Mitigate whilst you Menstruate: Sustainable Menstruation Education

Making the connection between the words "menstruation" and "sustainability" is something that we need to encourage in today's society. To do so, education is key to introducing sustainable menstruation as a small-scale act to mitigate Climate Change (1).

Growing up, your introduction to the realm of menstruation is guided by your parents, peers and educational institutions (2). But are these information sources covering the whole story? Are all menstrual product options - sustainable and disposable - and their respective environmental impacts acknowledged in the decision-making process?

Personally, my choice of menstrual product was informed by:

>What my mother used and could recommend to me

> School lessons on how to use disposable menstrual products: a sanitary towel or a tampon

>The heavily biased and imbalanced television advertisement of popular brands i.e. Always and Tampax

But this lack of awareness will no longer suffice! The message of sustainable menstruation is growing louder and is determined to challenge our mindsets. In the hope that we can rewire our behavioural habits in align with our environmental consciences (3).

Sustainable menstruation has been given a voice in Bengaluru, India, where a group of women have started a voluntary initiative called Green the Red. Their mission is to disseminate their knowledge on sustainable menstruation methods to their community. Green the Red host sessions at corporate offices, schools, community centres and public events where they give tutorials on how to use menstrual cups as well as ecological reasons for doing so.

Closer to home, the message is also gradually being spread. Natalie Fee - founder of CitytoSea - gave a TedxBristol talk only last week, to address the dangers of flushing our single plastics down the toilet (4). The results of which led her to question whether or not the existence of single-use plastics can ever be justified, even if they are masquerading in the form of menstrual products? Especially when reusable alternatives - such as medical grade silicone menstrual cups - are available to us.

To listen to Natalie Fee's entire talk watch from: 4:18:10 or 4:28:02 to listen to her discussion on the environmental impact of disposable menstrual products.

Talks such as this reinforce the fact that we hold the power to change how we live our lives as autonomous beings. Joining the sustainable menstruation movement, for instance, will contribute to alleviating further impacts of Climate Change.

So join us in our pledge by saying:

"I choose to reuse"

And sign up to our pledge to try a menstrual cup or donate one to someone else by clicking on the link: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/be-green-period

References

(1) Wolf, J. and Moser, S.C. (2011) Individual understandings, perceptions, and engagement with climate change: insights from in-depth studies across the world, WIREs Climate Change.

(2) Oster, E. and Thornton, R. (2012) Determinants of Technology Adoption: Peer Effects in Menstrual Cup Take-Up, Journal of the European Economic Association, 10(6):1263-1293

(3) Borowski, A. (2011) Are American women turning to reusable and greener menstrual products due to health and environmental pollution concerns, Thesis, Rochester Institute of Technology, US.

(4) McDermott, K.L. (2016) Plastic Pollution and the Global Throwaway Culture: Environmental Injustices of Single-use Plastic, Environmental Justice, Salve Regina University, US.