Hi folks,

Over a decade ago, I left my 4+ decades long metropolitan life in favour of a more sustainable & simple life in the forest, here in Canada.

During this time, everyone has been asking me to share my real off-grid homesteading and realistic experiences with them. But as I am not on social media, I was only limited to in-person sharing. This month however, I decided to start a youtube channel for all of you who are either considering such a change in lifestyle or simply curious to see what my life here is like, stories, lessons learned,...

There are no commercials or ads and as with my website, this channel is not monetized and totally family friendly for those considering watching it with their kids.

u/REAL-to-REEL-e6d

I'm also willing to set some land aside to provide space or setting for anyone with innovating projects & ideas on sustainability & self-sufficiency.

I hate those huge plastic jugs. I get a lot of advertisements on Instagram, for example, for eco-friendly detergents and other cleaners but I feel like a lot of them are overpriced and I am just not sure about how good or sustainable they really are. Any recommendations?

The fashion industry is the second largest polluter of clean water globally, a cotton t-shirt takes 2700L of water to make, textile waste from both industry and consumers are destroying parts of the world and hurting wildlife. There’s also microplastics, shady practices, fast fashion culture that has burned into our society.

The Uniqlo Airism shirt costs $14.90. How? How does the labor, resources, and land for growing the cotton, the production process (raw cotton to yarn, yarn to fabric, undyed fabric to dyed fabric, the pattern maker and cutter, patterns to seamstress), and the labor + resources for logistics, cost $6 or less in total?

Here’s the thing, these staggering facts are caused by the big corporations like Zara, H&M, Nike, Adidas, Uniqlo, Shein, etc. not small or medium sized brands.

You could say opening a sustainable brand provides options for people who do care about sustainability, and there is a rise in awareness amongst people. But even with the rise of sustainable options, the numbers don’t lie. Consumers value cheap prices over sustainability any day.

Clothing inherently shouldn’t be “affordable” because of how much resources and labor it takes. A garment should be made and kept for a lifetime.

It’s an oversaturated industry, but it’s oversaturated for a reason. Even with inflation and recession, the fashion industry is never going to fade away.

There is enough clothing to cloth 8 billion people’s next 6 generations of descendants today. Whether or not the clothing are of good quality to even reach the 2nd generation is another topic worth discussing.

Most of my hangers I've gotten for free or bought a long time ago. I keep whatever hangers falls into my hands whether it's plastic, metal, or wood. But I'm in need of a few more and I'm trying to figure out which is the most eco friendly. Obviously not plastic. The other options are wood or metal as far as I know and I'm not sure. Thoughts?

I normally don’t go to Starbucks but I had a gift card so I went with some friends. I brought my own cup and asked for my drink to be put in there. They said yes but they made my drink in a plastic cup and poured it into my reusable one. I know it’s not the end of the world but why do you think I brought my own cup?

Edit: To answer the measurement question, at my local Starbucks, they mesure it in a jug and pour it into my cup, I was just at a different Starbucks this time.

I deeply worry about the future of humanity, and our fellow earthlings, so I want to get into activism. But how? What kind of peaceful activism could we do? I personally don’t want to stop traffic, nor to vandalize objects (such as art), as I don’t agree with those methods, but I’d like to hear your ideas for effective climate activism.

I have like 20 small box drinks of 6 month expired vanilla meal replacements vitamin mixes that I won’t be drinking but I can’t seem to find any information or recommendations on how best to sustainably dispose of them. I know putting them in the garbage with the fluids still inside is bad, spilling them down the drain does seem good, and spilling them on ground doesn’t seem good either. Does anyone have any recommendations on what to do? I would greatly appreciate any advice you have.

My very old iPhone (sigh, I know, trust me, I know…) is on its way out. Probably sometime in the next week or two.

I would love to not own a cellphone, but it’s just not possible at this point in my life. I hope at some point it will be!

What kinds of cellphones are the most neutral? Is it a Nokia flip phone? I’d love to NOT give money to Apple or Samsung.

Hey y’all! I’ve been looking into getting sustainable/refillable household cleaning and laundry products but the amount of options can be overwhelming. What are some of your favorites?

Hello all. I work in a manufacturing facility in which a large portion of our customers are within the oil and gas sector. I consider myself to be climate-conscious, but I have taken a renewed look at my personal impact in light of recent political events. Is it possible to strike a balance between my overall values and the seemingly obvious contradiction in my line of work? I have been trying to make my workplace more sustainable (reusable water bottles, reducing waste, etc) but it feels kinda crappy manufacturing stuff for a sector that is not really great for the environment. Please let me know what you think:)

U.S. water is already kind of shit depending on where you live. With DOGE wanting to cut the living daylights out of everything, I don't expect that to get any better. I've been looking into ways to purify water to make it safer than what the U.S. calls "safe."

My criteria are:

1. To remove lead, microplastics, bacteria, and other stuff that may become more and more present

2. Maybe retain the fluoride if possible. Maybe I'll look into figuring out how to add it after if it gets removed.

3. Requires buying the least amount of plastic possible. Preferably without needing to be replaced too often

4. To be used on rain water and tap water. I don't live near any lakes, rivers, or oceans... Yet.