This is a Good Guide - for a sustainable lifestyle by Marieke Eyskoot is hands down the sustainability book of the year - despite the fact that we have been inexplicably left out! If you have moved past a few lazy tips to wanting to understand how to easily live better, read on and you will see very quickly why Marieke Eyskoot is deservedly the reigning queen of sustainability advice. And why you should buy this book for yourself and gift it to friends.
The most unfair thing that ever happened to me, took place on May 7th, 1977 at 3.31. I was born. In the Netherlands. Not in for instance Bangladesh or Sri Lanka. I arrived in that wealthy part of the world by coincidence, with a healthy economy, a good climate, human rights, women’s rights, democracy. I didn’t do anything to earn all that, nothing. I simply had it handed to me. And so I don’t have any more right to it than anyone else, I don’t deserve it more. I just as well could have ended up elsewhere, and be sewing our shirts, producing our sneakers or packaging our shampoo. So unfair. This idea has always informed much of what I do. I WANT TO USE EVERYTHING I’VE BEEN GIVEN, TO MAKE THIS BALANCE SLIGHTLY FAIRER. IF ONLY A LITTLE BIT. SUSTAINABILITY FOR ME IS ABOUT FREEDOM, BEING ABLE TO MAKE YOUR OWN CHOICES AND TO NOT BE EXCLUDED, AND ABOUT DOING AS LITTLE HARM AS YOU CAN. WE ARE LIVING AND BREATHING HUMAN BEINGS, SO WE WILL ALWAYS MAKE AN IMPACT ON THE WORLD. BUT HOW CAN WE MINIMISE THIS OR EVEN HAVE POSITIVE IMPACT, WHILST LEADING A GOOD LIFE. Because being sustainable and conscious doesn’t mean your life should suffer, become meagre or boring. On the contrary, I’m convinced that it can be better, more interesting, and more varied once we stop automatically choosing the most familiar path. Sustainability doesn’t mean that you can’t or shouldn’t do anything anymore, it actually gives you more: quality, possibilities, new flavours, positivity. This is what I want to show.
Without a doubt: all the questions I have been getting over the last fifteen years, since I’ve been working in sustainable fashion and lifestyle. At every birthday party, event or meeting and on social media I get roughly the same - people want to know how they can start, what they can do, where to find it, what to look out for. Many really would like to live more sustainably, but just don’t know exactly how. So I wrote this book to try and give as many answers as I possibly can, to enable everyone to go for it. Luckily it seems to work, as I’ve been honoured enough to receive lots of responses of readers who feel empowered, who say they finally know what to choose, who are really inspired and have immediately started taking some steps, who now know what they want to study, who feel that it’s the perfect gift for friends or even that it has changed their life. So cool and amazing!
I always ask myself, will the negative effect be balanced by the positive effect of spreading change? When I travel, can a local person better take my place, to take the spotlight? When I make a book, is it actually something people want, is there a need for this? If only I am interested, then I shouldn’t produce it. I had already received many requests for this book, so I reckoned – the positive impact of all these people making change will outweigh the negative. Yet, I still struggle with that of course, and do what I can to eliminate unnecessary damage. The book is printed on FSC-certified paper, with inks from plant-based, renewable raw materials. There is also an e-book available – so everyone can make their own choice.
I try to make and ethical living fun and doable. I want to give options, and take away any doubts or misconceptions people may have. For instance that it is very hard. It’s not! And it’s not more expensive or less stylish either. There are many easy steps in the book, related to shopping, saving, choosing, but although it’s definitely important, the book is very much not only about buying and shopping. It’s also about consuming less and choosing quality over quantity. And issues such as body image, feminism, friendship, community, sharing, equality, diversity, wanting to understand and help each other, which to me is also very much part of a sustainable lifestyle and building a solid, positive future together. About freedom for everyone, regardless of background, preferences or appearance. And it’s about how society treats us, as well. I’d like them to be as aware as they can, and harnessed to battle it, of this society that commercialises our body and soul.Because we are all perfect, just the way we are. There is nothing to be ashamed of. We are all human, we all have a shape, a colour, and we all have flaws. Nothing we buy, can increase our self-worth and self-love. That is entirely ours. THE REGULAR FASHION, ACCESSORIES, BEAUTY, GADGETS, SPORTS AND DIET INDUSTRIES BEG TO DIFFER. WE ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. YOU ARE NOT BEAUTIFUL ENOUGH, YOUR SKIN ISN'T SMOOTH, GLOWING OR THE RIGHT SHADE. YOU ARE NOT SKINNY ENOUGH, DON'T WEAR THE RIGHT CLOTHES AND ARE NOT ON TREND. THE IDEAL WE HAVE TO LIVE UP TO IS RIDICULOUSLY LIMITED. In short: you don’t look like you’re supposed to look, only when you buy, will you belong. Much of the messaging is specifically intended to make us feel bad about ourselves, to then offer the solution: their products. We know it doesn’t work, and yet we keep trying. And thus, we are not only talked into having a problem, and given a solution that doesn’t work – we are also tricked into incessantly buying more and more, which makes it nearly impossible to become truly sustainable. This commercialisation of our body image lies at the heart of our struggle to change our behaviour. We need to actively recognise and resist the way the industry makes us feel, to save both ourselves and the planet. If you buy something, you actually say to the label or store, I love what you’re doing, here, please take my money to continue. Choose brands that prosper from treating us all, from the worker to the wearer, with respect. Small steps and actions can have huge effect, especially if we all do it together. You can have as much impact as one drop of ink transforming the colour of an entire jug of water. We made this world, so we can also change it. Who else?It’s about being good not perfect. Don’t sell yourself short and acknowledge the positive steps you're taking. Don’t let not achieving so-called perfection, stop you from taking steps towards living a more conscious lifestyle.Believe that ‘you can’. Sometimes it’s easy to think that your impact may not mean much in the bigger picture but sometimes it’s important that we see things in another way. Just think, if everyone in the world made positive daily choices we would be an unstoppable force.
Always get the best deal, using very easy math. A shirt that’s 10 dollars, but is of low quality and you’ll probably only be able to wear a couple of times before you can see through it, is actually per wear more expensive than one of 50 dollars you will shine in for years. Add these bargains up, and you’ve event spent more money!
The same goes for items that are trendy, or actually not exactly your size or colour, but on sale (so you end up not wearing them often, which means money wasted). We are brainwashed to think long-term instead of short-term, to get you to buy more. Sustainable living can even be less expensive than the way we often spend money now. We feel rich when we can afford lots of cheap products, but actually it makes us poorer. That something’s cheap doesn’t mean it doesn’t cost much, but that someone other than you is paying the price. Sustainable brands are not too expensive, regular ones are too cheap. Such prices are simply not possible, without people, animals and the environment having to suffer. They’re being exploited to facilitate our lifestyle, they subsidise our standard of living.
HAVING SAID THAT, FOR ME ACCESSIBILITY IS SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS IN SUSTAINABILITY – BY NO MEANS SHOULD IT BECOME ELITIST. IT’S GREAT THAT INVESTMENT PIECES ARE AVAILABLE, BUT THEN YOU DO NEED TO HAVE THE DISPOSABLE INCOME TO BE ABLE TO PAY FOR IT. SAVING UP FOR SOMETHING OF COURSE, BUT WE ALL NEED TO CONTRIBUTE TO MAKE IT AS INCLUSIVE AS POSSIBLE – BY SUPPORTING ETHICAL BRANDS SO THEY CAN GROW, BUY PROMOTING SECONDHAND AS NORMAL, BY ACCEPTING NO-WASTE, FRUGAL LIVING AS OKAY OR EVEN SMART.
Proven again by an article in newspaper The Guardian: ‘Avoiding meat and dairy is the “single biggest way” to reduce your impact on earth.’ The combined impact of the water and land/animal feed needed to produce the meat, the rainforests cut to make room for growing the feed, the greenhouse gasses the animals emit, the transport and of course the animal welfare is just huge. There are so many advantages: better for your health, less expensive, more varied meals when you step away from the standard meat/potato/veg, etc. There are so many amazing alternatives, as shown by fab books, blogs and restaurants (and there are lots from Australia in the book!).
So easy and good for your karma. it saves money, resources and your mood. When in the shops, go for food with the shortest expiry date instead of the longest, as we are programmed to do. You get exactly the same value for your money, and do a really good deed. Fruit will taste better, and who in the world makes a banana or veggie burger last three weeks? You don’t need that long, but yet it feels like a victory when you find one with a further away date than the others. But it isn’t, it’s a loss: if you don’t buy the ‘shorter’ item, it will get thrown away, as is a third of all the food we produce.
This works well as guidance for most things in life (fashion, food, relationships…)
Please tell us more about what you do?
I am a sustainable fashion and lifestyle expert, and aim to put contemporary, conscious living on the map. I am the author of modern handbook 'This is a Good Guide - for a Sustainable Lifestyle', filled with positive and practical tips regarding fashion, beauty, food, home, work and travel. Next to this, I work as keynote speaker, event presenter, moderator and host. I am an consultant for (ethical) brands and stores as well. Also - an avid lover of reading aloud, campfires and using my sense of smell. I campaign for breaking the taboos on body hair for women and having to be ashamed of your period, for talking about the pay gap instead of the thigh gap, and for the invention of chocolate that is actually and truly good for you.
My aim is that we can no longer purchase products that are made through exploitation. Only ethically produced clothes, accessories, food, gadgets should be able to enter our markets: we need legislation for that pronto. It’s unacceptable that we are able to profit from commodities that are made elsewhere in a way that we would find illegal here. Ultimately, to make myself redundant is a life-long aim: that this work I do is no longer necessary, and therefore so am I.
The Good Guide - for a sustainable lifestyle is for people who want to know about the world behind their clothes, cake or computer. For people who care. Who realise that it's about them: about smart choices, doing what suits you. Who enjoy doing good, looking good and feeling great at the same time. So, for you. I hope you like it.
I LOVE this - my gifting is sorted for the entire of 2019. Thank you Marieke and Ekko.World. I look forward to gifting one to myself too so I can learn even more - I'll be putting a copy of this on the coffee table at our eco holiday property in the Blue Mountains too :-D Wednesday, 2 January 2019