Interview with Eco Friendly Henri – Chat About all Things Sustainability

I thought I would put my interview with Eco Friendly Henri into a blog post. As with my interview with Zero Waste Family, I did originally film this interview for my YouTube channel but I thought I would get it down in writing for those that don’t tend to watch YouTube.

Henri has an eco friendly lifestyle blog where she shares reviews, tips and interviews with other sustainable influencers. She also has a strong Instagram following and she created the Sustainable Saturday meetup on Instagram for environmentally conscious content creators to meet with like-minded individuals. With all of this she also has a part time job and has written a children’s book.

Interview With Eco Friendly Henri

When did you start your sustainable journey?

So I think the starting point for my sustainable journey was when I had my daughter Penny which was nearly 4 years ago now and I’d always been quite eco conscious but raising her really opened my eyes to the fact that her generation will suffer if we don’t urgently start making changes to help protect the planet.

I think it was also my parents that kicked me into action, so after Penny was born and she’s there first and only grandchild. They started to give their house an eco makeover. We thought my dad was mad! He started looking into ground source heat pumps. We were like “What on earth are those?” After a bit of research we realised that actually oil and gas boilers are actually really polluting the atmosphere. And they’re contributing as many emissions as cars and so they had this really old polluting oil boiler so they switched it out for a ground source heat pump. It was a massive operation but honestly we thought my dad was absolutely crazy but then we realised that actually that was a really good idea. So me and my daughter live with my parents now and so the house is run pretty much on renewable energy. The ground source heat pump was a significant investment but there’s a government subsidy called the renewable incentive scheme so over a 7 year period they give you some of the money back. It’s really useful you just need to have the money upfront to pay for it. So they’re encouraging more and more people to do it and I was chatting to the builders and there’s a lot of new houses that are getting ground source heat pumps or the alternative which is air source heat pumps, which takes the air in clever ways to heat your house. So there’s a lot of people having retrofits so whipping out the oil and gas boilers and installing heat pumps in the place. It is very encouraging that big steps are being taken to reduce carbon footprints.

What if anything have you been unable to switch to the sustainable version?

Do you know that’s a really interesting question, my biggest challenge has been things for babies and children. There is starting to be more and more plastic free versions or recycled plastic or wooden toys but the one thing I haven’t been able to find is arm bands for swimming. My daughter is learning how to swim and she has a paddle suit which is a bit restrictive so I’m looking out for arm bands but they’re all plastic. Nobody has invented them that I can see. Eco friendly armbands, I don’t know if they can make them from recycled plastic. I’ll keep searching to see if I can find some because it pains me to buy more plastic. I’ve always bought a lot of green toys so using recycled plastic and a lot of wooden toys so I just find it painful when you’re actively buying more plastic. I’ll let you know if I find anything.

What is your favourite sustainable swap?

This is a really funny one so I have loads of favourites in that I’ve used a lot of really amazing skincare products. Very natural, organic and vegan and the packaging is usually bamboo or glass. The funniest one I found and probably my favourite for the moment is eco friendly play dough by Squish and Squidge. It’s really fun, so my daughter Penny loves playing with play dough and actually her god mother bought her eco friendly play dough. So it’s made from natural food grade ingredients, naturally sourced and coloured using plants. Vegan friendly and it’s compostable play dough and it comes in little aluminium tins so there’s no plastic at all. It’s a bit different but it’s one that got me excited recently.

Which sustainable swap has made the most difference to your lifestyle?

So I’ve got a couple, obviously! The bathroom there’s just so many plastic bottles, it’s shocking. I’ve got really dry curly hair so I’m a big user of conditioner and serums and all sorts to make my hair look normal. I’ve used so many plastic bottles over the years and it’s shocking, but plastic is out so I’ve got a couple of pump plastic bottles that I keep and I have them for refills. I sometimes go to my local eco shop and get refills and also at my hairdresser they have refill conditioner. So I often get refills from there as well, I’m all about refills. I didn’t get on with the shampoo and conditioner bars because my hair is too dry. The other one so in the kitchen is the end of cling film so silicone lids for your left over food etc.

It pains me to go to the supermarket and buy bottles, I’m just not doing it anymore. With shower gels and face washes you can get some good sort of soaps, I’ve used quite a few but I do like friendly’s soaps. I just think someone needs to nail a good conditioner for dry hair.

What or who inspires you to keep living sustainably?

There’s a couple of things actually so my daughter Penny inspires me. I think as a single mother, I’m not only a mother I’m also a role model for her. So I think it’s important that she learns to grow up in the right way, to respect the planet and understand that she should behave in a certain way to help look after our planet. I think she reminds me every day just by being there, that I need to do more to live sustainably and also try to inspire others. And also the other side, on Instagram chatting to yourself and others at my Sustainable Saturday Meetup or just on other people’s posts, I think it really is inspiring reading what other people are up to. Everyone has a different focus, others are more product focused, some are activists and some are good at gardening. You just learn so much and I find it so inspiration to learn about what other people are doing and the sense that you are part of a community. Climate change is such a huge huge problem, bigger than all of us and you sort of feel lost in the problem. You think how is anything that you do going to make a difference and is anyone listening. So it is inspiring to talk to others on a social platform such as Instagram.

Have you ever felt eco anxiety and if yes what did you do to overcome it?

So yes absolutely, I think when you read the news and big events that are happening around the world that are obviously a result of climate change. Like earlier this year the extreme storm in Texas, fires in Australia and you see horrific pictures of turtles strangled by plastic in the sea, starving polar bears. It’s terrifying, absolutely terrifying and I think yes it is so easy to feel anxious and overthink it but I think what I try and do is channel that energy and adrenaline into something positive. So like I said earlier, this problem is bigger than any of us and I think we just need to remind ourselves that every little change that we do helps and every sort of time we’re posting on social platforms and any sort of conversation we have, does influence others. So a load of my friends that weren’t particularly eco friendly have seen some of my posts and started following people that I follow and learning and actually switching to more sustainable products themselves. And sort of saying that they were influenced. You actually feel like you’re helping change behaviour here. I think it’s everything from using your car less to maybe even switching to an electric vehicle if you can, avoiding single use plastic and just generally buying less stuff that you don’t need really, reusing more and recycling more and thinking more about the zero waste mentality.

I’ve also been doing a ton of research this week actually for work about misinformation around climate change. There’s so much, it’s awful. There’s conspiracy websites creating this ridiculous bogus narrative. I just think now more than ever it’s really important for influencers and media to create the right truthful narrative with facts, research and stats. To normalise and promote low carbon lifestyles and I think we should call out inaction from businesses as well as our family. I think inertia is not an option now, we all need to be proactive and make sure that others are as well.

Is there anything you wish you’d known before you started your sustainable journey?

I think that the only thing is I wish I’d started it sooner. I’m not sure why before I became a mother I worried about really trivial stuff, work related, normal worries and I don’t know why climate change wasn’t high up my priority list. In my sort of circle noone was worried about climate change, so it just wasn’t a priority. I wish it had become a priority sooner. It wasn’t so much on the media agenda as it is now. I think people years ago that were eco friendly were probably seen as eco friendly geeks or hippies but now it’s becoming more mainstream.

Who are your favourite sustainable influencers on YouTube or otherwise?

Yes gosh, big question! So I have to admit I read more blogs and follow influencers on Instagram more than YouTube, obviously apart from your channel. So I read a handful of blogs I love Moral Fibres and Curiously Conscious. And I’ve recently started reading The Green Journal, so a range of sustainable tips and I keep up-to-date with climate change and discussions.

On Instagram, I love Instagram for engaging with sustainability influencers and get some good tips and tricks. I learn so much, I recently wrote a blog post about the importance of the sustainability influencer because I think they’re absolutely critical in terms of moving the dial and encouraging others to change behaviour. Keys ones that I like so in slow fashion there is Emma Slade Edmondson, inspiration on how to make your wardrobe more ethical, from renting clothes to reinventing your existing outfits. Thrifting in charity shops. So I’m slightly fashionable but I’ve been really trying to buy anything new just from charity shops. Then seeing if I can revamp my wardrobe and use what I’ve got because I’ve actually got quite a lot. Super helpful to sort of follow her posts.

Plastic pollution is another one that I’m really passionate about, trying to minimise plastic and a lady called Lizzie Carr she has a non profit organisation called @onplanetpatrol. That provides tips on cleaning up the environment and how to live plastic free such as using recycled wrapping paper. Planet Patrol the organisation, they host free clean-ups all over the world, such a great organisation. Sustainable living I love the account @blueollis she posts vegan recipes, sustainability hacks, make your own cleaning products and shampoos, tips and tricks for upcycling and mending our clothes. Really good account, not that I could be good enough to recreate these recipes, I love watching her do it. I love vegan beauty products and @veganbeautygirl has sustainable alternatives for vegan beauty products. Those are my main ones but also everyone that I chat to at Sustainable Saturday, people are doing such interesting things and people with skills in different areas. I learn so much every week and I always feel like I’m not doing enough. There’s people that are doing so much, litter pickups and gardening and baking.

What do you find the most rewarding?

I think I find that writing the children’s book was rewarding, it kind of happened while I was on maternity leave. I wrote it to raise money for Great Ormands Street because Penny was a patient there but I won’t know how many books I’ve sold until the end of the royalty period. I’ve written another book and I’ve also started writing a children’s book about climate change as well. It’s just finding time because I work as a freelancer in Marketing as well so I do this in the evening and weekend. I also find rewarding blogging and chatting to people on the Sustainable Meetup. I think it’s just when you’re voicing your point of view and people listen and respect and react and respond. And also your opinion counts and your opinion is part of the debate and you feel like what you’re doing and saying is making a difference to try and make the world a better place. I think that’s hugely hugely rewarding, and it just makes you feel like your voice counts and you are having a say in trying to look after our planet and reverse climate change.

When did you create the sustainable meetup?

So I’m fairly new to Instagram as well so I think I started the account February 2020, I didn’t properly start until May. So I launched the Sustainable Meetup in October. I’d been sort of experimenting on Instagram and thinking what’s the types of posts that do well, what don’t and what do people want in the community. I was finding the whole likes and shares thing quite superficial. It’s just a bit meaningless to me and I think the value you have is in the comments and connect to people. Partnering on awareness campaigns or sharing other people’s campaigns. I really wanted to get to know the community better and I’d been joining some of the mum meetups and the eco meetup Monday which @ruthsustainableme ran.

I just thought that I wanted to join one of my own on the weekend when I have more time. I mulled it over for about two months. I spent a lot of time thinking about it and coming up with a name and I got a designer to create the logo and post image and I just went for it in October. I was really nervous thinking will anyone come. I was actually nervous for months thinking will anyone come and I put quite a lot of effort in the beginning to really promote it.

It gradually just got bigger and at the height of lockdown it was really popular because noone was going out. Not it’s obviously a bit sunnier but we still get a good number come but not as many as 200 which came at some stage. I’m hearing great stories about brands sell their products to some people and retailers finding new brands to add to their stores. People are able to grow their own communities and partner on campaigns and initiatives and meaningful conversations happen. And when I scroll down I learn so much from it and sometimes I have time to reply to like 20 people and sometimes I have time to reply to everyone. You get to know people in the community and really as much as you can on Instagram, it’s more than like and share to your stories. You’re chatting to people and finding out have they got family, where they live, what do they do for a living, what’s their focus. I just think it gives a lot more to the community and I also get to know people much better. I really enjoy it, I think there’s just been three weekends when I paused it because I was away or something else going on but normally I can fit it around stuff.

You must meet some amazing people, are there any that stand out to you?

Well actually I can think of someone else that stands out to me, so I think that I am so impressed and quite in awe of Ellie Wyatt who runs the @ecoactionfamilies. So she’s a Bafta award winning composer for children’s television programs, she’s written music for all the CBeebies programs that my daughter watches like Tee and Mo and Jojo Gran Gran, also she’s an active campaigner and she runs eco action families. So the community around the UK, so they aim to inspire action in schools, workplaces and across the wider communities. I recently helped them promote their campaign #therippleeffect, encouraging people to switch to a green energy company, switch to an ethical bank and become an earth protector by signing up to stop ecocide newsletter. And she does so much, she’s been an activist for decades, she fits so much in and she has a family as well.

Do you have trouble trying to fit it in with family life?

So yes it is a strange balancing juggling act, where you have a never ending to-do list. So what I’ve done, I try and prioritise what is important and what is urgent and try and block out times in the week where things need to get done. So yes I freelance 4 days a week and then I look after my daughter Fridays and then when she goes to her dad’s sometimes on a Saturday and so I use that as a sort of working day. Outside of that I try and blog once a month and run an Instagram account and then try and write books. I’m always trying to think about how I can be more productive, rather than working harder it’s about smarter working. There’s this great book by Cal Newport called Deep Work and it’s got great guidance on when and how you can do deep thinking work and there’s such good takeaways in the book which helped me to be more productive in the right ways. So you turn all your notifications off so no emails, no social media, nothing so whatever you’re doing you just go deep into it and you can do it kind of quicker and be more productive.

So the other day I had to come up with some ideas and I’m sitting at my laptop and I have no idea what I’m doing. So I thought I need to think about this so I thought I can think about this on a walk so I went out and I sort of brainstormed to myself on a walk. And actually that was a much better use of my time because you get your steps in as well and get fresh air. Then actually you can think better when you plug the problem into your brain and do something else, something completely trivial or just light exercise or something and focus on something else. Your brain just sort of mulls over the issue and you can come up with some great ideas like that.

Also I’m much sharper in the mornings for writing and detail but then sometimes in the evening I’m a bit more creative because I’m a bit more tired but I’m rubbish with detail so I should never do something without having the morning to check it. So I just use tips and tricks like that to sort of move your schedule along without sweating!

I hope you enjoyed this really interesting and inspirational chat I had with Eco Friendly Henri, check out her Instagram account if you want to learn more about her.

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