen their litter picking events on my feed for a while and this time I decided to stop thinking about it and just do it. It’s only two hours of volunteering.

We all met by the fountain at Victoria Park at 1pm and there were in total about 10 volunteers.

We were all provided with the equipment; a high-visibility vest, a litter picker, gloves, a bag for rubbish and a bag for recycling. We were split into teams of two and sent off on our way to cover areas of the park. Although, we were in pairs, it wasn’t really easy to have a chat with your buddy because there was so much ground to cover.

Here’s how I got on with my litter pick

Once I got underway, I put my headphones in and started listening to a playlist I had downloaded; *Nysnc, East 17, Jon Bon Jovi, Backstreet Boys and Timbaland, I was in my element. No judgement, please 😉

I was under the impression that I would mainly find drink cans and bottles, but this wasn’t the case. I found so many crisp packets and sweet wrappers, the items that can’t go in the recycling bag for Ashford Borough Council, and these wrappers get everywhere! You really have to look in hedges, fencing, play areas. It was a little sad to see.

About 45 minutes into my litter pick, my fingers started going numb. We had been provided gloves but despite wearing my own gloves underneath, the tips of my fingers were struggling. Despite this, I carried on.

Victoria Park Ashford my first litter pick
Me with my numb fingers trying to take a selfie!

With the rise of knife crime in this country, I did wonder whether anyone had ever found any knives, I asked my ‘buddy’ and she said there had been cases of knives being found. And not just knives, needles too. She said needles were mostly found in the play area! Imagine taking your child to the park to play on the swings and slides and finding a needle!

About an hour and a half in, I started noticing other volunteers moving towards the water fountain so I started litter picking in that direction and arrived back to the fountain about an hour and 45 minutes after we started.

I was astonished by the amount of bags we filled!

Victoria Park Ashford my first litter pick

The blue bags were rubbish and the clear bags were for recycling. The volunteers even found a TV, bicycle tire and what looks like part of a child’s scooter. In just two hours, this is what we collected!

It doesn’t make sense

I never understand why people litter? When I was growing up I was always taught to put your rubbish in the bin and if you couldn’t find a bin, put it in your pocket and wait until you get home and throw you rubbish away. When I’m on the school run, I do see kids drop things on the floor and it really annoys me, but it’s not always kids, it’s adults too. Just because they have no pride in where they live, they have no respect for others.

People dropping litter isn’t the only way litter in found on the roads. Council’s clearly aren’t emptying the bins quickly enough so when they are overflowing, and bit of wind and the rubbish goes everywhere. Council’s need to take more responsibility too. There also needs to be an element of common sense, although that seems to be lacking nowadays, if the bin is overflowing, don’t keep trying to add to it!

I hate littering, always have done always will do and I will ensure my little one knows not to litter.

Despite the cold, I enjoyed myself. I felt a sense of achievement just for two hours volunteering and hopefully the people who use Victoria Park regularly appreciate it the work that was put in to make their park nicer.

I look forward to the next week and hopefully it won’t be as cold next time!

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