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Thank You

All of these posts have been designed to encourage you to take initiative with your own environmental future. Some of the strategies I’ve introduced require more work than others but no matter how much or how little you do, you make an impact. If everyone contributes even a tiny bit we will be in a much more sustainable future. I encourage you to do your own research and find your own opinions and the most effective strategies for yourself since what works for one person won’t always work for another. Plus, living an informed life is living your best life.

I hope I have encouraged you to do your own research so you can make your own decisions. Ultimately I hope I have helped to start a discussion whether that is between you and me, friends, or just an inner dialogue. We each have power and where we choose to use it depends on you and your convictions. Thank you for sticking with me on this journey and I hope you gained something from it, I know I did.

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Small Steps = Big Trails

After such a long last post, I wanted to make this one a little more user-friendly. Even if you can’t afford solar or can’t lobby your legislatures there are still opportunities to conserve. Many small changes amount to a large impact overtime and the majority of what I suggest are easy to implement.

Appliances:

-Make sure that your fridge is set to 37 degrees and your freezer to 3 degrees. Refrigerators can account up to 20% of household electricity use (Ecomall n.d.).

-When you use your dishwasher, allow it to air dry instead of using the dishwasher to dry the dishes. Most dishwasher models allow you to manually shut off the dry function.

-Use energy efficient light bulbs, they last way longer than normal bulbs and use way less energy saving you money in the long run!

Home:

-Lowering your thermostat just two degrees during the winter saves six percent of heating-related CO2 emissions (around 420 pounds of CO2 reduction per year) (Ecomall n.d.). Plus sleep quality is improved when in a colder environment.

-Reduce the amount of time you spend in the shower.

-Use energy efficient appliances whenever possible!

-Use a drying rack for your clothes instead of a dryer. This saves energy and makes your clothes last longer!

These are just a couple of ways that you can reduce your energy footprint without installing a whole new energy system on your roof. Small differences add up and every step, no matter how small, is a step in the right direction!

Source: Ecomall. 20 Things You Can Do to Conserve Energy. EcoMall, 2019.

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Sunny Futures

Alright, we’ve covered plastics, and dietary choices. So what else is there? I wanted this blog to be a focus on small changes you can make and why you should make them, but these next couple of posts are a little bit higher than that. But even if you can’t do everything I say there are still ways to help in small ways! So let’s dive into energy. Energy is a big reason why we pollute so much. The oil and gas industries are booming from demand and contribute to many environmental concerns like oil spills, contaminated groundwater, and climate change. Now there are many positives of the oil and gas industry like efficiency, cheap, huge sources of labor, and the fact that all of our technology is compatible with these sources. But do these benefits outweigh the fact they’re slowly killing our environment? I know that sounds harsh but it really is the reality of our future.

So if we can’t use these archaic energy practices, what can we use? Well, we have already developed a fair amount of alternative energy options such as hydropower, wind energy, and solar. This technology is constantly improving and becoming more affordable despite the lack of media coverage about it. In fact, solar has actually slashed the prices of the average solar-electric system since 2010 (Ruffalo, 2015). These alternative energy sources are becoming more and more attainable with every year and they really pay themselves off. Being able to disconnect from the main power grid and produce your own power from your roof is not only incredibly freeing, it’s cheaper in the long run. I can personally vouch for that. I come from Hawaii where it’s very common for houses to have several solar panels on their roof and we have never used more energy than we have produced and that is reflected on all of neighbors as well.

Here’s the problem with solar: it’s inconsistent. If the day is cloudy then you can’t convert anything into energy which brings us back to what we know best: oil and gas since they can burn no matter the weather. We haven’t developed superior technologies for batteries in solar energy. We burn off what we created that day since we can’t store solar energy. That is why we need to invest in research for solar so it can compete better with other energy industries. That’s where you come in!

I’m not going to ask you to install solar panels on your roof (unless you’re able to then go for it!) since that can be a little unattainable right away. But you can encourage your representatives to support solar energy projects and take away support for oil and gas industries. Remember, they represent you and your ideals so if you make your voice heard they will listen. Vote where your mouth is. If you’re able to help lobby for better energy practices then do it! If you ever have the ability to support a business that employs clean energy versus a company that doesn’t, vote with your money. Solar has become so attainable in the last ten years but we can make it even more in the future.

Source: Ruffalo, M. How Solar Power Can Be Affordable and Accessible for All. AlterNet, July 2015.

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Bug-Eyed

Okay I’m going to be honest here, this post might make you a little uncomfortable. So let’s discuss bugs. I know that it’s a little taboo in America but bugs are actually a really good alternative to meat. In most other countries, mainly the Eastern part of the World, eating bugs is a normal part of everyday life. There’s a ton of unique and delicious ways to prepare different kinds all the way from crickets, silkworms, caterpillars, even cicadas. Considering how picky people can be about food, I doubt that well developed countries would still choose to keep bugs on the menu if they weren’t good. So since it’s still incredibly popular, what other conclusion can you draw? Why doesn’t America join in on this culinary feast? It’s simply because of our culture. Coming from England into a land where eating insects wasn’t already a common practice assured that we would never develop a taste for our many-legged friends. But we can still change that.

If you need some nutritional convincing, let’s talk protein. Bugs are so much more efficient when it comes to nutrients when compared to alternatives. In terms of crickets, one of the most popular bugs to eat, 100 grams of crickets contains 121 calories of which only 49.5 originate from fat. 12.9 grams of protein are also on the menu for these little protein pals (Bryant, nd). Now you don’t have to just pop one of these guys in whole and uncooked. As awareness for this alternative rises, more and more options for consumption are popping up on the market. My personal favorite is cricket powder which is basically a protein powder that you can put in shakes, oatmeal, or any place your heart desires. I guarantee that you won’t find any antenna or feet in your drink since I actually use cricket powder myself. I have never found anything crawling in mine or honestly tasted anything other than what I mix it in with. It is an awesome and meatless alternative to eating some sausage in the morning.

I understand that the thought of eating insects can be a little hard to swallow, but I ask you to at least give it a thought. It really is not that different from eating conventional meat, except that it’s way more efficient for the environment, farming practices, and your own nutritional health. Obviously the idea might take some getting used to over here in the States but options already exist in our market, like the cricket powder I previously mentioned. As it gets more and more normalized here many more options will open up and supply will improve. So be apart of the driving movement! Go grab a smoothie, pour some cricket powder in there, and sip your way to a healthier and more environmentally-friendly future.

Source:

Bryant, C. Benifits of Eating Bugs. HowStuffWorks. https://people.howstuffworks.com/entomophagy3.htm (accessed April 3, 2019).

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Meatless Mondays Mania

Continuing last week’s conversation, let’s talk about Meatless Mondays. Meatless Monday is a movement that has slowly been getting more popular that speaks about cutting out meat one day a week. There’s many reasons they justify this, ranging from health, to cost, all the way to the environment, which is what we’re concerned about today.

Now I know that asking people to eliminate meat from their diets entirely is unrealistic and often leaves a bad taste in people’s mouth when it comes to vegans and vegetarians. That is why I encourage people to look up the stats of reducing your meat consumption by one meal a week. It really is startling to see just how many resources you save and how much you can reduce your carbon footprint by only one meal. So let’s talk facts. Moving away from water, since we covered that so thoroughly the last time, If you cut out one serving of beef every Monday for a year, your emissions footprint shrinks by the equivalent of driving 348 miles in a car (Pelletier et al, 2010). That’s not one entire day, that is only one serving.

Circling back to last post, you also save an incredible amount of water when cutting out one meal with meat. Plus, in the broader picture, you help reduce demand for an ever-increasing production of meat. Without that rise in demand, there will not be as much of a demand to cut down forests in favor of more grazing land. So not only do you support better allocation of resources, but you support protecting the natural spaces we have left. Cutting meat out of other meals during the day is so easy to do and every reduction in your meat consumption means a reduction in your environmental impact! Meatless Mondays really are an easy and attainable way to directly impact climate change. Plus they make for a good excuse to get together with friends and share some laughs over a meat-free table.

Sources:

Pelletier, N; Pirog R.; Rasmussen R. Comparative Life Cycle Environmental Impacts of Three Beef Production Strategies in the Upper Midwestern United States. ScienceDirect. 2010, 380-389.

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Watering it Down

Now I know the last post vilified meat while only offering a solution to global income inequality, so this post is meant to back up the idea of removing meat from the menu. In terms of resources meat wastes a ton more than other agricultural expenditures. Talking pure numbers, the amount of water and feed that goes into one pound of beef is quite a bit more than what goes into plants like wheat and soy. To raise one pound of beef, 1847 gallons of water is required from actually watering the animal to raising the feed it survives on (Harvey, 2015). Compare that to soybeans which requires only 257 gallons for one pound of product (Boehrer 2014). But if we’re talking purely on nutritional value, since there is definitely a disparity between meat and vegetables when it comes to protein, meat still loses. For one gram of protein, beef requires 29.6 gallons of water while soybeans require five gallons (Boehrer 2014).

Now if I am bringing up water usage I need to be transparent about what some other popular meat-free alternatives require. Walnuts require 1,112 gallons per pound while almonds require 1,929 gallons per pound (Boehrer 2014). Now that is a huge water requirement for what seems to be so small, and I agree. I think that people who incorporate all of these options into their diet need to be conscious about the resources they’re using up and decide for themselves if that is a farming practice they want to support. But I offer an alternative idea than quitting cold turkey.

Skip one meal, maybe two, a week that involves these thirsty foods. Instead of eating a steak for dinner go and eat some sweet potatoes (only 34 gallons a pound! [Boehrer 2014]). Cutting out one meal a week goes so far in helping curb this use of resources and is an awesome small way to help impact our future for the better!

Sources:

Boehrer, K. This is How Much Water it Takes To Make Your Favorite Foods. Huffpost, October, 2014

Harvey, C. We are Killing the Environment One Hamburger at a Time. BusinessInsider, May 2015

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Wheres the Beef?

While plastic makes itself present in our lives in a multitude of ways, it’s not the only environmental concern facing us. A large portion of climate change originates from the agricultural industry. Now there's many issues with animal agriculture, but the biggest culprit is the beef industry. While the other industries have significant impacts, beef has five times more than pork, poultry, or egg industries (AP, 2014). Now this is surprising considering that beef is only the third most-produced meat source in the world. Only 59 million tons of cattle meat are produced compared to 91 million tons of pork, and 124 million tons of poultry (Walsh, 2013). This disparity shows just how inefficient the cattle industry is compared even to other food production animals.

Continuing, an insane amount of the world is dedicated to raising meat, more than 30% of the world’s ice free surface directly supports the meat industry (Walsh, 2013). There is also a disparity in the environmental impact of livestock around the world. A cow in Ethiopia or Somalia will produce 10 times more carbon than a cow in North America or Europe (Walsh, 2013). This is because of the difference in feed quality. In more developed countries cows are fed a more nutrient-dense diet consisting of grains and supplements vs poorer countries that can only graze their cattle on grasslands.

This disparity seemingly can be solved through simple action: reduce the feed disparity between developed and under-developed countries. Of course the answer isn’t quite that easy. Unfortunately there isn’t much that the average person can do to help mitigate these problems. However those who are in higher positions of power in the government that do have an influence on these problems are elected to their positions. So support representatives whose values align with solving this wealth inequality. Solving this inequality will indirectly help solve this resource inequality.

Sources:

AP. The Most Polluting Protein? Environmental Impact of Beef, Pork, Poultry. CBSNews, July 2014.

Walsh, B. The Triple Whopper Environmental Impact of Global Meat Production. Times. Dec, 2013.

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Fast Fashion = Fast Disaster

Our last dip into the plastic realm has to do with fast fashion. This may paint me as conceited but this was the one area that hit me the most when learning about the plastic issue. But hear me out. It was easy for me to cut out straws since stainless steel reusable straws are readily available and are much better in my opinion. It was also easy to recognize when I was contributing to single use plastics and reduce my consumption (like plastic toothbrushes, takeout containers, etc). But clothing is difficult. Being a student I always need to take the cheapest way out and oftentimes clothing stores are areas where I can get the most out of my budget. Big retail stores like Forever 21, H & M, and Charlotte Russe have been staples in my closet since highschool. Their clothing has always been cheap and super trendy and has always been reliable for me to count on. That is until I learned in depth about Polyester.

Polyester, in short, is plastic fibre. Take a look at the majority of cheaper clothing items in your closet and you’ll notice that the tags all use polyester as the main source of fabric. This is one of the sneakiest ways plastic makes a presence in your life. For the longest time I assumed polyester was simply a blend of natural fibres since it seemed impossible that plastic could be manipulated into such a pliable fabric. Since plastic is made from oil which is such a booming source of material right now, polyester is very affordable. Since the raw material is so cheap, naturally companies that capitalize off cheap fashion (like those mentioned before) will use it as the primary material in all of their clothing. So if you buy clothes from these retail giants you are supporting the polyester industry, and therefore the plastic industry.

So what can you do? I know it’s hard to resist those cheap prices but bring your business elsewhere. The future of our planet isn’t worth that $4.99 shirt even if the pattern is the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. Instead, invest in your wardrobe. One of the problems with that cheap shirt is that you’re only going to be able to wear it a couple of times before it falls apart. Fast fashion is not meant to last, hence the name. If you invest in a $40 cotton or wool shirt you’ll have a piece that will last years and end up saving you money in the long run. Investing in quality clothing will also insure you have a smaller wardrobe which helps fight clutter in your closet and unused pieces in your wardrobe. Ultimately, cutting these fast fashion trends from your closet will improve your wardrobe while improving your Earth.

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Plastic Straws: A Strawman Argument

In the last year there's been a pretty loud and public outcry against plastic straws. This campaign was kickstarted when a video of some divers removing straw from a sea turtle’s nose went viral and tugged at millions of heartstrings (video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wH878t78bw). This video sparked a conversation about just how impactful plastic straws can be for being so disposable. In fact straws are one of the most common pieces of trash found on beaches, making it to number five on the top ten list (Weisbaum, 2018). But being honest here, straws are not the problem. Yes, they contribute to a ton of beach waste, but they are only a small problem of a much larger issue. In reality there's a much larger issue with the idea of single use plastics. For every straw you find on a beach there's even more takeout containers, plastic cutlery, and single-use water bottles hiding behind a bush.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that people are realizing just how damaging plastic goods are, but they have made out straws to be the only villain in this story. Plastic straws make up .03% of waste entering the ocean each year which is tiny (Minter, 2018). So this giant social media battle over these straws detracts from other, more insidious sources of ocean pollution like the fishing industry. Yes, reducing straw consumption helps reduce plastic waste but that only goes so far. But please, continue to skip the plastic straw next time you get a drink, but don’t let that convince you the fight is not over. There needs to be a focus on reducing all plastic consumption, not just the kind that comes with an umbrella in the cup.

Sources

Minter, A. Plastic Straws Aren’t the Problem. Bloomberg. June 2018.

Weisbaum, H. Fighting Pollution by Saying No to Plastic Straws. NBCNews, March, 2018.

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Talking about the GPGP

Starting out, the impact of wasteful lifestyles is largely unnoticed by people who can read this blog. Chances are if you have access to this then you live in a first world country and are well-off enough to afford a device that can access this website while having a lifestyle that allows this luxury. Going off this you likely don’t see the impact plastic has since it is not dumped in your backyard. This situation is familiar to many people on this planet so don’t feel at fault if this is new information. People sweep devastating information under rugs more often than not. And this is devastating.

So if the plastic isn’t in your backyard, where does it go? A huge amount of plastic waste has been shoved into the ocean where it has accumulated into five main ‘garbage patches’. The largest of these is known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as GPGP (Doyle, 2018). This particular patch is more than twice the size of Texas and consists of the 79 thousand tonnes of plastic floating in the eastern part of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (Aitken et al, 2018). A large portion of this patch, 46%, consists of fishing nets alone (Aitken et al, 2018). Now this might seem like a fishing industry problem because of the nets, but its much larger than that. Even though that's a large percentage, 94% of the pieces floating in that patch are microplastics that only account for 8% of the total weight (Aitken et al, 2018. That may be a little hard to wrap your head around but it basically means that the plastic thrown away by everyday use has been steadily breaking into smaller, more dangerous pieces more rapidly than sturdier objects, like fishing nets, do.

Now I know there doesn’t seem to be much that an average person can do about this issue since it’s already in the ocean; that is simply not true. Knowing the impact plastic waste has is important in motivating people to reduce their plastic use unless they want to contribute to this already massive problem. When dealing with the GPGP directly normal people can call their representatives and demand action to be taken about the cleanup of the GPGP and in preventing similar, future disposal practices. This post is meant to enlighten people to just how much of an impact plastic can have and provide motivation to changing consumption habits. Following posts will offer ideas on to help mitigate wasteful lifestyles.

Sources:

Aitken, J.; Brambini, R.; Cunsolo, S.; Debeljak, P.; Ferrari, F.; Hajbane, S.; Lebreton, L.; Leviver, A.;  Maral,

H.; Marthouse, R.; Noble, K.; Reisser, J.; Sainte-Rose, B.; Schoeneich-Argent, R; Schwarz, A.; Slat, B. Evidence that the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is rapidly accumulating plastic. Nature.com [Online] 2018, 4666, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-22939-w#Abs1 (accessed April 3, 2019).

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Little actions = Big Impact

The focus of this blog is education. Many people aren’t aware of just how much of an impact each small decision carries. One of the biggest misconceptions about climate change and pollution is that one person can not have an impact. This attitude disheartens many people from making efforts to reducing their pollution impact. However, your impact can be so much bigger than you think. 

The best way to change minds is by leading by example. If someone sees someone they respect take action they will be more likely to follow course. If one person recycles a glass bottle in front of someone who is about to throw their own out, the social pressure indicates the latter will also recycle their bottle. This idea can be translated to many other areas of conservation including compost, choosing plastic-free alternatives, supporting companies with an anti-pollution mission, and many more. 

However, there is a huge lack of education available to the public about these small changes. I aim to change that. Knowledge is power and often all people need is a push in the right direction. Throughout the course of this blog I plan on offering information around lifestyle decisions regarding conservation as well as providing ideas for individual conservation. One person making a small change may not have a huge impact on our earth, but many people making that small change adds up to a huge impact.