215. Do a no trash grocery shop for 1 week

A week of no plastic is obviously only a good thing but there have been some difficulties along the way. For starters replacing tea with loose leaf tea and swapping biscuits with dried apples has been great but the weigh shops where I purchase them are 40 mins away and this can make it seem like a big ask. The solution has been to go the shops at the beginning of the week and swap dried apple for home made sweet potato chips (so good by the way!).

From doing this task I've found some alternatives. For instance I now know I love local honey and will keep buying it as a treat. Moreover the local green grocers where everything comes outside of plastic is so much cheaper than the super market and being 2 mins away from my house is super easy!

One hiccup this week, the guy I'm seeing gifted me some alheira in plastic packaging. Yes it was recyclable but given I'm going to keep buying fruit and veg without packaging and loose leaf tea I'll let it go.

Here's my typical weekly shop (I'm on a diet so don't judge)

1 head of lettuce
1 bunch of spinach
2 carrots
2 celery sticks

pot of cinamon

pot of cumin

300g lentils

100g earl grey tea
100 g roibos tea

1 jar honey

3 tomatoes

1 jar chickpeas

2 boxes chicken nuggets

4 tins sardines

2 lemons

1 lime

2 red onions

1 bottle vinegar

1 bottle olive oil

7 croissants

1 jar berry jam

5 prawn rissoles

7 cups of coffee
1 jar olives
3 sweet potatoes

208. Protest

This year in September saw thousands of strikes and protests take place all over the world to raise awareness of climate change. An estimated 6 million took part and the key date was chosen as it took place days before the UN climate summit.

At the time I had a friend over to explore Lisbon and thought I wouldn't get to see the protests let alone take part in them. However, as we sat for pão de deus and coffee we heard shouting outside and went to the window to see what was happening. Of course the march was there and hundreds of people came past. Excited we finished our coffee and joined in, despite the old woman beside me telling me in portuguese 'nothing will change'.

From Chiado we walked on to Rossio, joining in the chant 'não há planeta B!' (There's no planet B). We didn't have signs but we felt our presence was nevertheless useful, adding to the numbers.

I sort of count this has half achieved as we were only there for 30 mins to an hour and we had no signs. But still I'm happy that my presence may have helped in some way. Either way, I feel like this year has been a start in being more eco friendly, and the protest has been part of that.

186. Wall climb

I'm scared of heights, and yet for some reason this was not my first time wall climbing. I wanted to try it again, because despite the heights it's fun, and as I can tell by my sore arms and legs incredibly good for my body. Specifically I chose bouldering. It requires no knowledge of ropes and the shoes are rent-able in Lisbon. One tip would be to go with friends. The climbs require breaks in between and if they're more experienced it's a good chance to really work on your technique.