Acts of Care

FOOD AND DRINKS

• ‘We had a Nespresso machine with those capsules, of which by the end of the week we had collected a whole mountain. After this we chose a coffee machine that ground the beans itself. The thing mostly made noise, and strangely enough you never really smelled the coffee you were making. But for the past six months our countertop has been clear again and in the mornings a little pot bubbles away on the stove (yes, we still cook on gas): a Bialetti percolator. We use it both at home and at the editorial office, because they also come in versions for induction.’ – Nicole
• ‘Even without access to a garden of your own, there are ways to grow fresh, seasonal vegetables through a local community garden. If space is not the problem but time is, you can order fresh produce through a local farming community. Groentetas is active in Utrecht and sells a weekly bag of fresh harvest that you can pick up yourself. Similar farm-to-table initiatives can be found in many cities, both in and outside the Netherlands.’ – Ksenia
• ‘Anyone who can afford it: buy vegetables that are not sprayed with chemicals! That way we make sure farmers can farm organically and that the price goes down for everyone.’ – Nicole
• ‘I hardly eat fish anymore, I’m waiting until fish are swimming in the sea again and trawling has stopped. Watch Ocean by David Attenborough and see how unhealthy eating fish has become these days. A great deal of antibiotics is used to farm fish. Goal: 30% of the sea must be protected by the year 2030. But what about that fish oil then? That’s in seaweed too. And meat? Wakker Dier called me while I was writing this. Did I know how many animals we produce in the Netherlands every year? Nope. “500 million,” he said. “And do you know how many die each year before reaching slaughter, due to poor living and transport conditions?” “Nope,” I said. “50 million,” he said. “The meat industry lobby is incredibly strong,” he said. “The politicians do nothing. We have to rely on people like you and me.”‘ – Nicole
• ‘Lend your kitchen to someone who temporarily doesn’t have one.’ – Eelkje

TRANSPORT

• ‘I still miss him, my old Saab. I thought I would grow ancient in it. And sometimes my son and I still look longingly at a website with classic cars. I saw a beautiful Saab with red leather upholstery. Yes, less environmental impact comes with sacrifices. Seven years ago, one electric car took its place. Since that car arrived, my husband has been taking public transport, which makes him so happy that by now he has talked me into bus 80 or bus 346 as well. The bus and metro or bus and train. And I have grown used to it and even came to love it.’ – Nicole

BEAUTY

• ‘Two years ago I decided to switch completely to shampoo and soap bars: those kinds in square paper packaging that last longer than regular shampoo or shower gel. These packages contain no plastic: a win-win situation. I buy them at a local organic shop (in Utrecht: E&co Warenhuis) and try to choose brands that are produced in the region. The fully organic Utrecht-based Werfzeep has the most wonderful scents. At the moment my favourite one is Bergamot & Verbena, which grew out of a collaboration with the city’s botanical garden. Bunnik-based Calendula Care offers, alongside a carefully composed collection of soap and shampoo bars, a bar as an alternative for regular body lotion.’ – Ksenia
• ‘Over the years I have increasingly enjoyed discovering small-scale initiatives. They are brands whose mission I value and support – organic, local, cruelty-free and responsible. When I’m in Poland, I buy beauty products from Tołpa: simple in terms of ingredients, kind to both the skin and the environment and very affordable. Their Authentic line especially appeals to me. Another discovery of recent years has been refillable beauty products: you keep the packaging and only replace the product once it is finished. I have been using this refillable lipstick from Lush for a few years now. The lipstick itself is wrapped in a protective layer of wax and you can endlessly switch colours.’ – Ksenia

AT HOME

• ‘In my parental home it smelled of beeswax and green soap. I have little to add to that. I find the smell of synthetic cleaning products pretty awful, a reason to avoid a just-cleaned café early in the morning. They are harmful to yourself and to others too. Have you ever considered the following? Ecover all-purpose cleaner. Smells lovely, works well.’ – Nicole
• ‘After years of searching for laundry detergent, the winner remains: Ecover with lavender (there is even a fully organic version, pricey! but good). Washing-up liquid: Ecover; dishwasher tablets: Ecover.’ – Nicole
• ‘And a splash of vinegar instead of fabric softener!’ – Sarah
• ‘All the teflon out of your kitchen and all plastics from cutting boards, spatulas, spoons.’ – Nicole 
• ‘For years I used my phone as an alarm clock and to track my sleep pattern. Soon I realised that this was therefore my first action of the day: reaching for a device I actually want to use less. By simply banning my phone from the bedroom and switching to an analogue clock, my morning routine changed enormously.’ – Lynn
• ‘For the renovation of my house last year, I went in search of second-hand floors. Solid oak planks I found on Marktplaats and old tiles and building materials at Jan van IJken in Eemnes and Piet Jonker in Abcoude.’ – Sarah

CONSUMPTION

• ‘Last year my partner and I tried to introduce one consumption-free day a week: we chose Thursday as the day on which neither of us would buy anything. Sadly, that tradition did not last long, and we were both surprised by how deeply purchases are woven into daily life. This year I want to revive that tradition.’ – Ksenia
• ‘This year I have become much more conscious of what and how I buy, and have slowly started replacing some regular purchases with products from companies whose footprint cannot be traced back to ongoing conflicts. So I swapped Coca-Cola for Fritz-kola and Afri-Cola, and stopped using Booking.com and Airbnb. Instead, I booked a hotel for a short stay in Zeeland through the more local bedandbreakfast.nl.’ – Ksenia
• ‘Volunteering at the Repair Café together with my mother. It leads to spontaneous encounters with people helping each other reuse their cherished belongings.’ – Marieke

SELFCARE

• ‘A small but dedicated ritual: immersing myself attentively in one book a month and reading a few pages before I fall asleep. My suggestion for January is Witches, Witch-Hunting, and Women by Silvia Federici, about witch hunts and the demonisation of gossip as a means to break female friendship and solidarity. I rediscovered the potential of gossip as a way to care for others. It is a way of creating networks of safety through oral stories.’ – Giulia
• ‘Care for the mind I used to find in Sholeh Rezazadeh’s FD columns: an espresso shot for the soul. A fragment of timelessness amid current affairs. Now I read her poetry collections with just as much pleasure, but I miss those brief moments of stillness in the financial news.’ – Babet
• ‘Dancing on the bathmat every morning.’ – Elvira

FASHION

• ‘Because I was so proud of my new yoga routine, five years ago I rewarded myself with an Alo outfit. Stupid! You’re doing breathing exercises, and you wrap yourself in a plastic condom like a cucumber at Albert Heijn. Your skin feels and breathes too! Choose hemp, eucalyptus, wool, cashmere. A favourite item I wear every day in winter: wool/silk camisoles by Hanro.’ – Nicole 
• ‘In recent years I have swapped a lot of clothes with friends and family. It started for practical reasons: clothes didn’t fit, the colour suited someone I knew better, someone had thought of me when looking at a particular item in their wardrobe. In this way I have been able to exchange something second-hand in a lovely way and I wear these clothes a lot. Memories come up: I carry a little piece of the people around me with me after all.’ – Lotte
• ‘Since learning about the dramatic state of the wool industry during Lidewij Edelkoort’s World Wool Forum, I have become even more aware of the impact of the fashion industry. For years I have tried to choose quality over quantity: by investing in jumpers, tops and trousers without synthetic fibres. Made in an honest way and lasting for years. A number of labels I recently discovered and will be keeping an eye on are the Danish Aiayu and Skall Studio, and the Spanish Babaa.’ – Sarah
• ‘Good, sustainable running clothes – fair to people and nature, and that actually do what they promise – remain difficult for me to find. Tips welcome!’ – Babet
• ‘There was a time when I wanted nothing to do with my mother’s handmade clothes. A carefully sewn green winter coat with real wooden buttons – not cool. Some forty years later, I listen delightedly to my daughter as she unwraps a pair of trousers we bought on Vinted: “So sick, dude.” Vintage is cool. Or at least mainstream in our household. Just like passing things on and mending them.’ – Babet
• ‘I myself get happy from clothes you have to wait for, put a bit of effort into. Number one by far: Paynter Jackets, which releases a jacket only four times a year and is strikingly generous towards its ever-growing community. And Lelelele, a label from Scheveningen, founded by someone who left the corporate fashion world and now devotes herself to refining the chain through full transparency about payments. Without making concessions to beauty.’ – Babet

GARDEN

• ‘Please don’t use artificial fertiliser! Choose organic garden soil compost from BioKultura. Make your own compost heap (for those who have the space, desire and time). Make fewer square metres of lawn – think of creeping, walkable herbs. Swap fences for hedges: they reduce waterlogging, help with drought, offer food and shelter to birds, insects and hedgehogs. Some stay green in winter, such as yew and conifers. I planted a maple hedge several years ago whose leaves turn red in autumn and then fall off. It became dense and full incredibly quickly, already in the first summer. This hedge grows about forty centimetres in height each year. Buy only organic bulbs, because poison in non-organic bulbs kills bees and insects.’ – Nicole
• ‘I was quartermaster for Stichting Struikroven: an initiative that gives plants a second life by having them “robbed” by local residents at demolition projects. Good for the green, fantastic for the community.’ – Babet
• ‘Supporting seedlings with little twigs as they stretch towards the sun.’ – Yasmila
• ‘On Instagram I saw a post about how dangerous rubber bands on the street are for birds. They often mistake them for worms and die when they eat them. Since then I can’t leave a single rubber band lying around.’ – Nicoline
• ‘Support biodynamic agriculture and care for the earth and its inhabitants.’ – Marti

FAMILIE

• ‘Since I no longer live in my home country, my grandfather and I have taken up a routine of checking in with each other every Sunday. No more than a ten-minute video call; a lovely moment to catch each other up on the past week and on what’s coming… and of course on the weather.’ – Lynn
• ‘Sitting on a chair, dancing with hands and arms to Mozart together with my 96-year-old mother with Alzheimer’s. It is incredible how everything comes back to life.’ – Anoniem

GEZONDHEID

• ‘One art experience a month can already extend your life by up to 10 years! Hope keeps us alive. Become a Friend of See All This!’ – Nicole
• ‘Since the pandemic I have donated blood every few months. My mother used to do the same when I was young, and besides doing something essential for others, I thought it seemed beautiful to follow her in this. I have a somewhat rarer blood type, apparently, and am called in when there is a need for A-. When blood had to be taken from me recently for a study and I mentioned that I was a blood donor, the assistant thanked me at length. Her best friend’s life had been owed to donor blood.’ – Barbera

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