Why not share our thoughts on sustainable believing?

This here is a blog about sustainability – which is something we believe in. We are Nikki (vegan and health nut) and Erika (human rights advocate), both trying to good one step at a time!

 Sustainability can mean a lot of things and therefore this blog does many things. But there will be some regulars:

Wednesday means a tinyecostep from Erika – easy things you can change today.

Sunday comes with a warderobe update by Erika – with finds from sustainable stores, second-hand and homemade pieces.

Any day can mean health and vegan posts from Nikki, keeping you up to date with her life.

Scroll down to find what has happened so far.

Second-hand find: fluffy scarf

How cosy isn´t this scarf?! I found it at Myrorna, the second-hand store, for about 20 sek and I wore it all last winter, and will do so this year too. Its so big and soft and simply awesome. I love those finds. 

Cook in bulk

As a student sustainability has always been important to me. In regards to food, economical sustainability has been a major question to me and I can probably count on my hands the times I’ve bought lunch on the go. I have always had an interest for cooking, and a mind for saving a few pennies so bringing my food has been natural to me. For a student, it’s almost a must. After graduation, I continue seeing it as a must.

Beside allowing me to eat exactly what I wanted, I know exactly what is in it. It is more economical: buying in bulk it’s cheaper and I don’t have to waste money on fast food. Its also more environment friendly: I can use healthy, near produced products to make my lunch and I use recyclable containers thus minimizing every-day waste. It’s a win win in every way.

Leftovers in glass

If you are, like me, the kind of person who bring leftovers for lunch, you should consider which container you use. I used to have the small simple plastic ones, because they take minimal space in the cabinet and in the freezer. Ideal. But, it’s neither healthy or great for the environment so I´ve decided to change that.

I´ve invested in a few glass containers for my leftovers instead, and although they are still too few to fill up my need, I try to prioritize them. They feel nicer to eat in, and I know I don´t get any plastic in me from microwaving them. And of course, they are prettier and don’t go that ugly yellowish color after a few uses. The ones I have are from IKEA if you want to get some.

There are however two issues.

One, they are to big to fit conformable in my freezer. I´m going to look for smaller ones that work better and that problem will be solved. If you aren´t a regular leftovers-person this is not an issue, but for me who cooks for ten meals at a time it’s a problem.

And second, what to do with my old ones? This is a general issue when changing to eco-friendly products: it shouldn’t mean you throw the other stuff out because then you still created extra waste. Therefore, I´m still using my old ones, and I’m trying to figure out if I can give them to someone who needs a few free.

So they are two solvable issues at least.

Oh, and in the other container in the picture is a food thermos which is perfect for picnics and stuff, or soup. And if you often bring salad you can use glass jars for that – it’s easy and looks really tasty.

Soft against your cheek

I love cloth and sewing, so I try to find new products I can replace. One of the things I’ve done this far is making make-up wipes. I still haven’t replaced all my make-up products with environmentally friendly ones, because of the simple reason that mine haven’t run out yet. But pads to run out so they have been replaced and I must say I love it.

Like with period cloth pads, one of the main reasons I like them is because they are prettier. But of course, it does have the benefit of reducing the manufacturing of cotton pads since they are used several times. You can also eco-approve them by choosing better materials. Mine are made of ecological cotton and bamboo fleece which is super soft against your cheek.

I usually use mine a few days in a row with a quick rinse in between, then give them a proper tumble in the washing machine and they’re good to go again.  It´s a never ending circle of awesomness. 

Anything for you?

How to make a clean joke

PK- klubben
Last week my mother turned 40, so I had bought us tickets to a stand up show called PK- Klubben (translated to Politically Correct Club).
It was hosted by two social media active power women, Clara and Cissi. And holy damn it was good! They had four guest comedians which all of them had cool and funny things to come with. The topics varied from all between periods, guys with no sense of moral, vaginas, Donald Trump and the climate change, the offended white male, discrimination of people based on their colour and farts.
The main thing about this comedy club is that they only “kick upwards” as they phrased it.
No old jokes about women in the kitchen, disabled people etc. And it was so liberating to know, that every single soul in that theatre had good opinions and knew how you should treat other people.

There was some “harsher” parts but as one of the guest comedians said, “I only joke about things that I own, like my own disabilities, my own nationality and things that are in some way attached to me”.
I am from Finland for example, this makes it okay for me to joke about it, because this is a label that is attached to me, or that I have chosen to attach to myself. It would not be okay for me to joke about somebody who is for example adopted or in a wheel chair, but it is okay to joke about being a girl, facial scarring or Finnish people and Sauna. Because these labels are mine, therefore they are also mine to joke about.

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What they meant with kicking upwards was also that it is more okay to joke about those who are on top of the hierarchy. For example there are more male bosses in Sweden that are named Stefan, than there are female bosses in total. Here it would be okay to joke about all the Stefans, because they are a majority. Kicking back on minorities is never okay. If the minority has an opinion which differs from yours, just ignore them and don’t give them air time in your private talk show aka your life.
Just do like Miriam Bryant sings:
Rocket, rocket, rocket away.
I’m rocketing away, cause I need space (from your ugly ass discriminating opinions).🚀🚀🚀

This is my hair

This is me, and more importantly for this post, this is my hair. I have good hair days and bad hair days. But the thing that grabs people’s attention the most is that I have no washing days. I haven’t used shampoo or conditioner for at least eight months. I rinse it maybe once a month, but no more than that. It’s my own little micro-climate.

Hearing it, it sounds like it might be gross, but it’s not. It’s not that greasy or torn or icky in any way. It’s actually kind of nice. It does what I want it to.

The reason I started with this is mostly chance. In highschool I had micro-braids and basically couldn’t wash my hair with them in. So two months at a time would pass without a wash and it was incredibly time saving. I reduced my washing to maybe once a week. Then I went to Nepal for a few months and we had only cold water in cold weather. I choose gross before clean hair. And then I have just continued to stretch it, beacuse it didn´t fell gross like I thought it would. And now it’s been since January.

One of the major pros for me has been that it saves time, but an added effect is that I don’t use products that put a strain on the environment. Less water, less products, less strain on my hair. Thats a win all the way. Even if it grosses people out the first time they hear about it.

My sewing wish-list right now

So, as I wrote before, I´ve now taken up my interest in sewing and will try to make a few pieces this fall. This is my wish list for the coming year:

• A blouse with a nice deep square neck
• A jumpsuit in blue silk-like material
• A swim suit, preferably dark
• A yellow blouse
• A knitted cardigan
• A pair of slacks
• Pants to climb in (strong and flowy)
• Shirt to climb in (thin and easy)
• A full-sleeved blouse
• A lace bra
• Panties

Welcome to my tea shop!

What do you like?

As you might guess from this picture, I love tea and have waaaay to many kinds of tea. I do however use only tea in bulk and no tea bags. My primary reason for this is that I can find more exciting flavours and variations that way. (And I get to use my cute container)

That I make use of less packaged products that way is simply a plus. Tea in bags are processed one extra time as they are cut to tiny pieces. I´ll readily admit that I don’t know much of the manufacttring process but what I did find after a quick search was that the filter paper the tea bags are made of is abaca. This is the leafstalk of bananas, a kind of hemp. Sadly though, I don’t know much more of it.

However, it is logical to see that bulk tea cuts out half the process the tea goes through since there is no cutting and no packaging. Thus, a lot less machines and time is needed to make bulk tea. That saves the environment through energy usage, and raw material. And also, using bulk tea there is less waste. But mainly, the taste of bulk tea is awesome.

A hand-me-down

A few years back I would never have worn this. It’s so Frida and so not me. She used to be the colourful crazy glob to my more modest blue. But I´ve come to love colours (while she has come to love dark) and now I hunt for them. This winter she went through her closet and I was there to loot, of course. This is one of my favourite finds. I was doubtful first, but it grows on me every time I wear it. It’s lagom crazy. Like modest crazy. What do you think?