Spotlight - Ocean Sole

I'm recently joined this fun Facebook group that shows off interesting thrift store finds, and was amazed to see a colorful lion (like the ones pictured below!) that the owner described as being made from "some type of foam". I recognized the lion from some cool videos I had seen last year and did a quick search to see if I could learn more.

The company is called Ocean Sole, and believe it or not, these colorful creations are made out of flip-flops! Ocean Sole was founded by Julie Church, who noticed children making toys out of washed up flip-flops on the beach, and recognized the potential for families to make income from the sandals, while also having a positive environmental impact.

Ocean Sole is providing:

• full time income to 100 Kenyans
• some income for 1000 Kenyans
• education initiatives benefiting 10,000 
• recycling of 750,000 flip-flops

The sandals are collected, washed, melded together, then hand-carved, sanded, and finished. Check out this short video on the process:

I'm just loving how creative these creatures are, and they seem like a fun gift for the animal lover or conservationist in your life. The small sculptures average about 6" in the largest dimension and $23-29, and the medium are about 11" and $42-49. (Feeling bold and have a large space? The XL giraffe is 54" tall and $675!)

For more information, or to support them, check out the original website here, or the US shopping site here.

Healthy You, Healthy Oceans

Howdy ~ After several weeks of back and forth heatwave then chill, I think summer's finally here in Seattle. This means more outdoor activities and beach time!

I'm a super pasty white, so it's hard to be brave enough to do these things when I'll just get sunburned, and sunscreen is oh-so-yucky-greasy. After having tried several sunscreens that promise to be non-greasy over the years, I finally found one that I'm in love with: Australian Gold Botanical Sunscreen.

Not only is it truly non-greasy, but it also doesn't have the trademark sunscreen smell. Rather, it has a soft tropical scent (perhaps hint of coconut?) and dries to velvety finish.

So, not only am I loving this product for how it feels, but a trip to Mexico a couple years ago made me start thinking about sunscreen's effect on sealife.

Specifically of note is coral reefs. In the callouts on the back of the bottle, Oxybenzone Free = Reef Friendly. Oxybenzone has proven to be dangerous to coral, and this and similar ingredients have recently been banned in Hawaii. To pick a better product, look for mineral-based products with primary ingredients like Zinc Oxide. Another interesting note is "Non-Nano". This means the zinc particles are a little larger and less likely to be absorbed by both the coral and in our own blood streams. Apparently the FDA isn't recognizing non-nano yet, so you may primarily see this on products from Australia.

Fun fact: did you know that coral is not a stone or plant, but rather animal in the same family as jellyfish? They have a symbiotic relationship with algae, which they depend upon to get energy from the sun.

(Image borrowed from noaa.gov. Click to enlarge for text.) 

At $8 for 5oz of liquid sunscreen, this is a middle of the road price. For no extra cost over chemical sunscreens, it's an easy switch to protect our oceans.

Ooh Shiny!

This girl loves glitter. It could be for a festival, or a party, or Halloween, or a Tuesday. I like glitter makeup, embellished outfits, crafting.

So of course I'm totally crushed when my zero waste peeps remind me that glitter is actually just micro-plastic. Buzzkill.

OK, you're going too far with this eco-warrier stuff, you say. However, micro-plastics are far from a foreign concern. Several countries, including the US, have already banned or started phasing out microbeads in beauty products. Now, research scientists are starting to suggest glitter should be banned as well, and one chain of UK preschools has proactively banned craft glitter. The concern is that these tiny plastics quickly get into our water and are a pollutant to sealife including seafood. Plastic is now also found in the large majority of our drinking water.

Fortunately, we can still sparkle on. There are plenty of people who both love glitter and the planet that are making affordable, alternative products.

 (Image via ecostardust.com)

Almost all of these are made from cellulose from sustainably farmed eucalyptus trees! They are vegan, cruelty-free, biodegradable, compostable. Here are just a few examples:

UK
Eco Stardust - Each pot of cosmetic grade glitter is under $5.

Eco Glitter Fun - Individual glitters run around $5 with kits costing around $10-30.

NY
Greenpoint Glitter - Fine and chunky glitters starting from $12.

Found on Amazon
Minke Bio Cosmetics

Found on Etsy
The Sparkle Party - a shop from Australia offering a variety of chunkiness/sizes.


and a ton of other options searching tag "sustainable glitter".


Now that we know how to safely source all the sparklies, shine on! :)

Oceans: Part 2, Art from our Trash

In Oceans: Part 1, we talked about the insane amount of plastic waste in the oceans and a few ways we can reduce our own negative contributions. 

The Washed Ashore Project responds to this waste with a few solutions. The project started with artist Angela Haseltine Pozzi, who wanted to do something with the plastic polluting Oregon beaches. She uses the litter gathered by volunteers to create giant sculptures of marine life. 

(Image ©WashedAshore.org)

These sculptures are created from all sorts of debris, that you may or may not expect to see discarded in the ocean - from bottles and bottle caps to beach toys, toothbrushes, shoes, lighters, sunglasses, and more.

In addition to creating the sculptures, the Washed Ashore Project has become a full-fledged educational program with staff and volunteers. The sculptures go on exhibit at zoos, aquariums, and museums to teach the public about pollution, conservation, and our ocean life. 

(Image ©WashedAshore.org)

If you are in the Pacific Northwest, you have some opportunities to see these in person this year: 

The Washed Ashore Project's home is in Bandon, OR with regular open hours Thursdays-Saturdays.
They are also going to be on exhibit at the Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, WA starting 4/17.

How you can get involved:

• Visit the project's website or Facebook page. 
• Visit the Bandon, OR workshop to participate in the process. 
• Reduce, reuse, and recycle your own plastic, and make sure to pack out your trash at beaches and parks.

Oceans: Part 1, Plastic in our Food

We're starting to see more and more stories of our marine life dying with stomachs full of human trash:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/03/160331-car-parts-plastics-dead-whales-germany-animals/
http://awesomeocean.com/2016/01/05/youll-be-horrified-at-what-was-found-in-dead-whales-stomach/

While learning that our ocean giants are being harmed by us is devastating, it was also hard for me to understand my role. After all, I'm not dumping my old shoes and car parts in the ocean...

Here's what made it really sink in for me:
Our fish and seafood are now filled with plastic. Foods I considered to be healthy proteins, filled with Omega-3s etc, are filled with plastic.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/aug/31/fish-plastic-pollution-ocean-environment-seafood
http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/health/case_studies/plastics.html
http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/12/12/250438904/how-plastic-in-the-ocean-is-contaminating-your-seafood

When you are trying to eat healthy and can't trust your food sources, you start feeling a bit helpless. Here are a couple things we can do to contribute on a daily basis:

• Purchase beauty products without microbeads. While those little beads don't seem like much, multiply it by millions of people, and it adds up. As of summer 2017, the US is banning production of microbeads in many products, but you can start now!
• Purchase clothing made from natural fibers. When you wash your polyester shirts and microfiber fleece jackets, the "lint" that washes down the drain is plastic fibers. Who knew!

Want to make a bigger impact?

The Ocean Conservancy has many tips, tricks, and tools on their website, as well sign-ups for an beach cleanup volunteer project near you.