Campaigning for Our Planet

Imagine you want some Chinese food and don't want the formality of siting-in.  Typically a restaurant is going to hand you a plethora of single-use items.  Utensils, straw, bag, cup, box. Whether plastic or polystyrene (Styrofoam), all of these things can be replaced with reusable items. UTENSILS I remind myself that because of their small, many recycling facilities don't even accept plastic utensils.  Utensils are one of those things you could easily forget at home, especially when you are on-the-go.  The next step is leaving a set in your car.   I suggest something better than that.  Put it on your key-chain!   (Check this Swiss Army Utensil out)    Try staying away from the plastic kind, as they can break.  Avoiding buying plastic in general is the best practice as that saves it from having to be recycled (aka eventually becomes toxic to our environment). STRAW The reusable straw movement has taken the world by storm.  I personally don't use straws to begin

   I was at my local pet store, picking up crickets for my chameleon, and as I was waiting, I found some "biodegradable" doggie bags.  I of course leaped at buying them, but something told me to read the back.  On the back of the packaging it said, "decomposes faster than normal plastic bags."  Huh? So these bags were still plastic?  Faster? How much faster? 1,000 years? 10,000 years?  I became suspicious and put them back of the shelf.  I needed to do my research.    I have bought trash bags, disposable dishes, etc. that claim they are compostable.  BUT what does compostable mean? Compostable means that a product is capable of disintegrating into natural elements in a compost environment, leaving no toxicity in the soil.  This typically must occur in about 90 days.   Some companies try to get around laws by using language such as "biodegradable", "bio-based", "biological", and "earth-friendly" in their marketing.  This

   Compost is organic material that can be added to soil to help plants grow.  Making compost keeps these materials out of landfills where they take up space and release methane, a potent greenhouse gas.    Most people don't realize how much food they throw away every day - from uneaten leftovers to spoiled produce.  About 94 percent of the food we throw away ends up in landfills or combustion facilities.  In 2015, we disposed 37.6 million tons of food waste.  Food scraps and yard waste together currently make up about 30 percent of what we throw away, and should be composted instead.    I t is a great idea to look up what your city has to offer for composting services.   My city, Colorado Springs, there is an inner city compost project done by Colorado Springs Food Rescue called Soil Cycle.  Soil Cycle provides you with a food scrap bin, picks it up regularly, then composts it for you.  They then use the nutrient filled soil in urban farms or you can have it back.  Those

   This may be my first log however, it isn't day one of my environmentally conscious journey.  I will try to catch you up.  Growing up there was plastic and aluminium recycling in my household.  We also had a dishwasher (saves more water than hand-washing).   Eventually my parents added the high-efficiency washer and dryer.  As a young adult, like many others I had to figure things out on my own.  Thank goodness I was born into the age of the internet.  First thing I noticed is that, my apartment complex did not have recycling bins next to the dumpster.  Since I grew up with putting my recycling out with the trash and it magically disappearing, I assumed having recycling bins was the norm.  I eventually learned my town did have a recycling center and I proceeded to drop it off there myself.  It also blew my mind to find out that my husband's family did not recycle.  They lived in Las Vegas!  In my mind, I thought all the major cities were "ahead of their time".  Here

Ditch Plastic Water Bottles.       It's no wonder why this step is the first... I think everyone has a reusable water bottle or coffee cup.  The problem is finding the perfect one.  I just recently minimized my kitchen and I found I had 7 water bottles, not including my 3 camelbacks!  3 had a top that I could loop my finger in to carry.  2 could keep anything hot or cold for a whole day.  Only one had a good seal that didn't leak.  One had a wide enough brim for my dog, Milly, to drink from.  Unfortunately there wasn't one with all those qualities.  My point is there is no perfect water bottle.  It seems that once I bought one, a new shiny one was around the corner with a different feature.  My advice is to try to find one with the most qualities you desire and try not to accumulate numerous.  If that new water bottle definitely is better than the one you have, go ahead, get it but only if you plan on donating your old one.   If your wondering, I use a great water