Pride. Joy. These are not things I had originally associated with being eco-friendly/saving the planet/changing how I cleaned. And yet, 4 years later, here we are! The joy I have found being queer, and finding other queer folks in the environment I’ve chosen to work in, has been beyond anything I could have imagined. Without context, it sounds completely bizarre, so let me indulge you.
In 2018, I started university at Sussex, known for being a safe place for folks like me, I jumped at the chance to study there. That was the pivotal decision that steered my course to what it is today. I ended up in off campus accommodation which was 5 minutes away from a quaint zero waste shop called waste not, and there I met Debbie, a wonderful human who indulged my weekly questions and queries whilst educating me about the climate crisis. Alongside being undiagnosed with ADHD and thus struggling with the overwhelming workload, this struck a cord in me that made me re-evaluate what I was doing there. Was I utilising my skills to their fullest? Did my potential philosophy degree really matter in the grand scheme of things? When the world was suffering at the hands of us? Not really. Well, that was the conclusion I came to anyway. So, I dropped out, with the determination to work in a shop just like the one that had driven me to this realisation. After a brief summer stint of being a bra fitter, I found myself in the job I had dreamed of! Or so I thought. Whilst I was reducing plastic waste, the environment id found myself in was… very much the opposite of who I am. It was beige, cookie cutter, and targeted a very specific demographic. That wasn’t what I’d wanted or hoped for. Whilst I’d had some interactions with folks who I’d known were in my field so to speak, it wasn’t enough. We found comradery there, but I suppose subconsciously, at least for me, it felt like we could only really be ourselves in the safe space of each other, in the stolen moments of our encounters that weren’t just sales assistant to customer, but person to person. So, it was time to leave. After gathering the experience I needed, I managed to find a place somewhere else that was going to bring me joy in more ways than I’d imagined possible.
A year and a half later, I land a job in another low waste store, on the other side of London, an area completely new to me! Within the first week of this position, I’d met more queer folks than I’d met in the past year alone. Coming to me and the shop for advice on the best ways to clean the oat milk sediment from the glass bottles (tsp of rice, some hot water, Bicarb and a squirt of washing up liquid with a helluva lot of shaking, and bobs yer uncle), an eco alternative to bleach (sodium percarbonate is your bestie, especially with an oxygen bleach activator *cough cough* fill co’s destainer powder), or how best to get rid of that sticky residue left by jar labels (any oil and Bicarb in a paste, give a good scrub, wash with soap, et voila!), alongside tips for the best vegan goodies, it was like a new world! I couldn’t stop gushing about the haven I’d found myself in, being able to engage with people like me, without having to hide myself or who I am, speaking as candidly about my identity as I did with eco cleaning remedies, it was a revelation! Somehow, from the panic of the climate crisis causing me to drop out of university, I’d managed to land in an environment that allowed me to cultivate my chosen community whilst nurturing my hyper-fixations on the new techniques I’d discovered for eco cleaning! (Which, uh, probably sounds ridiculous but I liked chemistry a lot, and having real life scenarios to apply it to is a god send!). So this pride month, I want to acknowledge that joy and community can be found in the most random of places, and be thankful that I’ve been lucky enough to find joy in my queerness, without having to sacrifice it. Big thank you to Clean & Tidy for letting me write something for them for pride month! And if you’re reading this, I only hope that you find/have found a joy akin to and greater than mine ❤️
Greener Habits Co can be found at 35 St James St, London E17 7FY
Their Instagram is @greenerhabitsco
Pride. Joy. These are not things I had originally associated with being eco-friendly/saving the planet/changing how I cleaned. And yet, 4 years later, here we are! The joy I have found being queer, and finding other queer folks in the environment I’ve chosen to work in, has been beyond anything I could have imagined. Without context, it sounds completely bizarre, so let me indulge you.
In 2018, I started university at Sussex, known for being a safe place for folks like me, I jumped at the chance to study there. That was the pivotal decision that steered my course to what it is today. I ended up in off campus accommodation which was 5 minutes away from a quaint zero waste shop called waste not, and there I met Debbie, a wonderful human who indulged my weekly questions and queries whilst educating me about the climate crisis. Alongside being undiagnosed with ADHD and thus struggling with the overwhelming workload, this struck a cord in me that made me re-evaluate what I was doing there. Was I utilising my skills to their fullest? Did my potential philosophy degree really matter in the grand scheme of things? When the world was suffering at the hands of us? Not really. Well, that was the conclusion I came to anyway. So, I dropped out, with the determination to work in a shop just like the one that had driven me to this realisation. After a brief summer stint of being a bra fitter, I found myself in the job I had dreamed of! Or so I thought. Whilst I was reducing plastic waste, the environment id found myself in was… very much the opposite of who I am. It was beige, cookie cutter, and targeted a very specific demographic. That wasn’t what I’d wanted or hoped for. Whilst I’d had some interactions with folks who I’d known were in my field so to speak, it wasn’t enough. We found comradery there, but I suppose subconsciously, at least for me, it felt like we could only really be ourselves in the safe space of each other, in the stolen moments of our encounters that weren’t just sales assistant to customer, but person to person. So, it was time to leave. After gathering the experience I needed, I managed to find a place somewhere else that was going to bring me joy in more ways than I’d imagined possible.
A year and a half later, I land a job in another low waste store, on the other side of London, an area completely new to me! Within the first week of this position, I’d met more queer folks than I’d met in the past year alone. Coming to me and the shop for advice on the best ways to clean the oat milk sediment from the glass bottles (tsp of rice, some hot water, Bicarb and a squirt of washing up liquid with a helluva lot of shaking, and bobs yer uncle), an eco alternative to bleach (sodium percarbonate is your bestie, especially with an oxygen bleach activator *cough cough* fill co’s destainer powder), or how best to get rid of that sticky residue left by jar labels (any oil and Bicarb in a paste, give a good scrub, wash with soap, et voila!), alongside tips for the best vegan goodies, it was like a new world! I couldn’t stop gushing about the haven I’d found myself in, being able to engage with people like me, without having to hide myself or who I am, speaking as candidly about my identity as I did with eco cleaning remedies, it was a revelation! Somehow, from the panic of the climate crisis causing me to drop out of university, I’d managed to land in an environment that allowed me to cultivate my chosen community whilst nurturing my hyper-fixations on the new techniques I’d discovered for eco cleaning! (Which, uh, probably sounds ridiculous but I liked chemistry a lot, and having real life scenarios to apply it to is a god send!). So this pride month, I want to acknowledge that joy and community can be found in the most random of places, and be thankful that I’ve been lucky enough to find joy in my queerness, without having to sacrifice it. Big thank you to Clean & Tidy for letting me write something for them for pride month! And if you’re reading this, I only hope that you find/have found a joy akin to and greater than mine ❤️
Greener Habits Co can be found at 35 St James St, London E17 7FY
Their Instagram is @greenerhabitsco
