I devote half of my site to tree hugging because I believe that our personal health is nowhere without a healthy world. The well-being of our planet affects what we eat, drink, and breathe. And we in turn influence the destiny of the earth. According to a report released by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2018, we have until 2030 to prevent catastrophic climate change, and to do so, we need to reduce CO2 emissions by 45 percent. The UN Secretary-General called a later report of the Panel “a code red for humanity.” I think we can all help prevent disastrous warming of the climate by allocating our money accordingly. In fact, as reported in The Guardian, recent academic research indicates that if people in well-off countries were to make six particular life-style changes, this could help avert climate breakdown.
When it comes to my spending pattern, I keep in mind what Triodos Bank so beautifully calls the “positive changing power” of money. I try to only give my business to restaurants, hotels, shops, and organizations that aim to contribute to a healthier world. The links below lead to services and products that I wholeheartedly recommend. I do this out of sheer enthusiasm and am currently not financially compensated for these recommendations.
I’ve received many of the products below by mail or delivery service. I’m well aware that the shipment of goods is a huge contributor to climate change. As the UN Secretary-General stated in an address at Columbia University in 2020: if one counted shipping as a country, “it would be the world’s sixth-biggest greenhouse gas emitter.” Still, I prefer to order environmentally conscious items remotely over buying things nearby that are harmful to the environment. I hope that as the demand for harmful items falls and that for environmentally friendly items rises, local stores will sell more of the latter.
I order many products from Etsy, an organization that offsets the CO2 emissions caused by shipping products sold through the platform. Etsy does this by investing in projects that reduce emissions by the same amount, at no additional cost to the buyer. Etsy believes, like I do, that “if we all work together towards positive change, we can make the world a better, healthier place.”
