Sustainable Living

I had never really thought about living “sustainable “ until the last year when I spent five months living in a eco village kibbutz in the southern desert of Israel. I learnt many things about being environmentally friendly and was a real eye opener for me.

Firstly I built eco domes out of mud for people to live in. this was very different to the construction work that takes place in the Unitied kingdom as we had to make our own mud substance with sand water and straw. Although it was hard work seeing the finished product was really special and also to me showed that living in an environmentally friendly way could work. Pictures of this can be found at www.kibbutzlotan.com

I then worked in the kitchen and the work I did here was also aimed to be eco Friendly. Simple things such as recycling and composting played a big part. Although it required extra effort it was rewarding and although a relatively small contribution it gave me a positive feeling and showed me that live this way is not as difficult as I originally thought.

When I returned home I began to take a more care in waster disposal and other household ways of being more sustainable. I do not own a car and either use public transport or walk.

My local council has also begun to look at sustainable as a serious problem and has issued every house with two “wheelie bins”, one for recyclables and the other for non recyclables. This therefore means it is easier to recycle and if the whole borough is doing it sets a good example to other places to follow

When I came to university I thought that it would have been much harder to recycle due to the way I was living on a tight budget and working. I was pleasantly surprised to find the different labelled bins and thin that this small thing does make a difference.


If I were to improve the way I live I would first have to start with my resource use. I am guilty of using unnecessary amounts of water and wasting electricity. To do this I would use simple things such as turning off all electricity and watching how much I use.