Sunday Links

• I think it's fun seeing fashion week looks recreated from charity clothing stores, as in the above video from London's Back of the Wardrobe
• Still in the UK,  Treading My Own Path shares her eco-inspiration from travelling to the UK and Europe
• I love the concept of building schools cheaply with rubbish-stuffed plastic bottles as insulation. (Also love the name of the nonprofit, Hug It Forward.) via Unconsumption
• More upcycling: German Artist Tino Seubert Dyes Clothing With Airborne Pollution (Ecoteurre) 
• Clothes that charge your smartphone? Yes please. (The Guardian)
• Big Food with regional flavour: how Australia's food lobby works. (The Conversation)
• Did you participate in Zero Waste Week? Me neither. But The Double Life of Mrs M did and shares some advice here.
• On the same theme, The Rogue Ginger shares her top movies about plastic that will change your life. 
• I previously promised a post about evidence-based charitable donations. That still hasn't happened but the Australian Medical Students Association (AMSA) Global Health Conference gives a good summary of the issue.
• Philanthropy: reclaiming the "P-word" for a modern world. (The Guardian)
• What happened to the Make Poverty History movement? (Sydney Morning Herald)

Sunday links

American ex-pat Traveling Mama was scolded by her daughter's Danish school for slipping a cookie into her lunch box. Isn't that a great message to send kids - sugary foods are for special treats only.

Speaking of sugar... "Sugar Love: A Not So Sweet Story." - National Geographic

A beautifully edited movie about the sad consequences of plastic pollution - People Should Know About This Awful Thing We Do, And Most Are Unaware on Upworthy

The Noise of Stuff. It stops me from sleeping sometimes - Ooomf

Everyone buys too many clothes... - Perth blogger Treading My Own Path

The American Edit agrees, and quotes the same Vivienne Westwood piece, "Buy less, choose well..." - The American Edit

On a similar topic, "Unseeing what's really on sale" -  Victoria Mason Jewellery

Plastic Free July

 I just discovered Plastic Free July via the Peppermint Magazine blog. And, as a joiner, I joined the challenge. It's an initiative that was started by the Western Metropolitan Regional Council (incidentally, comprised of the most elite Western suburbs councils) in Perth.

I'm sure you all know that plastic is bad news. It takes thousands of years to break down and creates havoc with the environment. I won't go into the science here but I obviously think it's worth reducing my personal plastic consumption.

Cut and pasted from the Plastic Free July website, here are "The rules":

1. Attempt to consume no single-use plastic during July.
2. Remember it's not going to be easy! It is a challenge, not a competition so don't worry about being perfect.
3. Collect any unavoidable single-use plastic you buy. Keep in a dilemma bag and share it with us at the end of the challenge.
4. It's up to you regarding how long you participate. You might decide to go plastic-free for a day, a week, a month or longer! However long you choose will still make a contribution.

I figure that it will be easy to avoid the "top four" single-use plastic items  - plastic bags, coffee lids, plastic bottles and straws. It will reinforce other habits like using tote bags for shopping, not drinking non-fair trade takeaway coffee, not buying drinks from fast food outlets, avoiding soft drinks, etc.

Avoiding other single-use plastic is much more challenging. My prescription medication comes in plastic packaging, for one thing. Many toiletries and cosmetics involve disposable plastic - I won't buy any replacements this month but I will need to think hard about non-plastic alternatives.

Looking at Step 3 of "The rules" above - I really hope that no one puts used nappies, continence pads, sanitary pads or stoma bags in a "dilemma bag". (Those who read my other blog will know that I have a healthy obsession with body fluids.)

I'll post an update later in the month.