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Children's presenter Konnie Huq hasn't bought new clothes for 20 years. And he would like nothing more than for everyone else to follow his example.
But her avoidance of fast fashion is not because she doesn't care about her appearance, but because she cares about the planet and doesn't want what she wears to negatively affect it, since 85% of textiles end up in landfills. trash. , and 10% of the world's greenhouse gases come from these landfills (ECE).
“I'm essentially a bit anti-consumer, so I don't buy things,” says Huq, author of Cookie! children's book series and Blue Peter's longest-serving presenter.
He buys food, of course, and items that might need replacing, like leaky wellies, but he emphasizes: “I haven't bought clothes in, say, the last 20 years; all those years I did it at Blue Peter, you buy clothes for work anyway.
“The older I get, the more comfortable I feel in my own skin. So now I prefer not to be fashionable, but to know that people like me for me, rather than for the clothes I wear. I'm much happier opting out.
“Most of the things in our house are furniture that came from my mother's house, a small game that was being thrown away, etc. My children usually buy used clothes; I don’t really do shopping as such.”
And the mother-of-two's green stance is something she wants to share with the future generation, which is why she has teamed up with around 80 children's book authors, illustrators, environmentalists, activists and experts to produce the new e-book Children For. Change, to inspire children through its collection of stories, poems, illustrations and advice to take action against climate change.
The free anthology, edited by Huq, contains everything from love letters to Planet Earth and passionate appeals on behalf of endangered species, to stories and illustrations that inspire everyday action on energy consumption and articles on fast fashion , sustainability and reconstruction. .
“It's all about saving the planet and empowering children to feel positive and hopeful about climate change and what we can do to solve it,” Huq explains. “It is very important to raise children with the right values and mentality. Therefore, it is less about lecturing them and more about empowering them and giving them the right beliefs, thoughts and moral values.”
Huq, 49, married to writer and TV presenter Charlie Brooker, points out that if something catches your eye when you're young, you'll often carry it throughout your life, continuing: “So if you're going to use a bag for life, or carrying a bag with you when you go shopping, that's going to be ingrained. And similarly, if you're always going to look for a more carbon-positive way of doing things, maybe walking. while traveling, eating more responsibly, locally sourced produce, or less meat or whatever, the younger you are conditioned or the more exposed you are to doing that, the longer it will stay with you.
“And in most cases, that is something that you carry with you for life, a subtle behavioral change, a change that is necessary in society. And young people are the future.”
Ultimately, Huq says the message behind the book is not to waste. “Even if we didn't have climate chaos, even if there wasn't this dying environment, it's still really good to not waste anything. That's what it's all about: not being wasteful, greedy, too frivolous or extravagant, because the moment you believe that your happiness comes from external validation, then it's like you're chasing a drug, so you get your happiness by buying trendy clothes. . or having a bigger house, all these very superficial factors.”
Huq says her sons Covey, 12, and Huxley, 10, aren't particularly interested in fashion yet, though she admits it “destroyed my soul a little bit” when one of the kids needed new sneakers and her husband gave her He bought some brand name ones.
“At the moment, knock on wood, they're not that bad,” he says, “but I'm just waiting for those hormones to kick in at puberty and it could be very different. Obviously I can't impose my things on other people, so even though I don't buy things, I can't say my husband is the same. So it's something I have to be careful with.
“I like to practice what I preach, but unfortunately it's not always perfect.”
She explains that her parents came from Bangladesh and her mother always wanted her and her sisters to finish everything on their plate at mealtime. “It's the mentality of putting less on your plate, eating it all and then having more, just not putting much on your plate and then throwing half of it in the trash,” he says, “because that could be a meal.” where I come from
“It's that kind of vital responsibility that fits so well with climate change, because people shouldn't waste anything; That doesn't make for nice people. “We want a society of caring people, where their happiness comes from other people being happy, not just from pleasing themselves.”
He adds: “If you could be happy with what you have instead of what you don't have, then you'd be winning, right?”
It's a message echoed throughout the book by many famous names, including chef Jamie Oliver, environmentalist Chris Packham and broadcaster and fashion guru Mary Portas. Portas laments fast fashion and the damage it is causing to the planet in the book, saying: “Things are changing. People began to realize that buying so much was not making us happy and that our planet was getting sick.
“Now, buying clothes from charity, second-hand and vintage shops, swapping them with your friends or mixing old and new is the best thing you can do.
“And the best thing is that it is better for all of us. The planet will be happier. And people will be happier too.”
And Packham emphasizes: “I want, need and believe that you deserve a healthy and happy future on our beautiful little planet Earth.
“All you have to do is talk and talk. Sometimes you can whisper and people will hear you, sometimes you will have to shout, even scream. Keep using your voice to get what you want and need and believe is right. And of course, if you scream and your friends scream or your class or the whole school screams, then that's a strong voice that people can't ignore.”
Schools can request a free Children for Change book at pop-up.org.uk/children for change . Available now.
