Happy Plastic-Free July!
It’s #plasticfreejuly! The good news is that experts agree that it’s ok to use non-disposables during the COVID-19 pandemic. Food packaging makes life more convenient, but that choice comes with higher waste.
Saving energy at home and in the car
We waste so much energy in our daily lives. Waste is bad for our bodies and for the earth. Today Darya’s Daily gives you some easy, medium, and hard ways to save energy. Some of our tasks this week are on the harder side, so feel free to just do the easy one. It still helps!
The easy action is to not leave your car on when you aren’t driving. You will reduce energy waste and CO2 in the air. It’s not that hard, but also it’s not that easy because you may get hit in the summer while you wait. Roll down the windows instead! When parents pick up children from school is a great example.
The medium action is to wrap up your hot-water heater. Use a thick fiberglass blanket (around $20 at hardware stores) to insulate your hot-water heater and reduce your energy bill. Using one can save $150 a year on energy costs.
Or if you can, go for the hard action and get a programmable thermostat. You can simply set your thermostat 1 degree higher for air-conditioning and 1 degree lower for heating. You won’t feel the difference — but you will notice a lower utility bill. (Ok maybe you will need a fan in the one room you are in!)
Meatless Monday
I’ve learned that not eating meat really can help bring us one step closer to a healthy planet. But I love meat so that’s really hard for me. But it’s not hard. Because if you break it into a small challenge, like just one day or one week, it makes it feel a lot easier to do. So I’ve done it lots of times before. Through these simple actions you can have big impact. By reducing meat consumption you can reduce carbon in the atmosphere, reduce famine, and live longer. I learned today that 70% of all grain produced in the US is used for animals for slaughter. (You can learn more at Vegetarian Times). Try the Vegetarian Calculator or the Vegan Calculator for more information on the impact you have made through this simple action.
Pick Up Trash
“Protecting the public’s health must maintain the cleanliness of our home, the Earth. We don’t need to choose one over the other – we can protect ourselves from COVID-19 while protecting the environment. Evidene shows that reusable bags, containers, and utensils can be used to dramatically decrease exposure to the virus while not causing harm to the planet. In parts of the world, the response to the pandemic, including single-use gloves, protectors and packaging, may instead be increasing the risks and impacts on our communities and citizens, especially for frontliners such as sanitation workers and fisherfolk.” You can document the type of litter you collect with a phone app called Litterati. You can also use the app to challenge your neighbors to keep your street or neighborhood clean.
Reduce Plastic Waste
It’s important to protect water. Saving water and taking care of our water sources by not polluting them. Note that the easy task this week doesn’t mean to not use any plastic today at all, although that would be great if you could. It’s really hard to not use any plastic. The easy task means to not BUY any single use plastic today. Single use plastics things that you buy, use once, then throw away, such as a candy wrapper, or a plastic water bottle.
Buy a stainless steel water bottle for yourself today; and get one of each also for your family members. It does not leach chemicals (BPA) when exposed to the heat like a plastic bottle does. If you already have a reused plastic bottle make sure it’s BPA free (Bisphenol A free). Look out for the ones with codes 3 or 7 that may be made with BPA. You should avoid those if you are concerned about the BPA exposure. For Stainless steel water bottles, you have plenty of options through amazon. This is one of them.
Spread Joy
Today I think it’s important to take action for happiness. Our personal care is also good for the world. Being good to each other is good for the world. Honor your self, your body, your community, and your earth.