Live Green

Whether it is a global pandemic or impending threat of disastrous climate change the world is throwing a lot of scary stuff at us at the moment. One of the pieces of good news that the green movement has always been trying to get across is that there is something we can do about it in our own small way which does makes difference. 

Many small food shops closed down early on in lockdown, but one of the first to reopen was our own wonderful Nourish shop, on Magdalen Road in St Leonards. If you haven’t yet been to Nourish, I suggest you rectify this immediately – for it is quite a superb place. Bring along your own empty bottles, jars, plastic bags, whatever you have, and fill them with a huge variety of delicious food and household essentials. For example, when the crystals of salt in your saltshaker run out you don’t need to buy a whole new glass jar, or plastic box of salt crystals. Instead you can go to Nourish, bring along any container you have, or pick up from the shop a paper bag for free, and choose the quantity of salt you want, weigh it and buy it. The crystals are pink and white, and the last time I bought a refill it cost me the princely sum of 38p. Cheaper, greener, better for your conscience, and better for the environment as you personally help to cut down in the amount of plastic overwhelming the earth. What’s not to like? 

And perhaps during lockdown you are one of many thousands of people who bought seeds. Perhaps you planted them in the earth, let the endless hours of lockdown sunshine radiate over them, added water, and saw the miracle of life happen before your eyes. This year I did that with salad, and now every time I pick my own salad leaves for lunch, I get a fantastic feeling of the most extraordinary smugness washing over me. And if that is not something worth working for, I don’t know what is.

Go green - your pride and vanity will love you for it, and so will your pocket, and let’s not forget that friend to all of us who will also get a lot out of it, good old Mother Earth. In this time of great global uncertainty, I for one, definitely want her on my side.

Written by Tess Read

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