Hello!
Happy August!
Book News . . .
HUGE thanks to everyone who supported the launch of my latest book, Nourish, last month – whether you shared/followed on social media, bought the book, told a friend or posted a review! I was so grateful for all the lovely messages and warm responses to the story itself. This is what one reader said on Goodreads:
This is a brilliantly pacy read about the place of food in our lives and what happens when big corporations take control of our daily nourishment. It's also a beautifully moving story of a family and of loss - emotional nourishment sits alongside the battle for sustainable, healthy and joyful nourishment from food. I loved the depiction of a near future in which young people discover real food for the first time - it made me think in new ways about how I participate it the food systems around me, making me see my own world afresh, as all good fiction does. Highly recommend.
If you’ve read Nourish, I’d love to know what you thought of it – hit reply and let me know!
In other news, my first novel, Dirt, was recently shortlisted for the Rubery Book Award! If you missed Dirt when it came out last year, do check it out here...
Reading recommendation
We Don’t Have Time For This by Brianna Craft is a gorgeous contemporary YA novel that tells the story of high school kids in America protesting against a new natural gas pipeline in their area. The book starts with wildfires, making it feel all-too relevant this hot summer, but it’s an upbeat read despite its realism.
A tied election throws two rival teen activists together to lead their school's environmental justice club, and they are taken by surprise when their clashes reveal deeper feelings hidden beneath their antagonism.
What's more romantic than saving the earth?
Two presidents. One club. A sizzling connection.
I really enjoyed the alternating viewpoints of Isa and Darius, and it’s refreshing to read a piece of climate fiction that’s also a sweet, slow-burn romance.
Lazy green wins #26
Reduce single-use plastic. Such an obvious one. So much harder than it sounds.
Plastic packaging is almost impossible to avoid and this is why we need systemic change to match individual lifestyle changes. I’m a big fan of campaigning charity The Story of Stuff, and they have eye-opening videos on this topic – check out their brilliant original animation ‘The Story of Stuff’ (20 minutes) or their plastic waste series (4-minute intro).
In the meantime, here are a few of my favourite personal plastic-reduction tips:
- For a no-effort, (virtually) packaging-free cool drink, make chilled hibiscus tea in your fridge overnight. A handful of hibiscus petals in a jug of water for a few hours gives you a vibrant pink drink to enjoy in the morning! Use sweetener if you like (personally, I love the sour, unsweetened tang), or jazz it up with mint leaves or fizzy water. (And if you do like fizz, invest in a soda stream for refillable bottles of bubbles!)
- If you use an electric toothbrush, subscribe to Brushd for regular deliveries of replacement heads which are then returned to Brushd for recycling. (Bonus lazy life hack: you don’t have to keep track of when you need a new brush as they come automatically in the post!)
- Also from Brushd, replace your plastic toothpaste tubes with a refillable jar of fluoride toothpaste tablets. No, they aren’t as nice as toothpaste. Yes, they work just as well and give you a glowing feeling of eco-virtue.
- Menstruating women, use a Mooncup. Life-changing.
- If you drink oat milk (recommended as an easy way to reduce dairy-carbon-emissions from your diet), buy oat milk powder from Overherd and cut out massive quantities of packaging and transport emissions.
Then there are all the obvious plastic-reduction choices that are probably already second-nature, like choosing unpackaged fruit and veg where possible... And here’s a checklist for reusable items always to have in your bag: 1. coffee cup 2. water bottle 3. cutlery 4. reusable shopping bag.
Do you have any plastic-reduction tips? Let me know – I’m always keen to add to my list!
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Until next time,
Happy reading!
Laura
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