A very warm welcome to the first edition of the Living Better Newsletter.
I am sure this newsletter with be subject to many iterations as time goes on. That's all depending on feedback and what you guys find to be most valuable.
Published this Week
My husband and I just finished taking part in Plastic Free July. Inspired by the experience, I wrote this piece: Plastic is Everywhere. And It's a Problem
Whilst I usually do my best to limit my plastic use, this challenge really opened my eyes to the myriad ways plastic creeps its way into our lives. I'll continue to implement a lot of what I've learned here to reduce my plastic consumption moving forward.
Tweet of the Week
I've been doing some homework on the rise of Buy Now, Pay Later schemes such as Klarna. Klarna have been hitting headlines lately amidst outrage that they are not properly regulated. They're not being marketed or regulated responsibly. This is particularly problematic for consumers who are in lower income brackets and younger consumers. There is little to no accountability for these companies, and governments should be taking more responsibility for protecting consumers.
New article to be released on this topic soon.
What I'm Reading
I've been reading Lily Cole's book 'Who Cares Wins', which is fresh off the press this week. She raises many questions which are pertinent to the times, particularly in the wake of Covid-19:
"The pattern interruption, the stillness: a chance to reflect on our habits. What will come next? When industries wake from their slumber, travel bans are lifted, when we can dance with strangers again – what will we have learned? Will we have made enough of a shift in how we think, consume and live, to do things differently – to avert another crisis?"
Everyday Activism
Conventional period products contain up to 90% plastic and are constantly being manufactured, used for between 4-8 hours, disposed of and then take over 500 years to break down! That's over 7 times the average lifetime of the person using them, meaning if Jane Austen had used them they would still be decomposing today!
If you have a few minutes to spare, please consider signing this petition to make all period products plastic free
On a Personal Note...
This will be our last week in Edinburgh, Scotland. Amar and I have been here for the past 5 months. We'll be headed to South Korea next week. Excited to be back on the road again after so long.
I'd love to hear from you if you have any comments or feedback, or anything you'd like me to cover in this newsletter.
Feel free to drop me a line on Twitter, or an email to fran[at]francresswell[dot]com.
Stay curious,
It is annoying that where I shop, the majority of fresh fruit and veg comes so packaged in plastic.