Ways to Honor the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day #QuarantineStyle

It was the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day today. This year feels like a weird year to be celebrating anything. We can't go out for the usual tree plantings, litter cleanup events, or other group events. However, let's not let the unusual year prevent us from a moment of reflection.

With COVID-19, we are seeing some unplanned, positive side effects. With stay at home orders and business shutdowns, there are no more commuter cars on the road and reduced manufacturing. You can see dozens of before-and-after pictures like the following, from around the world (Asia, Italy, California), showing visible reduction in air pollution.

An atmospheric map of China:

And an on-the-earth view of India: 

While the shutdown efforts may feel extreme and won't be entirely replicable when things return to "normal", let's figure out what we can bring forward. And in the meantime, it seems harder to maintain some of our good habits: restaurant delivery/takeaway with disposables have replaced ceramics and cutlery, Starbucks started refusing reusable mugs even before stay-at-home orders, and online shopping replaces reusable shopping bags with shipping packaging. Let's figure out where we can contribute now.

Here are several ways to honor the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day.

What You Can Do Now: 

• Many of us have moved the majority of our shopping online. When shopping on Amazon, choose "Frustration-Free" packaging if possible. If it's an option, you should see it as a filter on the left-hand side, as you are refining your search. Or search for Frustration-Free up front. 

• If shopping on Amazon, message cs-reply@amazon.com to request minimal plastic packaging inside your orders. This will help those non-frustration-free orders to do things like replace the plastic air-filled pillows with crumpled paper. 

• Shop Amazon Smile (smile.amazon.com), now available on the mobile app too by navigating to Menu > Settings > Amazon Smile. This allows you to designate a charity of choice, and Amazon will make a small donation on eligible purchases. There are many available charities/non-profits, included many with a sustainability mission. 

• When online shopping, you can still do second-hand. Consider options like thredup.com, swap.com, or Poshmark.

• Reuse your disposables. Just because they are marketed as disposable doesn't mean you can only use them once. The plastic cutlery I've been receiving with my takeout has survived multiple rounds through the dishwasher. A single reuse of a disposable means you're reducing your waste by 50%. 

• Are you making fabric face masks to wear when grocery shopping? Make your masks out of worn textiles, for example, a retired bed sheet. 

(old sheet + seam ripper = fabric and elastic for masks)

• Plant a tree or get a houseplant. You can get plants at stores that are otherwise essential, for example grocery stores and hardware stores. Take advantage of spring and get some green in your home.

(new tree brings joy and breathes carbon dioxide)

• Start a food garden. Whether getting a starter from the garden section of a hardware store, or regrowing food from your produce scraps, growing food has the general benefits of growing plants, and also makes you more food self-sufficient.  

• Mend clothing. You may have some extra time at home now to catch up on that mending pile. And if you are a beginner, this is the perfect time to practice with worrying so much about the end result. 

• Gather donations. Just because you can't drop off your donations at a thrift store, doesn't mean you can't gather them in the meantime. For some items like clothing, online sales are a way to deal with donations if you want to move them before physical stores reopen. 

• Shop produce online. Subscription clubs like Imperfect Produce allow you to get fresh fruits and veggies while avoiding the store crowds. They will now even take back the box they deliver food in. 

• Switch to a bidet. No better time to consider alternatives than when there's a shortage of toilet paper!

• Use food scraps to get creative about cooking. Keep small amounts that don't seem like a small serving to combine into an interesting salad or buddha bowl at the end of the week. Keep the trimmings from your veggies to make homemade veggie broth. 

• Eat your leftovers! If you want to mix things up, just freeze those leftovers, and you'll soon have a stockpile. 

• Switch to reusable feminine products. With a shortage of those necessary products at stores, no time like now to invest in washable pads, period panties, or a menstrual cup. 

• Continue to use online marketplaces where safe and available. Some groups like Buy Nothing are reducing posting to essentials only. Find the groups that allow you to buy and sell, read their safety guidelines, and use "porch pick up" for free items.

• Save your delivery packaging for reuse. Larger boxes are great for moving or storage. Smaller boxes and envelopes for are good for shipping and by small businesses. I put out a weekly stash on the curb and have it claimed each week. 

(boxes with free sign on curb disappear within an hour)

• Repair something around your home. Now is a perfect time to learn a new skill and prevent the need to shop for new things.

• Once you've gathered your donations, choose a t-shirt that isn't ideal for donating, and turn it into face cloths/makeup wipes. Simply cut into squares, and you have the softest reusable tissue.

• Stream more, buy less. Replace impulse buying movies or magazine from the Target end-caps with some of the amazing free content that is being provided by cultural institutions. From museums to Nasa archives, to at-home musical concerts, there is tons of content to enjoy.

• Pick a favorite snack food and perfect an at home recipe. Love snack applesauce or granola?Identify containers to portion and replace single use snack packs. It will be easier to develop a new routine now than when you are in the hustle of your daily commute. 

• Use what you have for household essentials or in your pantry. Were you saving staples like condensed soups or cans of beans for a quick dinner? While they may have a long shelf life, it's amazing how often I come across the one that got lost in the back and expired 2 years ago. Rotate your essentials and use them up. 

• Use what you have for activities or gifts you have yet to get to. Receive a book for Christmas and have yet to crack it open? Get bath and body supplies for your birthday two years ago and haven't used them up yet? While you can't do certain activities that are closed, treat yourself to the things you can do and were planning to "get to someday". 

• Try a solid bar shampoo or conditioner. It's an ideal time to experiment with new products. Dry products avoid the plastic bottle packaging, and save shipping fuel by concentrating the size and weight of the product. 

What You Can Do When We Return to "Normal":

• Continue to work from home. Even 1 day per week is a 20% reduction in commuting.

• Switch to a rideshare or public transit for the days you go to the office. 

• Keep track of the changes above that were easy for you, and maintain them as we move forward. 

Cheers to you for whatever you're able to contribute amidst this crazy time, and Happy Earth Day. 

Thrifting, Quarantine-style, Part Deux

Last week, I shared with you the online thrifting I've been doing to keep some sort of normalcy while the world is anything but normal these days. Well, the remaining items of my shopping spree arrived this week, and I couldn't be happier.

First, I got this sheer, gauzy, ballet-inspired skirt from Lularoe. Seafoam with metallic gold accents, I'm sure I could wear this to either a night at the theatre or a mermaid ball.

And last, these black slacks from Talbots. These were a pleasant surprise. From the pictures on the site, I couldn't tell that they had the khaki tuxedo stripes. Fortunately for me, I've been seeking tuxedo slacks for a while. Not into surprises? No worries, thredUP has a return policy (usually site credit).

For both of these, I paid $42.98. Compare at $147 new, and I saved $104.02 (71%). 

I can't believe these like-new quality clothes were given up. Others' loss is my gain, and I can't wait to show off my new spring wardrobe on my video calls, or when we eventually return to being out in public.

Survival Skills aka Growing Your Own Food

There's nothing like a global pandemic zombie apocalypse, and the resulting shortage of certain staples at the grocery store, to encourage you to become more self-sufficient and live off of what you have.

It's been a weird year for gardening. We've had a cool early spring, and where normally I'd have tomatoes transplanted already, this is the first week that I'm starting to think about putting plants outside.

So between feeling stuck inside with quarantine, and not feeling like I can plant outside, my mind has gone to "What can I grow from scraps in my kitchen window?" And this year, I'm trying out lettuce and cabbage for the first time.

Lettuce and cabbage are supposed to be super easy - you simply put the leftover core into a shallow bowl of water, and they'll grow roots and more leaves. I gave it a try with a cabbage (from St. Patty's Day corned beef!) and two heads of romaine. There are already very promising signs after about 2 weeks.

Here you can see about 3" of new leaf growth from about 6 new leaves on the romaine. 

Here you can see a few new leaves budding on the top of the cabbage... 

... as well as several healthy roots. 

Now that they have new growth (and it's finally getting a bit warmer outside), it's time to transfer them to soil. Using an enriched soil or compost, bury the roots and leave the leaves exposed. 

I chose to plant in ceramic planters, only because it's been too cold to prep my garden bed. Some guides have said that I should use the amount lettuce of I've grown at this point and call it quits. Others say that I can keep trimming to soil level and get knew regrowth. I'm looking forward to seeing how many rounds I can go. 

End goal? If I only get 1 round of small leaves regrowth, I'll still save 25% on my produce purchasing. Hopefully, I can go multiple rounds, reducing my shopping by 50% or more.

Shopping while Self Quarantined

These are certainly interesting times. One of the things I miss most while being stuck at home is my regular thrifting outings. I want to keep my life as "normal" as is possible given the situation while also being a bit conservative (because who knows what will happen to the economy).

Not only can we continue to support the businesses we love, but we can also keep our regular browsing and shopping cadence while stuck at home, and still keep our eco values while brick and mortar thrift stores are closed.

If you have been laid off or had a reduction in hours, you can use your unexpected free time to do some spring cleaning and get some income. Online sales are a great way to keep things going while keeping your distance from others. You still have a customer base with some of us stir-crazy folks. Direct sales (through sites like Poshmark) will get you the most, while consignment or second hand  sales (through sites like thredUP) will give you less but take some of the work off of you.

Last week, I occupied some time with "browsing the racks" at thredUP, and ended up with quite the good shopping cart. I ordered 5 items, and here's what's been delivered so far:

First, this great short elephant kimono. What? I don't like elephants (says the girl with an elephant pendant). Having loved some of the kimonos I rented from LeTote, I knew I wanted to add this style to my wardrobe. Cool and lightweight, it's an easy way to dress up some of my basic tees.

Then, this floral blouse, which was new with tags! This can be worn from day to night, from the office to date night. With these voluminous sleeves, I'll plan to wear this with heels to balance my proportions.

Fortunately, I also got some great heeled boots! Three-toned black, navy, and grey, these booties will go with most things, and I can see wearing them with pants or dresses. I love the chunky heel for comfort and stability, and they coordinate with the other items in my basket.

Things I like about shopping on thredUP: they measure the clothes or tell you if they are showing "default sizing". Note: sometimes they measure flat instead of around, so you need to make assumptions or move on if the size looks too small.  They also provide condition. I often select items that say "You might confuse this with new!"

They've been running a lot of promotions recently. Everything I bought this week was an extra 35% off.

Total, I paid $44.97 for these 3 items, compared to $140.99 new, a $96.02 (68%) savings!

Outside of thredUP, I was also glad to have Goodwill remind me about their online presence. Most of their listings are auction style, so you can spend quite a bit of time checking out what is about to expire as well a never ending rotation of new items.

Best wishes to you all, and hope e-commerce helps you sell or shop safely from your home.