September 20, 2024 • 13 mins
Dive into the latest episode of the Challenge to Change Podcast, as we explore whether striving for the pinnacle of ethical ideals can sometimes lead to disharmony. How far is too far when it comes to environmental ethics? And what happens when our ethical views clash with the views of others? Tune in to find out! #EthicalEdge #ExploringEthics #Sappho #EthicsVersusBalance
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
Hi there and welcome to theChallenge to Change podcast.
My name is Hazel and thispodcast is all about the
little changes we can all makethat will have a positive
effect upon planet Earth. Ifyou're new here, welcome. If
you've listened before,welcome back. The Challenge to
(00:33):
Change podcast has beenbrought to you on behalf of
ANSA Environmental Services.To find out more about ANSA,
please visit ANSA.co.uk. Let'sget into the podcast episode.
Before we dive into thispodcast episode, I'm going to
(00:57):
share a quote with you. Now, Iused to share a quote at the
beginning of every podcastepisode, but I haven't done so
for some time and this feelslike a good day to reconvene.
These words are an extract ofa poem by Sappho. And if you
don't already know of Sappho,you can find out more about
(01:17):
her online. These are thewords - like a sweet apple
turning red high on the tip ofthe topmost branch forgotten
by pickers. Not forgotten,they couldn't reach it. Now
(01:41):
those are beautiful words andI don't know what poem they
belong to or Sappho's meaningbehind those words but it may
relate to unrequited love orperhaps something that is just
out of reach. However in thiscase it gently glides us
towards the theme of thispodcast episode which is the
(02:06):
unreachable ideal of beingperfectly ethical. Now not
everybody might want to beethically perfect and that's
okay. But if being ethicalis a huge part of who you are,
it can be challenging whenother people or maybe even
(02:28):
yourself doesn't quite measureup. And maybe some people
listening can relate to that.I certainly know I can. So I'm
going to share an example Asregular listeners to the
Challenge to Change podcastwill know I am perhaps a
(02:49):
little bit obsessed with zerowaste shopping. And
whenever I can, I tend to optfor zero waste products or
refillable products. And it's,it's something that's, that's
pretty important to me. Butsometimes maybe I get a little
(03:12):
bit too focused on it and itstarts to colour many aspects
of my life. So what do you doif your refillable shower gel
doesn't quite measure up toregular shower gel? Do you
persevere? Or is its abilityto operate as a shower gel
(03:40):
It's actually perfectly fineand it's just somehow that the
idea of something ethicaldoesn't feel as super cleaning
as something that has a verystrong perfume and that
perfume lasts on your skin forseveral hours after showering.
(04:05):
So perception more thanreality perhaps. And
also, are we so used towashing ourselves with harsh
chemical shower gels that whenwe opt for something more
gentle, is there a transitionperiod like there is for
shampoo bars? Now on apersonal level, I don't have
(04:29):
an issue with refillableshower gels. I think they work
fairly well. However, notevery member of my household
agrees with that and in factit has been something of,
shall we say, a domestichiccup for some time. One
person wants to wash with astrong smelling chemical
(04:50):
filled shower gel and theother, me in this case, wants
to use a gentle less scentinfused refillable shower gel.
So you arrive then atsomething of a stalemate. But
everyone of course has theright to wash themselves the
(05:12):
way they choose to. So withthat in mind... As we've moved
through this kind of awkwardperiod, we now have two-thirds
of the house using refillableshower gel and the other third
of the house using standardshower gel that you might buy
from a supermarket or apharmacy. But, and this is
(05:38):
a happy ethical but, I've beenable to balance this out by
choosing shower gels and bodywashes from charity shops. If
you're super thrifty orsomeone that regularly shops
in charity shops as I do, youwill know that many of them
have shower gels on sale. Andthese shower gels and body
(06:03):
washes are items that havebeen donated. But they are
essentially second hand inthat they have not been
produced for the shop inquestion. They don't form part
of that manufacturing process.And again, as many people will
(06:24):
already know, there's usuallya fair amount of options so
you can wander into a charityshop and you may well see four
or five different types ofshower gel on offer. And as I
say because they're donatedthere's no contribution to the
production of virgin plastic.There are tiny amounts of
(06:46):
carbon emissions associatedwith that purchase and of
course you help the charityshop with their particular
course. And as a side note ofcourse you do make a cost
saving as well. So, trackingback to Sappho's beautiful
words, so whilst I wouldprefer to reach for the red
(07:08):
apple on the topmost branch, Ican't reach it, so I've opted
for a slightly less red apple,if you will, on a lower
branch. In other words, I haveallowed some of my more
exacting ethical standards tobe More translucent, more
(07:31):
pastel if you will and in sodoing the household is
happier. Ethics are stillbeing met but just not exactly
as I'd like them to be.Another example is this. Now
if you don't know me in reallife you won't know that I
tend to have purple hair orsometimes it's blue or
(07:55):
sometimes it's a variation onthese colours. And if you have
dyed hair in fairly outlandishcolours then shampoo bars are
wonderful and zero waste butthey can be difficult. Now
most people that dye theirhair haven't got the time or
the money to dye it everyweek.
(08:32):
And also the ethics of that doseem slippery. More products,
more cleaning of the shower,more plastic waste and so on.
So you opt to extend your hairdye colour. It's also more
convenient that way. But youcannot extend the colour of
(08:53):
your hair with shampoo bars.Or so I thought. But... I've
recently found a purpleshampoo bar that is designed
for blonde or grey hair andit's the type of shampoo that
adds a purple pigment tobalance out the brassiness of
(09:14):
your hair. However, as peoplewho dye their hair purple or
shades of purple will know,you can also use it to Add a
hint of purple to your hairand in fact actually if you've
got blonde or grey hair orsilver hair for that matter
you can also use this type ofshampoo to add like a lilac-y
(09:37):
purple sheen to your hair. Youjust have to leave it in for
ages and ages and basicallyyou have to wrap your hair up
in an old towel, go off and dothe housework, watch TV, make
sure that the shampoo doesn'tdrip and then ages later you
(09:58):
return to the shower to washit off. So it's pretty much
like dyeing your hair reallybut you're using shampoo to do
it if you will. And I havedone this before, of course,
with shampoo contained in avirgin plastic bottle. And I
should note that when I'vedone it before, I don't use
that type of shampoo all thetime, so it does last for a
(10:22):
really long time. However,this is not Sappho's bright
red apple. And in fact,washing my hair in that way
isn't even on the lowerbranches. In other words,
ethically speaking, it's notthat great. So I'm hopeful
that this zero waste purpleshampoo bar does the trick.
(10:46):
Upon opening it just a fewdays ago I have noticed that
it has dyed the top part ofthe cardboard box that it came
in so that's promising anddon't worry I won't be
recycling that part of thecardboard box and it was also
very small so I don't need toberate myself for that either.
(11:07):
But I can put the rest of thecardboard box in my recycle
bin because the remainder ofthe box is die free and it is
cardboard. So you may beinterested to know whether
this worked or maybe not, Idon't know. But if you are
interested to know, I can'ttell you yet because I haven't
(11:30):
yet tried out the shampoo barbut I can tell you that it
looks very purple. I can tellyou that it was vegan and
cruelty free and of course youalready know it came in a very
small cardboard box andbecause I received it in the
post it also came in an outercardboard box as well to
(11:52):
protect it on its journey. Sothere was no Large amounts of
packaging, there was noplastic or anything like that.
So it did seem pretty ethical.But the proof will be in the
shampooing of my hair. So whenI've done that, I will share
the outcome as a side note toa future podcast episode. So
(12:17):
what can we take from thesefindings? What can we kind of
summarise based on thispodcast episode? Well I think
it's pretty good form to reachfor the shiniest apple of
ethics. To try and keep ontrying to make a difference.
But if you don't quite makeit, that's okay. It's only
(12:39):
about trying to make adifference. About doing our
best but not beratingourselves for not achieving
our best. And I suppose reallythat applies to the whole of
life, doesn't it? We don'thave to be perfect. Balance
matters. But we definitelyshouldn't stop reaching for
(13:06):
that shiny red apple asdescribed by Savo. Thank you
so much for listening to thispodcast episode. I hope you
have found some of theinformation within useful and
helpful to you. And of course,I will be back really soon
with another episode. Thanksso much for listening. Bye for
now.
Hi there and welcome to theChallenge to Change podcast.
My name is Hazel and thispodcast is all about the
little changes we can all makethat will have a positive
effect upon planet Earth. Ifyou're new here, welcome. If
you've listened before,welcome back. The Challenge to
(00:33):
Change podcast has beenbrought to you on behalf of
ANSA Environmental Services.To find out more about ANSA,
please visit ANSA.co.uk. Let'sget into the podcast episode.
Before we dive into thispodcast episode, I'm going to
(00:57):
share a quote with you. Now, Iused to share a quote at the
beginning of every podcastepisode, but I haven't done so
for some time and this feelslike a good day to reconvene.
These words are an extract ofa poem by Sappho. And if you
don't already know of Sappho,you can find out more about
(01:17):
her online. These are thewords - like a sweet apple
turning red high on the tip ofthe topmost branch forgotten
by pickers. Not forgotten,they couldn't reach it. Now
(01:41):
those are beautiful words andI don't know what poem they
belong to or Sappho's meaningbehind those words but it may
relate to unrequited love orperhaps something that is just
out of reach. However in thiscase it gently glides us
towards the theme of thispodcast episode which is the
(02:06):
unreachable ideal of beingperfectly ethical. Now not
everybody might want to beethically perfect and that's
okay. But if being ethicalis a huge part of who you are,
it can be challenging whenother people or maybe even
(02:28):
yourself doesn't quite measureup. And maybe some people
listening can relate to that.I certainly know I can. So I'm
going to share an example Asregular listeners to the
Challenge to Change podcastwill know I am perhaps a
(02:49):
little bit obsessed with zerowaste shopping. And
whenever I can, I tend to optfor zero waste products or
refillable products. And it's,it's something that's, that's
pretty important to me. Butsometimes maybe I get a little
(03:12):
bit too focused on it and itstarts to colour many aspects
of my life. So what do you doif your refillable shower gel
doesn't quite measure up toregular shower gel? Do you
persevere? Or is its abilityto operate as a shower gel
(03:40):
It's actually perfectly fineand it's just somehow that the
idea of something ethicaldoesn't feel as super cleaning
as something that has a verystrong perfume and that
perfume lasts on your skin forseveral hours after showering.
(04:05):
So perception more thanreality perhaps. And
also, are we so used towashing ourselves with harsh
chemical shower gels that whenwe opt for something more
gentle, is there a transitionperiod like there is for
shampoo bars? Now on apersonal level, I don't have
(04:29):
an issue with refillableshower gels. I think they work
fairly well. However, notevery member of my household
agrees with that and in factit has been something of,
shall we say, a domestichiccup for some time. One
person wants to wash with astrong smelling chemical
(04:50):
filled shower gel and theother, me in this case, wants
to use a gentle less scentinfused refillable shower gel.
So you arrive then atsomething of a stalemate. But
everyone of course has theright to wash themselves the
(05:12):
way they choose to. So withthat in mind... As we've moved
through this kind of awkwardperiod, we now have two-thirds
of the house using refillableshower gel and the other third
of the house using standardshower gel that you might buy
from a supermarket or apharmacy. But, and this is
(05:38):
a happy ethical but, I've beenable to balance this out by
choosing shower gels and bodywashes from charity shops. If
you're super thrifty orsomeone that regularly shops
in charity shops as I do, youwill know that many of them
have shower gels on sale. Andthese shower gels and body
(06:03):
washes are items that havebeen donated. But they are
essentially second hand inthat they have not been
produced for the shop inquestion. They don't form part
of that manufacturing process.And again, as many people will
(06:24):
already know, there's usuallya fair amount of options so
you can wander into a charityshop and you may well see four
or five different types ofshower gel on offer. And as I
say because they're donatedthere's no contribution to the
production of virgin plastic.There are tiny amounts of
(06:46):
carbon emissions associatedwith that purchase and of
course you help the charityshop with their particular
course. And as a side note ofcourse you do make a cost
saving as well. So, trackingback to Sappho's beautiful
words, so whilst I wouldprefer to reach for the red
(07:08):
apple on the topmost branch, Ican't reach it, so I've opted
for a slightly less red apple,if you will, on a lower
branch. In other words, I haveallowed some of my more
exacting ethical standards tobe More translucent, more
(07:31):
pastel if you will and in sodoing the household is
happier. Ethics are stillbeing met but just not exactly
as I'd like them to be.Another example is this. Now
if you don't know me in reallife you won't know that I
tend to have purple hair orsometimes it's blue or
(07:55):
sometimes it's a variation onthese colours. And if you have
dyed hair in fairly outlandishcolours then shampoo bars are
wonderful and zero waste butthey can be difficult. Now
most people that dye theirhair haven't got the time or
the money to dye it everyweek.
(08:32):
And also the ethics of that doseem slippery. More products,
more cleaning of the shower,more plastic waste and so on.
So you opt to extend your hairdye colour. It's also more
convenient that way. But youcannot extend the colour of
(08:53):
your hair with shampoo bars.Or so I thought. But... I've
recently found a purpleshampoo bar that is designed
for blonde or grey hair andit's the type of shampoo that
adds a purple pigment tobalance out the brassiness of
(09:14):
your hair. However, as peoplewho dye their hair purple or
shades of purple will know,you can also use it to Add a
hint of purple to your hairand in fact actually if you've
got blonde or grey hair orsilver hair for that matter
you can also use this type ofshampoo to add like a lilac-y
(09:37):
purple sheen to your hair. Youjust have to leave it in for
ages and ages and basicallyyou have to wrap your hair up
in an old towel, go off and dothe housework, watch TV, make
sure that the shampoo doesn'tdrip and then ages later you
(09:58):
return to the shower to washit off. So it's pretty much
like dyeing your hair reallybut you're using shampoo to do
it if you will. And I havedone this before, of course,
with shampoo contained in avirgin plastic bottle. And I
should note that when I'vedone it before, I don't use
that type of shampoo all thetime, so it does last for a
(10:22):
really long time. However,this is not Sappho's bright
red apple. And in fact,washing my hair in that way
isn't even on the lowerbranches. In other words,
ethically speaking, it's notthat great. So I'm hopeful
that this zero waste purpleshampoo bar does the trick.
(10:46):
Upon opening it just a fewdays ago I have noticed that
it has dyed the top part ofthe cardboard box that it came
in so that's promising anddon't worry I won't be
recycling that part of thecardboard box and it was also
very small so I don't need toberate myself for that either.
(11:07):
But I can put the rest of thecardboard box in my recycle
bin because the remainder ofthe box is die free and it is
cardboard. So you may beinterested to know whether
this worked or maybe not, Idon't know. But if you are
interested to know, I can'ttell you yet because I haven't
(11:30):
yet tried out the shampoo barbut I can tell you that it
looks very purple. I can tellyou that it was vegan and
cruelty free and of course youalready know it came in a very
small cardboard box andbecause I received it in the
post it also came in an outercardboard box as well to
(11:52):
protect it on its journey. Sothere was no Large amounts of
packaging, there was noplastic or anything like that.
So it did seem pretty ethical.But the proof will be in the
shampooing of my hair. So whenI've done that, I will share
the outcome as a side note toa future podcast episode. So
(12:17):
what can we take from thesefindings? What can we kind of
summarise based on thispodcast episode? Well I think
it's pretty good form to reachfor the shiniest apple of
ethics. To try and keep ontrying to make a difference.
But if you don't quite makeit, that's okay. It's only
(12:39):
about trying to make adifference. About doing our
best but not beratingourselves for not achieving
our best. And I suppose reallythat applies to the whole of
life, doesn't it? We don'thave to be perfect. Balance
matters. But we definitelyshouldn't stop reaching for
(13:06):
that shiny red apple asdescribed by Savo. Thank you
so much for listening to thispodcast episode. I hope you
have found some of theinformation within useful and
helpful to you. And of course,I will be back really soon
with another episode. Thanksso much for listening. Bye for
now.
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