Brush away the cobwebs and defrost your mind - Spring is nearly here! A time of celebration in many cultures, when all of nature seems to have a fiesta.
The universal season of renewal and regrowth may prompt many to reevaluate their sustainability goals. TWOTHIRDS is well positioned - as a certified B Corp - to explore questions of sustainability, and share a few handy tips that we’ve picked up along the way. This post covers some of our best sustainable habits for Spring!
Keen to know how to make these habits stick? Check out this blogpost on writing sustainable resolutions, and keeping them.
How To Be More Sustainable This Spring
1. Buy Seasonal Fruit And Vegetables
There is no better time to start buying seasonal produce than Spring. Many nutritious, locally grown foods come into season. Think juicy apples, succulent purple sprouting, and our old friend, the humble cabbage. According to this source, the following 15 fruits and vegetables are in-season during Spring.
- Apple
- Asparagus
- Brussels sprouts
- Cabbage (savoy)
- Carrot
- Cauliflower
- Cucumber
- Lettuce
- Onion
- Parsley (flat leaf)
- Potato
- Purple sprouting broccoli
- Radish
- Red onion
- Rhubarb
To find out what’s in season in your country, try this useful tool. But why do we recommend making a habit of shopping seasonally in the first place? Well, it can reduce food miles, is less reliant on pesticides and fertilisers, and supports local farmers. At TWOTHIRDS HQ we go one step further by putting in weekly fruit orders from Talkual, a grocery supplier who handpicks “ugly” produce that can get neglected (in favour of more photogenic varieties!) - and would therefore go to waste. Making a concerted effort to source groceries in an eco-friendly way is a vital sustainable habit for spring.
2. Be Wise With Waste
Speaking of which, taking a conscious approach to waste management is a really important sustainable habit. TWOTHIRDS ensures we use each season’s leftover fibres and fabrics so as to limit our landfill potential. Our popular Limited Edition items are now a staple of every collection - part of our zero waste policy. How can you apply this to your own lifestyle? Think about ways to reuse the material things you rely on day to day. Whether that’s making use of scrap paper or finally eliminating single-use plastics from your life by carrying around a reusable bottle. Food waste is a big problem in the West, so we also recommend sharing your shopping list with flatmates, making sure you’re not buying any food you already have, and preparing recipes that bring out the best from your seasonal veggies! Thinking ahead is one of many necessary sustainable habits - good for your wallet, health, and the planet.
3. Get On Your Bike
Barcelona is a bicycle city. Locals are encouraged to join the immensely popular bike share scheme (Bicing) and the one-way layout of the roads has provided a perfect base for bike lanes. So it’s easy for us to say that you should get on your bike! But it can make a big dent in your weekly carbon footprint, making it one of our favourite spring sustainable habits. Back in 2020, we discovered that a single 20 minute car journey in Barcelona racks up 10.14Kg of CO₂. If you allow for transport to and from work, that’s 101.14kg of CO₂ every week. Which contributes to decreased air quality, and increased global warming.
Cycling is better for the planet - a zero impact transport option - and encourages you to spend more time in nature. While you’d be excused for hanging up your wheels during the winter months, Springtime is the best time to start cycling again! Given that our office is way up in the hills of Barcelona, the idea of freewheeling down the road after work is looking increasingly attractive…
Let’s make cycling one of our new sustainable habits.
4. Shop Sustainable Fashion
As temperatures rise, you may be tempted to buy new clothing that follows the trends. That makes this trick one of the most important sustainable habits. You should avoid big fast fashion brands that have no real gameplan when it comes to sustainability. Don’t be fooled by the cost: this is often facilitated by outsourced labour and poorer quality - which can make it more expensive for you in the long run. Instead, find a sustainable fashion brand that really resonates with your style. TWOTHIRDS is influenced heavily by surf culture and Scandinavian simplicity. The ocean is our main inspiration as well as what drives the sustainability of our brand. At this time of year we usually release stylish swimwear (perfect for ocean lovers), dreamy dresses, shorts and tees for men, and beautifully crafted transitional jackets for both men and women. Each item involves the selection of high-quality sustainable materials like recycled cotton, TENCEL™ Lyocell, and linen. All of our clothing is made in Europe, which helps us to uphold ethical values and ensure our products truly last.
Keen to get a headstart on this sustainable habit? Check out this recent post for our top 10 sustainable trends this Spring.
5. Take Action In Your Community
As the famous quote goes, “never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” (Magaret Mead)
Making a habit of grassroots community action is your best bet at confronting the climate emergency. Find out which environmental groups are active in your local area, or consider joining a community garden project, to pick up multi-generational wisdom about nature. Volunteering your time or resources with local initiatives that serve a social and environmental purpose is especially rewarding. In the UK one such project is called freecycle, where donating extra food supplies can help volunteer-run kitchens to feed vulnerable people.
There are also not-for-profit initiatives that can help your circle of friends, family, or colleagues to discover their role in the environmental movement. The Week is an excellent example, and is based on a “U”-turn journey from truth to teamwork.
On the individual level, you can undoubtedly make a difference. Artist, Cristina Conklin posed an inspiring question to us, back in 2021, “what are you good at and what do you care about? Put those things together and become active in some sphere.” As far as sustainable habits are concerned, you can’t get much better than that!