What is Sustainable Living?
If you don’t know what sustainable living is all about then worry not, no need to lose sleep over it! Why not have a nice lie down on one of our mattresses and we’ll tell you all you need to know!
Sustainable living is all about living your life with minimal impact on the environment.
Yes, as humans, our day to day lives will always have an effect on planet earth no matter how environmentally conscientious we are BUT there are lots of easy ways to minimise that impact and ensure a greener future for all of us.
Sound good to you?
Well let’s jump right in (or you can stay lying down, whichever you prefer!).
So, let’s ask ourselves the question – do we live in a sustainable society?
Do we live in a sustainable society?
Would you like the good news or the bad news first?
Okay, we’ll give you the bad news first. No, we don’t live in a sustainable society.
Why not?
Well, we’ve been taught to engage in mass consumerism.
That ‘buy buy buy’ culture.
More is never enough. Buying will make us happy. Things should be cheap and disposable.
This whole way of thinking has been going on for decades. We’ve all been fooled into thinking this way. And it’s just not sustainable.
Wait, didn’t we promise you some good news on this unsustainable society debacle? We certainly don’t want to give you nightmares, and we’re not ones to break a promise, so let’s see what the good news is!
We may not live in a sustainable society right now, but things are changing. People are waking up to a new way of living, a new way of shopping, and a new awareness of how little daily habits can be switched up to be more planet friendly.
At Una Mattress, we are on a mission to change the way consumerism works. This mission is not impossible, and we hope you don’t mind, but we’re starting this sustainable revolution in your bedroom!
Why is it important to live a sustainable lifestyle?
Have you ever heard the phrase ‘there is no planet B’?
You see what we’re getting at here?
We’ve been gifted this beautiful planet to live on. Nature, trees n’ bees, beaches, oceans, clear skies, predictable seasons – all that good stuff that everyone loves.
Living a sustainable lifestyle is important because it protects all these irreplaceable things that we love. Without them, what would be left?
The way we’re currently living is unsustainable. We’re warming up the planet, we’re melting the homes of polar bears, we’re making mother nature angry and experiencing extreme weather as a result.
We need to protect our planet and all of nature’s offerings. We need to respect mother nature.
We want the next generation to have a planet to live on. Because once our planet is gone, there is no planet B.
Through living a sustainable lifestyle, we can minimise our impact on planet earth, we can slow down global warming, we can make earth great again!
How Can Humans Live More Sustainably?
Now that we know WHY it’s important to live a sustainable lifestyle, let’s delve into HOW you can live sustainably.
It’s not that hard and once you get into the swing of it, you’ll be a savvy sustainable superstar.
What’s your first task in your road to sustainable living?
Have a think about products you use every day.
Think about it in minute detail.
We’re talking “I wake up on my chemical filled, planet destroying mattress, I squeeze toothpaste out of a plastic, non-recyclable tube onto my non-recyclable plastic toothbrush whilst I leave the tap running, then I hop in the shower and squeeze shower gel out of a plastic bottle before I move onto my plastic shampoo bottle ….”.
Wow.
It’s crazy when you think about it, isn’t it?
Every choice we make from what we sleep on, what we use, what we eat and wear, can be made more sustainable.
A quick switch up from the scenario above: “I wake up on my sustainably made, organic, all-natural latex foam Una mattress, I pick up my plastic free, biodegradable toothbrush and scoop toothpaste out of its re-fillable glass jar, I use a soap bar in the shower to wash myself before I wash my hair with a shampoo bar …”
Now that’s quite a change, isn’t it? Which version sounds better to you and the planet? A disposable, plastic life or a sustainable one?
We picked the second answer too.
Who Can Look to Live Sustainably?
Everyone can be – and needs to be – a part of living sustainably.
Once you start, others will catch on to your super sustainability switches.
Inform and educate others and open up the world of sustainability to them. They will thank you for it!
How to Live Sustainably in the City
Urban living can be made more sustainable too! City slickers listen up!
Whether you’re in the countryside, a concrete jungle, or somewhere in between, you can make your life more sustainable.
Do you drive to work, get taxis everywhere or hop on a bus? Transport is a major contributor to pollution in cities.
How about cycling, skateboarding, or walking more? If that’s not an option, research the greenest way for you to get where you’re going.
Time for lunch? How about ditching the plastic packaging in your shop-bought lunch alongside those pesky plastic water bottles? Switch to sustainability with a packed lunch, a refillable water bottle and a reusable straw for those iced coffees.
Home time! If you have space, use a clothes horse instead of a clothes dryer, turn off lights when not needed, turn down your heating a bit, and unplug those pesky plugs while you sleep. They use up energy even when they aren’t being used. How cheeky of them!
You’ll be saving money and saving the planet every day.
Living Sustainably in the UK
It has never been easier to live sustainably in the U.K. We are blessed with so many eco-friendly supermarkets, zero-waste shops, organic foods, plastic-free fresh fruit and vegetable deliveries, and a multitude of delicious plant-based restaurants.
And to save the best ‘til last, did we mention we’re here in the U.K. too? You’ll be practising sustainability in your sleep with our mattresses!
Buying Sustainably Made Products
We hope we’ve motivated you to join the sustainability movement; from what you eat to how you sleep!
Let’s get you switching out your disposables, your plastics, and your unsustainable practices for some sustainable solutions instead!
Here we go – these are our top picks:
Bags of Sustainability!
This one is easy! Check out what bags you have lying around the house. Now start bringing them with you when you do a grocery shop.
Make a promise to yourself and the planet that you won’t buy another ‘bag for life’ and most certainly won’t buy another plastic bag.
When we’re out and about for the day, we always stick a tote bag into our backpack just in case we make any purchases along the way.
There’s no need for any more bags in your life, even paper ones.
Save the trees at your ease.
Groceries for the Good of the Planet
Next time you’re doing a supermarket sweep, check out what items are available without plastic packaging.
Not all supermarkets are created equal, so maybe it’s time to switch up your shopping to a more sustainable supermarket if you feel your current one is packed full of plastic.
Join the Fairtrade Movement
Your tea, coffee, chocolate, wine – where are they coming from and who’s getting paid what?
Fairtrade ensures a fair price to farmers and workers and also encourages and educates on sustainable farming practices and switches to organic farming.
Better for the people AND better for the environment.
We need to look out for each other as much as we look out for the planet and this is a great way of doing both at the same time, as well as treating yourself of course. That’s important too!
Clean up your Shower Routine
Not only are those plastic bottles of shower gel, face wash, shampoo, and conditioner full of plastic but they’re also full of cheap chemicals that are pretty harsh on your skin and hair. Not to mention that many brands are tested on animals.
Say no thank you to all of that and make the switch to natural products. A bar of soap in a soap pouch will give your sustainable self some very soft skin, and the same goes with shampoo bars and conditioner.
The feeling of having no plastic waste filling your bathroom bin? Glorious.
Sustainable Style
Sustainable style never goes out of fashion.
Fast fashion is all over the news for all the wrong reasons. Think that €4 bikini is fair to the people who made it, and fair to the planet? Nope. Not fair to either. Not one bit.
Fast fashion is churned out, mass produced, poor quality, and built to break.
The most sustainable switch in the fashion department is to shop second hand. Second hand shops, vintage shops or – if you’d like to shop whilst lying comfortably on one of our mattresses – online shopping platforms like Depop make it so easy and so fun to say goodbye to brand new clothes forever more.
If you still want brand new threads, then do some research on ethical brands. There are loads out there to choose from!
Make One Product a Sustainable Mattress!
We forgot to include a very important product on the list above. It’s one of the most important purchases you’ll make.
In fact, you’ll be using it every day (or night)!
Some say if you get out of this product on the wrong side, you’ll be in a bad mood all day.
Have you guessed what it is?
Yes – it’s an Una Mattress!
At Una, we believe in the sustainability revolution. We joined it a long time ago.
We’re doing our bit for the planet through our revolutionary mattresses.
We believe a healthy life begins with a healthy sleep.
If you want to practice sustainability with your eyes closed, then you’ve come to the right place – we will help you do just that!
We’ve been helping our lovely customers sleep healthily for over thirty years. Time flies when you’re sleeping well!
And we’ve always done things differently.
We say NO to the petrochemical foams, fire retardant chemicals and industrial glues usually found lurking around in mass-made mattresses.
We say NO to paying workers unfair wages in unfair working conditions.
We swap these nasties ingredients and nasty practices out for comfortable, breathable layers of organic latex foam, coupled with our dreamy Una mattress cover which is made with 100% organic cotton and wool.
We are Fair & Social Choice certified and donate a percentage of our profits to charitable projects to further ensure good working conditions for all.
The result?
We’re proud to provide healthy, sustainable sleeping environments for our sustainably conscious customers.
We’re proud to be one of the first mattress makers to be carbon negative. That’s right – no carbon footprint.
We believe in our mattresses and believe in what we do so we offer our customers a 100-night guarantee. If you’re not sleeping your best sleep within 100 nights, we’ll give you a refund!
And finally, we believe that when you buy something, it should last. That’s the sustainable way of life. And that’s why we give our customers a 10-year warranty on every mattress.
Choose Luna to sleep fairly, sleep organically and sleep sustainably.
Are you ready to meet the mattress of your dreams? Check out our awesome range of sustainable products here!
