Wasted Resources In Student Halls? An Opportunity for Change

From working with various UK universities over the past few years on sustainability-related projects, I have noticed one major challenge which keeps going unaddressed – the amount of wasted household items left behind by students (myself included) living temporarily in student accommodation. While there is certainly the wider issue both nationally and globally of furniture […]

Are compostables really a better alternative for packaging?

With plastics fastly becoming a controversial material in the world of packaging, many businesses are turning to “compostable” alternatives. But what exactly are these and are they really a better alternative? What is compostable packaging made from? Compostable packaging is mainly made from Polylactic Acid (PLA), which is a form of plastic made from plant […]

Mental Wellbeing and Cognitive Behaviourial Therapy

Health according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Mental wellbeing refers to how an individual feels day-to-day, and it is something which constantly changes. However, if you suffer low mental wellbeing for a long period of time, you’re […]

A Sustainable Switch: The Reusable Menstrual Cup

The topic of female menstruation is of great taboo, and this is a problem when it comes to talking about the sustainability of current practices. The history of how females have dealt with menstruation has not changed that much over history, but rather the main method of using disposables has become the norm and now […]

How and why the EU needs to take action to tackle microfibres in the fast fashion industry

Over the past few months, I have been working on the creation of a policy brief as part of my degree, aimed at the European Commission, tackling microfibres in the fast fashion industry. I absolutely loved writing it and have become really passionate about this particular global challenge! Therefore I hope by sharing my findings, […]

The problem of Biodiversity loss

Biodiversity (the variety of plant and animal life in the world or in a particular habitat) integrity is vital for maintaining ecosystem services, ensuring the safe operating space for humanity on Earth. According to Rockstrom, to keep the planetary boundary within safe limits, there must be no more than 10-100 extinctions per million species annually. […]

Biochemical Flows: The Problem of Eutrophication

In relation to Rockstrom’s 9 Planetary Boundaries (see previous post), the boundary of biochemical flows refers to both the nitrogen and phosphorous cycles, and the problems relating to these for the safe operating space of the planet. The main problem with these cycles is the changes that humans have made to suit their needs, most […]

Ozone Depletion: What we can learn from the success of Precautionary Principle

The next few posts on Global Challenges will relate to some of Rockstrom’s 9 key Planetary Boundaries and global governance in relation to them. This is to aid my revision for an upcoming exam on the Environmental Principles of Global Sustainable Development, but will hopefully be educative and informative for anyone reading! The Ozone is […]

ECOVER: RUBBISH CAFE

Educative and informative campaigns which make the public stop and think about daily lifestyle choices, are something I absolutely love! Ecover, a certified B Corp focused on sustainable cleaning products, has done just that, with its pop-up rubbish cafe based in Covent Garden on the 3rd-4th May. The concept is a zero-waste cafe, in which […]

Doughnut Economics – Kate Raworth

I recently wrote an article all about Doughnut Economics for the National Union of Students (NUS) which you can find here (go have a read first before continuing this!), therefore I won’t duplicate what I have discussed already. However, I really wanted to share this interview with Kate Raworth at the Disruptive Innovation Festival back […]

A Different Way of Giving This Christmas…

If you’re anything like me, as the years go by and you get older, shopping for Christmas presents just feels like you’re buying things for the sake of it, with no real meaning behind it. The true meaning of Christmas has got lost and I think it’s really important to give presents that actually have […]

How To Procrastinate Less, Increase Productivity And Improve Mental Health

I wrote a blog post back at the start of the year, where I touched upon the impact of social media on mental health and productivity – today I want to talk about some solutions to this. Productivity is about how efficient an individual is in getting tasks done, converting input to output. The main […]