How about giving a book as a gift? Or as a gift for yourself and your children! Here are some books that we read and highly recommend.
[Sustainability for kids!]
Both of these books have both English and Japanese versions.
#1「じゅんびはいいかい?名もなきこざるとエシカルな冒険」(“Are You Ready ?: The Journey to the Veiled World” )
The Japanese version was released last year and this year the english version (Are You Ready ?: The Journey to the Veiled World”) has been released as well!
This book is a picture book written by Ms. Rika Sueyoshi, the representative director of the Ethical Association in Japan. When I bought it and read it immediately after its release last year, both my son who was just 6 years old and I enjoyed learning about sustainability. In particular, the 12th goal set by the United Nations in the SDGs, "Responsible Consumption and Production" is written in an easy-to-understand manner; both kids and adults will surely find it easy to read. Why not use this book as an opportunity to learn about sustainability?
#2"A Planet Full of Plastic: and how you can help” (「プラスチック星にはなりたくない」)
I found the English version last year when I was in London and this year the Japanese version was released! This is another very easy to read book about the environment & ecology for children.
Our son loved it; he was very much engaged and had questions. The book itself is tailored for primary school children but can be for older children too. It was even great for adults! What we found was especially good was that the book not only talks about the issues with plastic but also talks about suggestions of what we can do about it. Please use this book as an opportunity to talk within your family about sustainability!
[Sustainability for adults!]
#1 "Zero Waste Home: The Ultimate Guide to Simplifying Your Life by Reducing Your Waste" (ゼロ・ウェイスト・ホーム: ごみを出さないシンプルな暮らし)
The book was published in 2013 and it was the pioneer book about zero waste so many of you may have already read it or seen it before. I have it on my kindle and really is a good read with many tips. There is no one size fits all so some of the tips may be hard or not feasible. But that is okay; try the ones that can help reduce your waste and I assure you it will make you feel good too!
Some of the things we do :
1) Take your own eco bag
2) Fill your own bottle
3) Use your own coffee cup
4) Swap plastic wraps to beeswax wraps
5) Say No to single-use straw
6) Trade up to a bamboo brush
7) Composting house hold waste
See, it doesn't look so hard right? In our house our garbage has been reduced significantly just by doing the above! We also do not buy and plastic bottles, so now we have much less to throw away every week and it's so refreshing!
Give #zerowastehome a try!
#2 “This is a good guide for a sustainable lifestyle. "
A highly recommended guide for a sustainable lifestyle. We've mentioned before that a sustainable lifestyle is not clear-cut. We all want to try to be sustainable and live a bit more consciously, but don't know how? Then this is the book for you. It's filled with tips regarding fashion, beauty, food, home, work and leisure, and shows that you can be stylish and sustainable at the same time.
Sustainable fashion and lifestyle expert Marieke Eyskoot makes green and ethical living fun and doable!
Let's make smart choices; doing what you can and what suits you.
