Do you find yourself embarrassed by the amount of trash you accumulate each week - purposely averting your eyes?
You’re not alone.
More and more we are expected to do ‘all the things’ and yet in the back of our minds we’re thinking 🤔 “Hmm, the wrapper on this cheese stick my kid just ate will take 500 years to degrade’ :(
The funny thing with guilt is that on the surface there’s nothing wrong with it, guilt can often drive us to change our behaviour and make necessary changes. In fact that’s the very reason ecyo was formed, I (Avril) felt guilty failing time and time again trying to be an eco-goddess.
(Note the photo above of me when we lived in a small town...clearly loving life..., with terrible non eco nappies in the trolley :( I have such strong feelings of guilt about these nappies still).
My sisters and I felt we had to do something to genuinely cut our own eco guilt, and in turn potentially help everyone with theirs. Yes we also had the big picture in mind - the planet, but if we're honest it was our guilt that drove us and still does!
With eco guilt, the cure is to take small actions to help the planet (bring your own bags, a reusable cloth, plastic free cleaning refills 😊, switching to green energy), then let yourself off the hook a wee bit.
June Tangney, PhD, professor of psychology at George Mason University suggests to "Ask yourself, 'What are reasonable goals for me, knowing that I can't take care of everybody and everything?"
These goals may be different for everyone "Once you translate the most important things into doable plans, you'll feel a lifting of some of this moral weight."
We asked our a few people in different stages of their life how they cope:
Mum Joey Farrell is trying to spend her time, energy, money and hope in people that are making a difference by leading with her heart as well as her head. “I plan on moving forward with as much humanity and grace as I can while realising there is no perfect solution right now.” She is also choosing eco products where possible and eating a more vegan diet.
David Yeates (aged 59) said he is investing his time teaching his grandchildren to respect the planet "They are the future and we need to look forward".
Gemma Zhou aged 22 said she is avoiding fast fashion, chooses public transport and is enjoying learning to grow vegetables for her household.
Personally, my hubby and I do have plans to live completely off the grid one day, and hopefully i'll become a better veggie gardener soon. Right now though, I do what I can realistically manage, and hope to keep pushing forward with ecyo so that we can remove unnecessary single-use plastic and lessen everyone's eco-guilt.
We'd love to know what you do? or plan to do to help your environmental guilt?
Irrespective of your level of eco warrior these funny squidgy eco cleaning refills can help. Our Dad is the chemical engineer who worked out how to do them (after some pestering from us), we are a very family run business.
Plastic free eco friendly cleaning is a reality now, the pods contain exactly what's in most high-end eco cleaners in a concentrated form. They dissolve in water so you’ll have no waste guilt at all and you can even compost the recycled boxes if you like (or they can be recycled).
It’s important that they work though, there is noo point adding to your stress by having to clean something twice. When compared to other high-end eco cleaning prodcuts once dissolved they work just the same or better - but without the plastic. Use any spray bottle, just add the included label to the outside.
Avril xo