Those abrasive facial exfoliating scrubs you buy from the beauty aisle are doing your skin, and the environment, more harm than good. We all understand how wonderful a feeling it is to scrub those dead skin cells off your body but like with most things, you need to evaluate the health risks of the products you are using and the environmental consequences. Unfortunately, many of these products have not been manufactured with either taken into consideration.
I have something important to share with you.
It’s been weighing on my heart for some time.
It’s a feeling of guilt. A feeling of not being enough. Of not being the bigger, better person that I so desperately want to be…. now. Of not speaking up enough about this cause that I am so passionately and whole-heartedly invested in – the cause to leave this planet, and my impact on this planet, better for tomorrow than I left it yesterday.
It seems like all this talk of organic foods began only a few years back. Some may even consider it a passing trend like Pogo-sticks, The Spice Girls and Pokemon cards. But we know better don’t we? Step back in time a few decades ago, and everyone ate organic produce as compared to non-organic (conventional) foods now. There was only one way to grow and care for fruit and vegetables – the natural way. We didn’t care for economies of scale, maximizing profits and scaling operations to unmanageable levels where only a machine is fit to do the work. Oh, such an idyllic life. Chemicals and synthetic pesticides to stave off pests and weeds was still a problem for future generations to conjure up and deal with. Which brings us to the time NOW. Our increased use of unnatural ways of maintaining crops, as well as the effects these are having on the environment, have steered us back into the direction of organic goods. To a grassroots level of food production that sees us more concerned than ever about the health and environmental footprint these substances are leaving behind.
That’s a lot of ‘romans’ in one blog title.
It’s no coincidence though. This post is a little past its due by date, but I’m going ahead and getting it up because it’s oh so fitting and oh so timely.
You see, I’ve just wrapped up my time in Romania.
I really am on a journey with no end. Home one minute, up and away the next.
I’m not in this to give you travel advice though. I’m here to give you real world reflections from a 20-something year old trying to find her place in the world and hopefully, teaching you a thing or two about yourself in the process. That you can use my words as a mirror of reflection into your own life.
So I wasn’t just in any old place in Romania… but on a beekeeping farm.
So I was posed with the question – what are some healthy cheap meals a college student can enjoy that doesn’t involve cheese sandwiches and 2-minute noodles? (not that they count as healthy OR environmentally friendly by any means).
I am the perfect person to answer this question. After all, I’ve been there and walked in your shoes. Both as a cash-strapped university student and a budget-inclined, poorly paid employee looking for healthy cheap meals that made me feel as good inside as they did when I looked at the balance of my bank account. I know what it’s like to try and spend as little as possible on food without starving yourself.
So if you’re a broke-ass college students living off some form of student allowance or working a less than stellar paying job to fill in the gaps to supplement the healthy cheap meals (not the drinking budget *cough cough*), then this is for you.
We have a modern obsession with dieting. From Jenny Craig, to Weight Watchers, Lean Cuisine, Diet Shakes, Bikini Boot Camps and Detox Teas.
It’s a $580 BILLION industry.
There’s no denying that DIETING SELLS.
This is one post I am so excited to share with you! If you remember, last year I had the privilege of helping one of my dear friends and her husband build a Biofilter Duck Pond. You can read more about those adventures in building the Biofilter Duck Pond in this blog post. It was a big learning experience for all of us and one I was thrilled to be part of. I recently had the pleasure of visiting them a whole year later and gees, was I in for a surprise!
It was about high time I shared with you a few things that I have fallen in love with of late. So I thought I’d bundle them all up into a love list. I enjoy reading these sort of posts from other bloggers because let’s face it, who doesn’t like to snoop into what other people are really digging, doing and totally gushing over? In a non-creepy way of course.
Considering we are nearing the end of May, (wait – WHAT?! We’re already there?!), it’s a perfect way to round out what has been another glorious month on planet earth.
Without further a-do, I present to you, my latest love list for the month of May 
Emily here! A self-coined urban hippie who’s here to break-down the essence of sustainable living & make this lifestyle more accessible to my fellow urban dwellers & ‘hippies’ at heart (no dreadlocks required). This blog is more than just learning how to recycle. It’s a full lifestyle makeover – of the mind, the home, the food, the habits… nothing is safe. I’m bringing you back down to earth baby! Peace xEmily More…
