Since I was a teenager, I’ve been trying to live cruelty free. I think, by now, I’ve learned to do it quite well. Ever from the start I’ve been aware of the other aspects of being vegan. Mainly the environment, since in my mid- to late teens, I didn’t worry too much about my own health. Being aware doesn’t necessarily help all that much. You need knowledge as well. Reading the advice in the media can be confusing. Everyone seems to have a different idea of what’s good for nature and the environment.
This brings me to today’s topic: avoiding synthetic materials. For about five years I’ve had a cotton parka that I love. At about the end of April, which this year was the end of winter and the last few days before the beginning of the heatwave, I realized that it had little holes on one of the sleeves. Also, my baby bump had been a little too hard on the zipper. So now I’m going to need a new winter jacket. Since getting my last jackets I’ve realized the risks of micro plastics. My dear old parka has a synthetic lining and my spring- and autumn jacket which may never be needed again if ’the wolf winter’ lasts until the heatwave begins again, every year, was all synthetic. Sadly, enough, because I love that jacket too. It’s so cheerful. So early in the summer I bought another thin jacket. Since it seems to be almost impossible to find an all cotton winter jacket, I’ve been thinking of trying to make do with the thin jacket all winter. It’s a scary thought considering how cold most of our winters are. What do you think? Could I manage to warm myself using layers of cotton? Specifically wearing knitted jumpers and cardigans? Or should I just try to find the money for a new winter parka, with as little synthetic material as I can get? Apparently, there are special bags to use in the laundry to minimize the shedding of micro plastics.
I was also going to ask for suggestions for getting rid of all single use plastics instead of some, but this is getting lengthy so I’ll leave that for another time.
![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
veganlynx
