One of my big parts of minimalism is going to things in my life being more natural, fair trade, or some how benefiting my local community where I can. I've liked trying to find new items to buy instead of the less sustainable products I have been using.
One big change has been that I have started buying all of my products from The Body Shop. Their goal is to become as sustainable as possible; major ingredients being fair trade, vegan, organic, and cruelty free. For me, fair trade is one of the major aspects I look for. I mean if we can't treat our fellow human beings fairly, can we really do anything else that is sustainable? (I will say that I do not support The Body Shop when it comes to their MLM branch, but that's another post entirely).
A lot of the materials I have tried to incorporate into my life are more natural as well. For example, the tea kettle I had been using was made in a country known for some "questionable" business practices. The paint had begun to chip off/rust... on the INSIDE of the kettle. It really made me think about what I was drinking and how the kettle was made. I decided to purchase a new one. It was a bit more expensive, but the materials used are much higher quality and I will be able to use this kettle for years to come. I've decided to repurpose my old kettle into becoming a pot for a plant!
I've also been incorporating a lot of products made out wood into my life. This summer, I wanted to learn how to crochet so I ordered a few crochet hooks from an artist on Etsy. They are just beautiful!!!!! and happen to be made out of tree branches and twigs. This has also led me to purchasing yarn that is made from natural fibers; wool, alpaca, cotton and bamboo if I can, but it's SUPER expensive. Now I understand there might come some issues with that and the treatment of animals. That has slowly become one of my concerns in my knitting practices and fiber work. I would like to start buying my wool/alpaca when I can directly from local farms or try to find some fiber shops that carry cruelty free fibers.
This really have been a fairly easy step in my journey. I have not all together stopped buying plastic based products, but I have made steps and have purchased less. I honestly can't think of a single use plastic I've purchased in quite some time and that feels really good! If you have any tips for nature based material switches I can start making, please let me know in the comments!
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