Give your home a vegan makeover
Friends Ian Theasby and Henry Firth go beyond a plantbased diet
So you’ve decided to go vegan.
But the food part of it is the first step. Is it still okay to wear an old leather belt? What if I still have single-use plastic bags in the house? Should I use them to carry my lunch to work but risk incurring the wrath of my colleagues?
Friends Henry Firth and Ian Theasby’s new book, BOSH! How to
Live Vegan, explores the curly questions as more people look to make sustainable and ethical lifestyle choices.
The UK pair are behind BOSH!, a plant-based video channel on Facebook. In an extract from their new book below, they explore some of the most common household items.
CLEANING PRODUCTS
There are lots of natural cleaning products available now, so you can easily avoid using those containing harsh chemicals such as bleach and chlorine. This doesn’t automatically mean they are cruelty-free though. We use a vegan washing-up liquid now because someone once saw a non-vegan brand on our Instagram story and called us out on it.
We’re always learning too! Many cleaning products also contain beeswax or lanolin, so check the ingredients.
Real feather dusters are an obvious no-no! And we also try to avoid using throwaway cleaning sponges, instead using ones that can be washed and reused.
BEDDING
Where you can, choose organic, vegan-friendly duvets, pillows and throws. Organic cotton uses far fewer chemicals than traditionally processed cotton, so its environmental footprint is much smaller.
There are some amazing ecofriendly bedding suppliers now that use low-impact production processes and dyes, and use natural and biodegradable materials, including bamboo, coconut husk and linen.
It goes without saying, really, to avoid feather or down-stuffed pillows and duvets, silk sheets or wool blankets.
RUGS AND COUCHES
It’s not just that the leather in sofas is non-vegan, it is also likely to be heavily treated with resins and preservatives so its negative impact on the environment is much higher than vegan alternatives. Opt for leather-, wool- and silk-free options when shopping for homeware. Lots of big retailers stock vegan ranges now. There are some great alternative vegan fabrics available, including faux fur and faux leather, but beware that some are less sustainable than others.
Acrylic is a plastic, so try to use natural fabrics where you can, such as cotton or linen. You can even get rugs made from recycled bottles!
PRINTING
Books, magazines and home printing: it’s the ink that is the main concern here, as many contain animal products including glycerin, bone char and shellac. There are some veganapproved alternatives available, made from vegetable-based dyes, but they’re not all that easy to come by, and we have found that they aren’t compatible with most home printers. We advise you to print only when necessary and also look into printer cartridges that can be refilled, rather than replaced and thrown away.
Make sure the paper is sustainably sourced and/or recycled. Look for the FSC logo, which ensures the product you are buying will help keep forests alive for future generations, as well as supporting the rights of indigenous populations.
ELECTRONIC GOODS
We love our laptops and smartphones as much as the next millennial, but we were quite shocked to learn how many animal products are used in their production. LCD screens may contain animal products, and gelatine is used as part of the manufacture of some batteries. Then there are the plastics and glues used in the electronic boards inside.
Another issue to think about when it comes to electronic goods is that the mining of the necessary rareearth elements tends to be damaging to the environment and exploitative of the workers involved.
As with everything, it’s almost impossible in the Western world we live in to totally avoid any social or environmental impact from our electronics, but we think it’s good to be aware of these issues so you can make an informed decision about whether you really do need that next upgrade or not .
ENERGY SUPPLIERS
Green and renewable energy is obviously a great step in the right direction, but just because it is renewable, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily vegan. One of the most exciting new developments in green energy is anaerobic digestion, where micro-organisms digest waste material and produce biogas.
This also goes a long way to reducing our landfill. However, it’s not vegan. Ecotricity is the UK’s first certified vegan energy provider, and hopefully more will follow suit soon.
PETS
Whether or not vegans should keep animal companions is a hot topic. Some say that since pets are purely for their owners’ enjoyment, keeping a pet is not in keeping with vegan ideals.
Others say that if you are rescuing the animal, then it’s helping out an animal in need and so is perfectly OK — it is, in fact, a positive act.
There is even some sensitivity around the terminology of “keeping” pets — some people believe no human should “own” another animal, and so some vegans who have animals in their homes consider them to be an equal part of their family as any other member. Some choose to call them “animal friends” to reflect this position.
There’s also the issue of breeding. Many animals, and in particular dogs, have been intensively bred over the years to develop specific attributes that are appealing to humans.
Many of the dogs that have become fashionable recently — including flat-faced dogs like pugs and bulldogs, small dogs like dachshunds and other, larger breeds like Dalmatians — suffer from health issues as a result of their breeding. These most often include breathing problems, blindness and deafness, as well as hip and other joint issues, which can seriously impact on their day-to-day life.
Pure-bred cats also suffer from similar genetic defects. Many ways in which animals are bred are also considered to be ethically dubious, including “puppy farms” and other mass-produced breeding programmes.
For this reason, a common position is “adopt, don’t shop”, since adopting helps rescue animals who are in need of help, and moves business away from breeders. Only you can decide where you stand on this.
When it comes to feeding your pets, you can get good veganapproved pet foods for almost all common domestic animals. Beware that some animals, however, such as snakes and cats, can only eat animal products.
We love animals, but we don’t have pets. Ian loves cats — and fully identifies as a “cat person” — but he won’t get one because they’re obligate carnivores and he doesn’t want to feed one meat! When he was younger Henry had cats and loved them, but he was super allergic unfortunately, and still is.
We LOVE dogs, and every now and again our housemate Anna will bring over the most delightful dog called Barney.
We have long, regular discussions about getting a BOSH! doggie. It’s definitely something we want to do, we are just waiting for the right time.
An interesting question is whether owning animals as a child encourages a wider love for all animals in later life. Maybe.
Animals are loads of fun, but a big responsibility! But if you had a childhood dog that you loved like a member of your family, then you may realise that a baby pig is very much like a baby doggie. Yet for some reason (maybe tradition?) we choose to eat one but love the other!
Overall, we think it’s a great thing to rescue animals to give them a new home, as long as you treat that animal with the respect they deserve.
CARS AND TRANSPORT
Unfortunately most cars aren’t vegan. It’s a good example of how being vegan is a direction to move in rather than an absolute. Avoiding leather seats is the number one step when looking for a vegan car.
Be aware that there will be some animal parts used in any liquid crystal displays, and the steel for the car’s frame may have been lubricated with animal fat. At this stage, there’s not a lot you can do about that, but by all means let manufacturers know you are looking for animal-productfree cars, and the more requests they get, the more likely they are to listen!
In addition to the seats and the interior detail, you can select vegan tyres. Some tyres contain animal products, but mainstream brands are starting to stock vegan tyres, so definitely ask.
Another big thing to think about with a car, is the question of petrol. Obviously we know that petrol is not good for the environment, and creates emissions. It’s also worth considering how the petrol was sourced, which will no doubt have involved drilling and loss of animal life.
Ultimately, we believe everyone is going to drive electric cars in the relatively near future. Yes, they are still using power, and yes, there is still work to do on the batteries, but we believe the quicker we can all move to electric cars, the better. So if you can, do. Even better, avoid driving a car altogether. Nipping around on cycles is such a freeing way to travel: it’s fun and has the added fitness bonus!
PLASTIC
There is no escaping that plastic is a huge issue right now. Single-use plastics are known to be one of the biggest threats to our marine environment. In the UK, 2.5 billion coffee cups (coated with a thin film of polyethylene) are thrown away each year, 114 and only 0.25 per cent are recycled. Then there are the plastic water bottles, the plastic used in the packaging for all our household products, food items and medicines, cling film, plastic bags, the plastic used in our electronics . . . It’s endless.
Although most plastics don’t contain animal products, some do, and the manufacturing process can also be harmful to animal habitats. The main issue, we think, though is that after you’ve used your plastic item it generally gets thrown away and what happens next is harder to track.
We’ve all seen the images of marine life getting caught up in plastic waste and heard of sea creatures found with plastic items in their stomachs. Although for anyone interested in the issue of plastic in the ocean, while we don’t disagree we should move away from single-use plastic, it is a bit of a distraction.
About half of all plastic in the ocean is from fishing nets, and most of the great Pacific Garbage Patch is fishing gear.
Plastic, though, is a really good example of how hard it is to be 100 per cent vegan. We don’t think you can ever, truly live a pure vegan lifestyle because almost everything has either a direct or indirect impact on animals — fossil fuels are the byproduct of animals, field animals often get harmed in the harvesting of vegetables, insect repellent can cause distress to mosquitoes.
We’re not saying all this to stress you out! What we’re saying is that being vegan and living a vegan life is about doing what you can to live in a way that supports all living creatures. We use recycled plastic when we can, and eco bottles for our water. Ian even walks around with his own cutlery hanging off his rucksack (although I’m not sure it’s ever been used!).
We love shops where you can take your own containers and fill them up with food and other items — we’re halfway through a move away from plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles. And it’s great that some supermarkets are starting to embrace this way of shopping too.