Be a Pre-cycler

Try to recycle all the product packaging that an item comes in, from the cardboard box to the plastic sleeve. Buy fewer, but better-quality, products to ensure you won’t end up with a makeup drawer filled with stuff that doesn't live up to its promises. And finally, check out companies like TerraCycle (terracycle.com) that offer recycling programs for things like mascara tubes and lotion bottles. I am very proud that on my business card, alongside my title of “Publisher,” it also says “Office Composter” because I set up a full-scale recycling and zero waste program. Visitors dig it!

Be a Pre-cycler

    Try to recycle all the product packaging that an item comes in, from the cardboard box to the plastic sleeve. Buy fewer, but better-quality, products to ensure you won't end up with a makeup drawer filled with stuff that doesn't live up to its promise. And finally, check out companies like TerraCycle (terracycle.com) that offer recycling programs for things like mascara tubes and lotion bottles. I am very proud that on my business card, alongside my title of "Publisher," it also says, "Office Composter" because I set up a full-scale recycling and zero waste program.

Celebrate Earth Day Every Day!

    This is the day to acknowledge your connection to your home planet and all the nurturing nature, bounty, and beauty you receive from this big blue dot. April 22nd is Earth Day, celebrated annually in over 184 countries to promote a healthy environment and peaceful planet. Earth Day highlights our connection with nature, bringing awareness that each one of us is responsible for the destruction or abundance of our natural world... the only one we have. Earth Day makes us realize that each of us has a  voice and every one of our actions matters; collectively great things happen.

    Celebrate Earth Day by joining an organized group and help clear beaches and parks of cans, paper, plastic, bottles, and trash. Go with your family and friends, or go out alone. Look around your neighborhood to see what needs to be done. Petition your local government for more trees, cleaner waterways, and an end to industrial pollution. Use earth-friendly chemicals. Recycle paper and cans, and compost green matter.

    Log onto earthday.org or check your local press to find out what is happening in your area, how to organize your own event, or what commitment you could make in your own small way to help save our Earth... and then make every day Earth Day.

Save The Planet: One Tree at A Time

Decorating a tree can be a highlight of the holiday expereonce. Why not go green this year?

 

Buy an artificial Christmas tree. People love my blue and silver “disco tree” which I got at yard sale a few years ago. It is VERY festive!  On average, over 30 million Christmas trees are sold in the United States each year—that’s over 30 million trees cut down each year, trees we could be saving and using for oxygen, housing material, and paper products instead of decoration for a small amount of time. Consider buying an artificial tree—you will save money within the first few years and they look just as nice without the mess of pine needles! http://urbanext.illinois.edu/trees/facts.cfm

Happy Recycling Day! #EcoActsofKindness

Did you know this is America Recycles Day? We think EVERY day should be, don't you?

 

Recycled glass reduces related air pollution by 20 percent and related water pollution by 50 percent. If it isn’t recycled it can take a million years to decompose… Twenty recycled aluminum cans can be made with the energy it takes to manufacture one brand new one. Every ton of glass recycled saves the equivalent of nine gallons of fuel oil needed to make glass from virgin materials.” (www.50waystohelp.com)

Your Daily Decisions Can Help Preserve Our Rainforests

Our rainforests are the lungs of the planet; let's do all we can so we can to preserve. 

Recycling saves the rainforest and there are lots of thoughtful chioices you can make. 

Here are some other things you can do to save the rainforest.

• Don’t keep tropical birds or reptiles as pets. Let them live in nature.
• Buy items made from sustainable wood. Hardwood teak and rosewood encourage logging and deforestation, another rainforest destroyer.
• Recycle all your cans. Bauxite is mined from the ground in tropical countries and is the source for aluminum.
• Buy local, organic food whenever possible. Conventional agriculture is exhausting our forests’ resources.
• Support any organization that is legitimately working to protect the environment in developing countries and in precious rainforests.

Eco Acts of Kindness

We have all been hearing and reading about the plastic fish and birds are eating; therefore, we are, too.  What can you do about it? A lot!

 

 Keep a compact reusable bag in your purse for those spur-of-the-moment purchases. Refuse a plastic bag for five items or less. Fit purchases from different stores into the same bag wherever possible. There’s no reason to have eight shopping bags with only one item in each.

Put your cloth bags back in your car as soon as you’re done unloading groceries. There’s less chance of forgetting them at home that way (and you’ll be one step closer to using them!). Keep them on the front seat, rather than in the trunk. If you see them, you’ll be far less likely to forget them. I am not embarrassed at all about being a bag lady. I urge you to embrace your inner bag lady or bag man and practice eco acts of kindness. 

Protecting Trees Protects Our Future

I grew up in a deeply forested state, West Virginia and was taught from a child to know and love trees.

 When I visited last time and drove all around to see relatives in far flung counties, I noticed huge swaths of brown amongst the green and asked what the heck was going on that seemed to be killing trees. That is how I learned about “acid rain,” an unfortunate by-product of coalmining, logging and too many chemical plants. On our 300-acre farm, no trees are cut, only planted so we are doing our part. In the settled of the great prairies and western states, trees were felled to “clean the land.” That is, in part, being rectified by a special effort to protect trees in the “last frontier.” Check out www.americanforest.org to see how you can help. Oh, and start in your own yard. Got room for a couple of trees? Start digging and planting and know you will enjoy years of beauty and leave behind a legacy for generations to come from your own efforts.

Save the (Rare) Earth: Smart Recycling

Cell phones and batteries are major contributors of toxic substances to our landfills.

 More than 13 million cell phones become obsolete in California every year, and historically only 7% have been recycled. Mobile phones contain hazardous levels of lead, nickel-cadmium, and other toxic materials. Over 80% of reusable batteries are composed of the hazardous heavy metals nickel and cadmium. While these and other rechargeable batteries have been banned from disposal in California for several years, recycling opportunities have lagged. (http://www.cawrecycles.org/issues/battery_waste) For every million cell phones we recycle, 35 thousand pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold, and 33 pounds of palladium can be recovered.”(Go to www.epa.gov for more information on how to recycle your cell phone.)

Let's Create a Plastic-free Future

Here's a helpful comprehensive guide to creating change in your community with several kinds of actions you can take. These range from learning and sharing your passion for this issue to passing legislation in your city. Get started today to create a plastic-free future!

1. Learn, share and join

The first step towards action is knowledge. Are you a member of a community group that is eager to learn more about how they can protect our oceans and communities? Maybe your child’s teacher is looking for ways to teach kids about environmental protection? Our toolkit has powerpoints and tips for giving a presentation—you can even host a movie night!

2. Be heard in the media

If you want to make change in your community, start with local media! Local newspapers, blogs and magazines are a great venue for getting the word out. In the toolkit, we walk you through how to write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper and how to get it published.

3. Help create plastic-free supermarkets and restaurants

Nowhere is the dominance of single-use plastics and wasteful packaging more obvious than at the local supermarket. Make waves in your community by working to get a local supermarket to reduce their use of single-use plastics.

4. Get restaurants to ditch single-use plastics

Fed up with all the plastic straws and utensils at fast food places and cafes? Join the growing movement urging establishments to get rid of throwaway plastic products.

5. Lobby for local legislation

All over the world, towns, cities and villages are standing up for a plastic-free future by implementing local bans and laws restricting the use of throwaway plastic. Be part of this movement by working with your neighbors to get your local government to do the same.

Greenpeace and MCS (Marine Conservation Society) Mull Beach Clean at Kilninian Beach with pupils from Ulver Primary School, Isle Of Mull. Greenpeace brought its ship the Beluga II on an expedition of scientific research around Scotland, sampling seawater for microplastics and documenting the impact of ocean plastic on some of the UK's most precious marine life.

6. Organize a local cleanup and #BreakFreeFromPlastic brand audit

Everyone loves a cleanup event, so why not take it to the next level? Get your community together to clean up a local beach, park, or riverbank—but don’t stop there. Go through the single-use plastics collected and identify which companies produced them. Let’s hold corporations responsible for their plastic waste!

7. Start a community group!

You don’t have to go it alone. We have a lot of work to do, and we’ll get a lot further—and have more fun—together. Get some friends and neighbors together for a plastic-free future!

Excited to get started? Check out the full Million Acts of Blue toolkit to find out more about how you can work in your own community to end single-use plastics.

Love Your Mother Earth: Precycling

Be a Precycler:

 First, try to recycle all the product packaging that the item comes in, from the cardboard box to the plastic sleeve. Buy fewer but better-quality products to ensure you won’t end up with a makeup drawer filled with stuff that doesn’t live up to its promises. And finally, check out companies like Terracycle  (www.terracycle.org) that offer recycling programs for things like mascara tubes and lotion bottles. Make better choices and outsmart waste!