Welcome!

Blog post #1 - 31st March 2024

Introduction and general about me

Hello! This is my first blog post so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to introduce myself! ☺My name is Charlotte and I am in my second year at university studying Primary Teaching. I love spending time with family and friends, and in nature. I'm quite literally obsessed with plants and flowers. This interest continues into everything I do, especially into another interest of mine - art! I love designing and creating interesting and beautiful things, and these are, more often than not, inspired by flowers or the outdoors!

Another of my biggest passions is the environment and all things sustainability. I'm embarking on a mission to be as sustainable as humanly possible while still living comfortably in today's society. I plan to do extensive research in the areas surrounding climate change and global warming so that I am fully equipped to make informed decisions.

At university, I am specialising in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and this is something I'm really passionate about. I will try to make this blog as accessible to people as possible, so please don't hesitate to get in touch with any suggestions of ways I can develop it further!

What to expect on this blog

• Vegan recipes | I'll share some non-vegan to vegan switches as well as some vegan swaps from less to more sustainable ingredients. All the recipes will be not too long and pretty straight-forward to follow!
• Plant care and growing tips | I'm still not the best at this myself, but I am getting better and I feel like sharing these ups and downs help make the internet a lot more real and relatable. Sometimes I do research, sometimes I just move my plants around and change the growing conditions and see what happens. Either way, I'll share with you what I find, with the caveat that I'm no expert and what I share will simply be what I have experienced working in my exact situation. 
• Highlights from days out | I will share photos and experiences from walks I go on, sustainable shops I visit (maybe refill or second-hand shops!), and I'm also hoping to visit a recycling centre at some point so I can finally learn exactly how it all works!
• Sustainability tips | Just some easy tips of little things that can make a big difference. I might occasionally also share some more complex ideas, but I will try to keep them short ish.
• Mindfulness | I know that eco-anxiety is 100% real and there are a lot of people who feel it, some more deeply than others. I would like to address that while keeping the environment in mind, that it's really important not to neglect your mental health. I will share some ways that I practice mindfulness and things I do for my own self-care and positive mental health.

Caveat

Of course a lot of my posts will be opinion-based and include lived experiences. I'm not a professional, nor am I claiming to be. I simply want to share my ideas and enthusiasm and hopefully encourage you to take similar steps to being more eco-conscious.

I will be doing research surrounding areas of the climate crisis and of movements and developments in sustainability and I will share these as well. Again, I'm not claiming to have done any of the research myself and I will make it clear where I got all my information from, citing my sources using Harvard referencing (don't come at me, that's just what I'm used to from university).

I will try and make it clear with future posts whether they are factually informed or purely opinion/experience-based, though the presence or absence of a reference list should make this fairly self-explanatory.

Final words

Thank you for reading this far! I really appreciate your interest and support! If you'd like to contact me about anything, please feel free to message on @secondhand.charlotte on Instagram! I'm not particularly active posting-wise on there at the moment, but I still get notifications, so I can definitely make the time to chat about things with you!

Gallery (just some pretty photos from recent days!)

TLDR

At the end of every blog post, I'll include a TLDR (too long, didn't read) for anyone who just wants a summary. This time:

• New blog, woo!
• Future blog posts will include: vegan recipes, plant stuff, highlights from days out, sustainability things, and mindfulness.
• Pretty photos :)