It is high time for us to start thinking about going eco-friendly, changing our lives in the direction of simplicity, respecting for nature and limiting materials damaging the environment.

"Cleanup Son Tra" programme took place at the end of March 2021, attracting nearly 500 volunteers.

Live green, eat clean to stay in a balanced mode

Toshimi A. Kayaki, the author of the book “Green living tea”, immerses herself in a green lifestyle by exploiting all the wonderful uses of tea leaves. For her, green tea is not just a drink, the Japanese have shaped the tea ceremony style as a slow and meticulous life philosophy. They drink tea not only for the taste, it is considered a natural remedy, helping to balance the body and soul, the catechins in green tea also have the ability to destroy viruses. “Green tea is very yasashii, which means gentle and cozy. It's like a soft cotton cloth covering my skin," said Kayaki.

In the days of settling down in the U.S. the woman spent a bunch of time observing how her grandmother and her mom used tea and then realized that tea plays an important role in her family life. She believes that these little leaves have helped her become healthy, relieve stress and depression, preserve youth, prevent tooth decay, easily take care of green plants, deodorize food and clean household items.

Besides, Toshimi A. Kayaki also affirmed in her book that anyone can adopt a green lifestyle by starting from the smallest things such as putting garbage in the right place, planting trees, using glass bottles, cloth bags instead of plastic ones.

In Da Nang, green living has been popular among young people for several years. Nguyen Hong Phuc has experienced 9 out of 12 months of green living challenge organised by Da Nang Circular Economy Hub (DCEH). She persists in using a personal water bottle, using eco-friendly cleaning products, unplugging electric appliances when not in use, using bamboo toothbrushes, planting plants in recycled plastic bottles, joining the environmental protection community, using personal cloth bags. Joining the challenge helps her form good eco-friendly habits. “Things will become easier when we break down activities and take each step slowly and naturally,” said Phuc.

Phuc also usually participates in many projects, organisations and startups related to environmental protection such as YNet (Youth Climate Action Network) and DCEH, part of the 90 AccuLab global network of United Nations Development Programs, implemented by Da Nang Business Incubator (DNES) in Central Viet Nam. In particular, she is a founding member of Eco Station - a non-profit organization was established in January 2021 for environmental lovers in Da Nang.

Eco Station aims to connect environment loving people, spread green lifestyles, and raise waste awareness for residents. Volunteers will directly guide people to collect, sort waste and recycle organic waste (composting to plant trees), build a seed station - a place to receive seeds from free sources to give back to those in need. In addition, Eco Station also conducts workshops on waste topics and educate to experience nature.

After just a few months operating, Eco Station has actively accompanied the Management Board of the Son Tra Peninsula and Da Nang Tourism Beaches and Son Tra Nature Education Centre to organise the ‘Cleanups of Son Tra’ event in late March, 2021 with nearly 500 volunteers. This event helped remove nearly 1 tonne of waste from Son Tra Peninsula after only 2 hours of collection.

“Eco station is a place where people come to read, study, plant trees, make recycled products as well as join in environmental protection activities. Besides maintaining a green life, participating in environmental projects also helps me experience different positions such as organizing events, taking photos, communicating, and improving problem-solving skills.” said Phuc.

A girl is recycling waste bags into items can be used in the family. Photo: Tieu Yieu

Spread positive vibes, receive green gifts

To encourage students to join the green living movement, the Green Da Nang group at Alley 129/80 Tieu La, Hoa Cuong Bac Ward, Hai Chau District led by Ms. Le Thi Thu Thao became a place to exchange trash for gifts. Used waste such as photo paper, school notebooks, cartons, milk cartons, plastic, nylon, cans, old batteries, old/broken electronic devices brought to Green Da Nang will be exchanged for gifts such as potted plants, cloth bags, seeds, environmentally friendly products, or donate “accumulated points” for community projects such as: Benevolent Bookcase, Support for afforestation, School tree planting. Green Da Nang's mission is to influence people's awareness and behavior, thereby changing lifestyles and reducing environment waste.

In order to optimise community activities, Green Da Nang integrates the GreenPoints application in giving reward points, encouraging people to participate in digital applications and platforms. The group has just launched a line of organic products including dishwashing liquid, hand sanitizer, and washing liquid made entirely from natural ingredients. These are the first pineapple-based enzyme cleaners in Viet Nam. The product combines essential oils with a pleasant, relaxing aroma, good for health and especially safe for children.

“The organic product line is not only clean, but wastewater can be saved to water plants and clean up the environment. You just need to bring the bottles to Green Da Nang, get enough to be used, this will help save packaging costs as well as reduce the volume of plastic bottles used," said Thao

In the macro aspect, in addition to building the project for building Da Nang into Environmentally-friendly city associated with strict criteria on pollution control and remediation, eco-urban ecology, conservation of nature and biodiversity, the green living movement in Da Nang has been integrated into many activities. In particular, ‘Da Nang women live green, act green; is concretized by collecting and classifying hazardous waste and household solid waste; limit plastic waste; planting trees on terraces, key routes; grow clean vegetables in empty lands.

These above movements have contributed to spreading the green lifestyle in the residential community. For example, instead of using chemicals, the kitchen of Mrs. Ngo Thi Tam, a member of the Women's Union of An Hai Bac Ward, Son Tra District has always had a faint scent of dishwashing liquid and floor cleaner made from lemon, orange, pineapple and lemongrass. She learned the recipe for enzyme fermentation, natural fermentation from fruit peels from the Union and experiment with her kitchen waste right away. Sometimes, she goes to the market to ask for more spoiled fruit from sellers, brews it to make dishwashing liquid and organic fertilizer for green plants. “In the past, I didn't think tea and coffee baits were good for plants. Now I know I can water them directy to plants. Thanks to approaching green living methods, my family reduces at least 2kg of waste every day. As for recyclable waste, I collect and bring it to gift-exchange locations to get trees and seeds to plant around my garden," said Mrs.Tam.

Reporting by TIEU YEN - Translating by T.VY