Eco-Friendly Living: Sustainable Practices for Men This Spring

Today on the show I'm going to share some thoughts I had on how men can adopt more sustainable habits, from fashion choices to daily routines. Partake in a more Eco-Friendly way of Living indulging in  more Sustainable Practices for the Spring season. 

A 55-page report on the relationship between connecting with nature and one's mental health tells us, 

Our relationship with nature – how much we notice, think about and appreciate our natural surroundings – can be a critical factor in supporting good mental health alongside other factors such as how much money we have or what kind of job we do.

Shopping

Let’s talk about fashion first, and I will break down some sustainable wardrobe staples starting from the ground up. 

SHOES

I recently listened to my friend talk to Jack Millington, Founder of Billy Tannery on the Menswear Style podcast. Billy Tannery is a leather good manufacturer and tannery based in the UK. What I love about their beautiful footwear is that they're all handmade from leather that is a byproduct of wasted food. Their website explains it best, 

Tanned entirely in Britain from a previously wasted food by-product, using bark extracts and our innovative microtannery process that recycles 90% of the water and turns waste into compost.

JEANS

For this I have to recommend Community Clothing. Not only are the jeans accessibly priced at under £100, but they look neat, clean and straight, just like a jean should be. With regards to their sustainability pledge, they argue that their denim is, 

[...] sourced from arguably the world’s most sustainable premium denim mill, with every pair hand cut and hand sewn in a jeans factory in Lancashire which sews jeans for some of the UK’s best known premium brands.

JUMPERS

I know there a dozen sustainable knitwear brands out there, but I wanted to champion one in particular, John Smedley. You can read about their sustainability pledge here. What stuck with me was one thing Ian Maclean, Managing Director, said in an event I attended a few years ago at their flagship store on Jermyn St. He said that he was trying to get every piece of their knitted garments completely free of plastic. The last thing to go was a tiny plastic thread that tied the label to the garment. Once that was omitted, their garments were 100% sustainable. 

ACCESSORIES 

For your belts, your card wallets, then check out Watson & Wolf. They specialise in handmade accessories with next generation and recycled materials. Ethical, sustainable, and vegan friendly. Personalisation available. I have two of their belts made from cork and I love them. 

That's your wardrobe all sorted out. How about the rest of these activities. 

Clean a beach 

There are plenty of community clean-up operations you can get involved with. Whenever I go to the beach I always like to take a carry bag and pick up the plastic. I leave the paper because you never know who's wiped their ass with it. But it’s much more of an activity when you do it as a group. 

Some good places to start are:

• Earth Day

• River Cleanup

• Planet Patrol

Go to a Formula E Race

I mean it has E in the title right? The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship became the first global sport to be certified with a net zero carbon footprint from inception back in 2020, having invested in certified climate-protecting projects in all race markets to offset emissions from every season of electric racing. 

I've penned dozens of Formula E events on my blog and you can brush up on all the information here. To see the upcoming race calendar visit the Formula E site here. 

Learn about sustainability in Football 

We all love a bit of footy, but what do we know about the sustainability laws? Some teams are even getting point deductions for breaking these laws. Wouldn't be a cool look to be a smarty pants when the conversation comes up in the pub? 

How about getting involved on a grass roots level with your local team or even the one you follow? Check out Football for Future to see how you can get involved and make a difference. 

Photo by Louis Maniquet on Unsplash