The West Coast is on fire and once again the climate crisis is on everyone's radar, especially if you live where I do and keep waking up everyday to a thick later of smoke in the air, so overbearing and oppressive you have to stay inside and haven't had fresh air in days from fires that are states away. While I'm one of the fortunate who doesn't have to worry about actual fires in my yard, I do worry about my health and my future and the future of this planet that is, contrary to what our president seems to think, the only one we have. While I don't want to get political right now {let's save that until close to the election, shall we?} I do want to say that I'm worried about our planet and I'm worried about our future. I'm no expert, but I know there are small, easy changes that we can all implement to make positive changes in our daily lives that will help our planet and ourselves {hey, you may just save some money with these ideas by reducing energy and waste!}. Here are a few ideas I've been implementing in my daily routine over the past year or two that I encourage you to explore in your own lives.
Replace one time use dryer sheets with wool dryer balls. I purchased
these on Amazon over a year ago and they are still going strong {I use 3 per load and just leave them in the dryer when not in use}. It drove me crazy how wasteful disposable dryer sheets are, and while yes, my clothes are a little static-y right out of the dryer, they are completely fine after a quick shake and I'm not putting several dryer sheets in the landfill weekly. {side note - I'm also doing a lot less laundry in quarantine since I'm wearing a lot of the same sweatpants for days in a row, so I'm saving on energy from running the washer as well!}
Use as little plastic as possible. Can I just say that I loathe single use plastics? It's become a "thing" for me {just ask Christian} and I have been doing everything I can to avoid them at all costs. Whenever I see
Stasher bags on sale {Whole Foods had them at a great price a few weeks ago, and they're often included in Macy's sales}, I purchase a few - they are basically reusable, silicon Ziploc bags that can be refrigerated, frozen, and even microwaved, wash up nicely either by hand or dishwasher, and aren't being thrown out after every single use. They come in fun colors and are so worth the investment. I also purchased
these dressing containers {for back when I actually went to an office and brought a lunch} as my previous containers leaked and I always had to wrap them in single use plastic to save anything else in my bag. These are great for commutes and storage and totally leakproof!
Recycle the unavoidable plastic. Single use plastic is unfortunately inevitable in our normal life - takeout bags, tortilla & bread bags, the plastic covering on a tub of salsa, the ridiculous amount of packaging in Trader Joe's produce, and the insane amount of plastic shipping bags from online orders {I'm looking at you, Nordstrom and Amazon}. When I can't avoid plastic {though I've gotten good at forgoing the produce bags in the grocery store and seeking plastic alternatives whenever possible}, I keep them all in a bag in my kitchen and/or mud room and when that gets full I drop it off at Fred Meyer or any other drop off location since single use plastics are not accepted in our curbside recycling programs.
Plastic Film Recycling is an excellent source to tell you where to drop off your plastics and what will become of them. I've also found this
awesome program for recycling old contacts and individual contact cases because if you're like me and have to throw your contacts away daily, you will be
amazed at how quickly those daily contact packets add up. Now I can collect them in a box in my bathroom over a few months, then bring them to a local drop off location for recycling.
Make small, easy changes. Making changes in your everyday life to be better to our planet isn't hard - you just sometimes have to get creative. While I love having my Keurig coffee maker, I know that those regular single use cups are a huge problem so I converted to
compostable cups that I buy in bulk at Costco. They taste great and are much better for the environment. I also always keep my reusable grocery bags in my car and before Covid, using the disposable bags at the store never even crossed my mind because I always had my own {now with stores banning your own bags it gets a little trickier but I plan to go back to reusable bags as soon as I can}. I also have decanted my facial toner into a reusable spray bottle to avoid the disposable cotton pads I was using twice daily to apply the toner from the bottle. Easy peasy! And please do not use single use water bottles!! There are so many great
refillable options out there and thankfully we {in Washington} live in a place that has some pretty delicious tap water.
There are so many things we as human beings can do to make this planet just a little bit better. Yes, it may seem like just one person making a change won't make a huge impact, but if we each make these changes and really put some thought into how we spend our money and how we consume resources in our day to day lives, I guarantee it's going to add up. And doing good for the planet also makes you feel good, and once you start you'll be looking for more ways to recycle, reuse, compost, and avoid as much as possible. Let's all try to do a little bit better to make sure there is a planet here for our kids and grandkids before it's too late. It matters, and we can all do better.
xoxo,
stephanie marie
