How to enjoy a sustainable Easter at home

The pandemic has been with us for over a year now, and as much as we can, we are learning to live with it and try to keep going on with our lives.

Even though we cannot celebrate with all family members, we need to find ways to enjoy and celebrate Easter at home. Let's not let Covid ruin our Easter fun. Here are 5 simple yet enjoyable ideas.

1. Prepare delicious vegan chocolate eggs

I found a great recipe for easy and delicious gluten free dark chocolate eggs from here, or you can always find your own favourite recipe online. Make sure you have a silicone mold to make your eggs in perfect shape! There are tons of yummy fillings to choose from and a limitless way to decorate them. Be creative and have fun with these!

2. The famous Easter-egg hunt

Once you finish making your eggs, wrap them in recycled paper and hide them around the house. If you don't have time or you just can't get yourself to make your own chocolate eggs, purchase them from a local brand. Or, if you are not so keen on all the chocolate your kids will be eating, turn your egg hunt into an organic one! Use pine cones, instead, or create eggs with papier mache, or use fabric, wood, or any other sustainable material.

3. Make beautiful and colourful Easter crafts

Let your imagination run wild or get some inspiration from the internet. There are loads of video tutorials for fun and easy Easter crafts. My personal favourite is this one. Make sure you buy the minimum possible of materials and try to re-use what you find in the house.... toilet paper rolls, food packaging, old paper cups, recycled paper, carton from boxes, re-used ribbons, and so and so forth.

4. Create your own basket 

Planning on giving out some gifts for Easter? Why not make your own unique basket too? You will love this post showing you different ways for creating up-cycled Easter baskets. Whether it is an old milk carton, a handful of plastic bags, recycled newspaper, fabric scraps, or even an old sweater, you can make this a cool and sustainable Easter activity to do with the family. 

5. Edu-tainment screentime

A healthy mix between education and entertainment - that is ideally what children (and adults) should get during screen time. Everybody loves cozying it on the sofa while watching a good movie. Here are some inspirational movies to watch with the family during Easter time. 

Happy Easter from us!

Five ways to celebrate a 'green' Spring

We've all been waiting for Spring, the magical day that officially takes us away from the harsh winter, and brings us one step closer to summer. Spring is the season of new beginnings, of blooming flowers and awakened animals. It is a time where the earth comes to life again and everything looks greener. 

Here are 5 tips to encourage you to 'go green' and transform a few daily routines into sustainable, environmentally-friendly ones, and benefit from a higher quality of living for you, your family, and the world at large. 

1. Start planting a food garden

It is easier than you might initially think. Certain vegetables such as tomatoes, radishes, peas, salad greens, and most herbs are incredibly easy to grow. You don't have to have a garden to grow your own food. Raised beds in a yard or a balcony can do the trick. You can even grow food on your kitchen window sill. In some ways, you will need to go through trial and error, but thanks to dedicated Facebook groups, you can ask for advice and learn from other's mistakes. Growing your own food is incredibly rewarding, and in such uncertain times, it is good to know that you can be a little bit more self-dependant.

2. Re-purpose and Recycle

Every year, the Earth yields billions of tons of natural resources and at some point, in the not too distant future, it will run out. That's why we must think again about what we throw away very carefully. We now need to look at waste as an opportunity rather than a problem. Think twice before throwing something away... Can it be fixed or saved? Can it be turned into something new and useful? Can it be donated? Can it be broken down for parts? Re-cyle is a good thing to do, but should only be done as a last resort. 

3. Use earth-friendly cleaning products

Most cleaning products are full of toxins and chemicals that are harmful to humans, and harmful to the Earth, as they eventually all make their way to the bottom of the ocean. Eco-friendly products, on the other hand, are made with natural ingredients that don't harm people or the planet. But there are other reasons to make this switch. Green products save you money as they are so pure that you can use less in quantity. Most of them are all-purpose so your shopping list will be shorter too. Overall, they provide a better result and are safer to use. 

4. Switch to reusables

The recent ban on single-use plastics is a good step forward, but we as individual consumers can do much more! Take reusable bags with you, not just for the entire shopping, but also for the vegetables, the fruit, the bread, etc. Get a reusable water bottle everywhere you go; it is almost impossible to find a drink that is not packaged in plastic most of the time. Get your own coffee cup and have it re-filled at your favourite coffee place. Remind yourself to say NO to anyone offering you anything made out of single-use-plastic. Food wraps are a great alternative to your lunch packaging, instead of plastic cling or foil. Many items at home can be re-used for a longer life-span and help you generate less waste. 

5. Conserve water & electricity

Simple tasks you can do every day that result in a great impact over time, such as: turn off unnecessary lights, use natural light when possible, take shorter showers, turn off the tap when brushing teeth, fix any leakages, unplug what you are not using, use the dish-washer at nights, run full loads of laundry, wash laundry with cold water, and nature-dry your laundry and buy water and electricity efficient appliances when possible.

There is now an online site that caters for all things eco-friendly, where each product is curated and verified and with all the sustainability features provided and available at a glance. 

We are very happy and proud to present you our new website, which will help you make your shopping easier and greener. Take a look now: coral.shopping

A quote a day keeps the worry away

The best cure to sadness is laughter. 

The best cure to worries is inspiration.

Today's post is an exciting collection of 30 quotes about sustainability, eco-friendly living, the environment, and being 'green', to inspire you and help you reflect. 

1. Being green is more than just buying 'eco'. It is an unshakable commitment to a sustainable lifestyle - Eco Warrior Princess

2. One person can make all the difference in the world. For the first time in recorded human history, we have the fate of the whole planet in our hands - Chrissie Hynde

3. It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment - Ansel Adams

4. The best friend on earth of man is the tree. When we use the trees respectfully and economically, we have one of the greatest resources on the earth - Frank Lloyd Wright

5. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make - Jane Goodall

6. As consumers, we have so much power to change the world just by being careful in what we buy - Emma Watson

7. Many individuals are doing what they can. But real success can only come if there is a change in our societies and in our economics and in our politics - David Attenborough

8. Sustainability is no longer about doing less harm. It's about doing more good - Jochen Zeitz

9. What you do today can improve all your tomorrows - Ralph Martson

10. We don't have to sacrifice a strong economy for a healthy environment - Dennis Weaver

11. Only after the last tree is cut down. Only after the last river has been poisoned. Only after the last fish has been caught. Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten - Cree Indian Prophecy

12. Climate change is no longer some far-off problem; it is happening here, it is happening now - Barack Obama

13. Going back to a simpler life is not a step backward - Yvon Chouinard

14. When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves - David Orr

15. Show me a healthy community with a healthy economy and I will show you a community that has its green infrastructure in order and understands the relationship between the built and the unbuilt environment - Will Rogers

16. It is our collective and individual responsibility to preserve and tend to the world in which we all live - Dalai Lama

17. We all have to do our part to raise awareness about global warming and the problems we as a people face in promoting a sustainable environmental future for our planet - Leonardo DiCaprio

18. We are the first generation that can take steps to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Future generations will judge us harshly if we fail to uphold our moral and historical responsibilities - Ban Ki-moon

19. The first rule of sustainability is to align with natural forces, or at least not try to defy them - Paul Hawken

20. Can you look an animal in the eyes and say to it: 'My appetite is more important than your suffering?' - Moby 

21. When sustainability is viewed as being a matter of survival for your business, I believe you can create massive change - Cameron Sinclair

22. Buy Less. Choose well. Make it last - Vivienne Westwood

23. I care about climate change because of our children. I want to safeguard their future - Cate Blanchett

24. What are we doing to the forests of the world is but a mirror reflection of what we are doing to ourselves and ot one another - Mahatma Gandhi

25. I don't want to protect the environment. I want to create a world where the environment doesn't need protection - John Muir

26. The climate crisis has already been solved. We already have the facts and solutions. All we have to do is wake up and change - Greta Thunberg

27. If it can't be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned or removed from production - Pete Seeger

28. The environment and the economy are really both two sides of the same coin. If we cannot sustain the environment we cannot sustain ourselves - Wangari Maathai

29. Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man - Stewart Udall

30. Every time you spend money, you are casting a vote for the kind of world that you want - Anna Lappe

Bonus quote