Conscious Travel with Carbon Offsets

After 15 1/2 months of COVID, I am *ready*. Ready to start returning to normal, which includes things like travel. We finally booked our first flight since this whole thing started (Vegas here we come!), and I couldn't be more excited. 

Now, air travel is pretty horrible from an environmental perspective, accounting for about 2.5% of CO2 emissions and 5% of global warming (due to other non-CO2 factors). While air travel is becoming more energy efficient, it can't keep up with increasing demand. Folks, this is horrible news! 

If you are able, train travel is a great alternative, especially if you live somewhere with high speed rail, like much of Europe. 

If trains aren't a viable option for you, consider carbon offsets. I was pleasantly surprised to see this option presented to me upon checkout with Alaska Airlines. For the low cost of $0.01 per mile ($17.32 for our trip), we can "pay back" our impact by contributing to projects that make a difference. 

What exactly are carbon offsets? Are we sure it's not just green-washing? There are multiple types of offsets, and multiple companies offering them. You will need to look at the particular company to see if it meets your priorities. For example, your funds could go towards planting trees, or R&D for alternative energy and technologies, or installing alternative energy devices, upgrading air travel itself, investing in carbon recapture devices, and more. 

This particular group, The Good Traveler, was founded by the San Diego International Airport in 2015, and partners with 20 other airports and airlines to offer offsets. They use your purchase to fund a variety of projects. Here are just a couple examples: HFC Reclaim is a project in Illinois to recapture and resell HFC refrigerants, prevented use of and emissions from virgin refrigerants. Ball State University has a project in Indiana to install a campus-wide closed loop heating and cooling system that upgrades them from coal. Massachusetts Tri-City Improved Forest Management project was able to protect 17000 acres of forest land. 

Pretty cool all the projects a small upgrade to your travel can fund. A small cost to mitigate the impacts of air travel.

Spotlight: Sugarfox

Wow, folks, what a few weeks! Since my last post, T had some health issues. All is fine now, but a few late nights, a quick trip the hospital, followed by recovery, and needless to say, I took a bit of a break from writing. 

I'm back, and there's nothing better to get me inspired than an amazing upcycler. Meet Stephanie Hongo aka Sugarfox, a self-proclaimed "trash sculptor" from Connecticut. Her work can be found on Instagram (https://instagram.com/sugarfox_art).

Trash sculptor is a perfect descriptor: Stephanie takes discarded objects and recyclables and carefully pieces them together to create detailed 3D portraits of her (usually animal) subjects. Having a background in mural painting as well, she adds painted backgrounds and finishes to her sculptures.

Here are just a few of my favorites:

This colorful tree frog. More than a portrait, this full figure leaps off the canvas. How many trash components can you recognize? I love the spoons as a great representation of the back toes.

Or this amazing fox portrait.  The forks lend such great detail to the fur pattern, while other components, like the stars on the bridge of the nose and forehead, give him an edgy style. 

These incredible bears. A fantastic element of Sugarfox's posts is, she often includes process photos and multiple angles to see the details. She takes you along for the journey of how they come to be and the materials that bring these creatures to life.

If you are a creator, does this give you inspiratoon for alternative materials to incorporate? If you are an appreciator of the arts, please check Sugarfox out on Instagram for many more of her works!

Zac Efron Wants You...

 ... to pick up some litter. 

I was looking for a little motivation the other day. I've been in the quarantine rut with work from home, and minimal outlet. In the "before times", I would have browsed thrift stores just for the fun of it, but I'm still trying to minimize my unnecessary time in public places, and there's nothing on my shopping list. ...Sigh. 

We recently treated ourselves to a subscription to Discovery+, and I should've known they would have some great content to inspire me. Enter: "The Great Global Cleanup", a short 43 minute special celebrating the 50th anniversary of Earth Day (which happened in 2020).

What was great about this special was it was light, fun, and inspirational. While some eco documentaries can make their point by showing catastrophe and doom and gloom, this one was like a call to action, showing the amazing work of individuals, groups, and organizations while providing easy tips to get started. 

What do Mardi Gras, Brazilian beaches, and desert 4x4 off-roading have in common? They are all beautiful, fun, wonderful playgrounds that have been *trashed* by humans. But they also have humans who care about then and join clean-ups to restore them each year.

Learn about groups and companies who are innovating to make better products, either through preventing waste or upcycling with their materials, for example a group of surfers that collects abandoned fishing nets, and uses that plastic to make new surfboard fins.

Here are just a couple of the actions you can take:

1. Stop using single-use plastic. Find reusable options for straws, water bottles, shopping bags... 

2.  Participate in a cleanup event. Visit https://cleanup.earthday.org/ to find or create an event near you. While many of the events are on or near Earth Day (4.22 each year) some are throughout the year, or you can start your own!

Side note: while cleanups can be big and organized, they don't have to be! Build litter pickup into your daily routine. Have you heard of "plogging" (pickup up litter while jogging)? Or get motivated by a group like Paws on Plastic, where folks pick up litter while walking their dogs. You can brag about your accomplishments and enjoy everyone's cute fur-babies!

So, if you're seeking some spirit-lifting, check out The Great Global Cleanup, included with Discovery+, or available on other streaming platforms like Prime Video for a rental cost.

 

Mighty Changes in Honor of Earth Day

I've had my eye in Mighty Fix for a while, and lucky me, I was treated to a subscription for a recent birthday. Thanks, P & L!

I'm a sucker for subscriptions. I love getting a surprise each month, and discovering new products. Mighty Fix sends you 1 new item each month for $11 (includes shipping) or $99 for an annual subscription. Like what they sent and want more? Members get up to 35% off anything in the store.

They focus on a simple theme: household products that are good for you and good for the planet, conveniently delivered to you. This is accomplished with just a few high standards: safe durables, toxin-free consumables, reusable, high quality & effective, and reputable makers.

With one new product a month, you can slowly but surely make good swaps in your home, without the pressure of a total green makeover. And each product comes with an info card to provide info on why it's a good swap.

My first month? A pair of swedish dishcloths. These are somewhere between a disposable and a cloth, designed to be super absorbant, durable, washable, and replace your regular kitchen sponges and paper towels. When they've received enough abuse, they are compostable. This pair says they last up to 6 months, but I have a pair that are nearing a year of use.

Not into surprises? You can shop a la cart at MightyNest. 

Dove Does It!

Deodorant is one of the most disappointing products, when you compare the amount of product relative to the amount of container/dispenser. A few years ago, I wrote to Secret, stating I loved their deodorant, but not all the plastic packaging. Couldn't we find a solution? After all, companies like Loop are working on the milkman model, with reusable/refillable packaging. And there are many natural deodorants that come is a compostable cardboard pushpop-style tube, but unfortunately, I don't find many of these products as effective as their national brand counterparts.

Well, Dove is now doing it! A couple months ago, I saw a press release stating Dove would now have refillable deodorant at Target, and this week, I finally spotted it at the Target nearest to me! Wahoo!! You have to love when these large national brands and retailers start coming on this journey with us. :-)

Here's the details:

It comes in 3 scents (unscented, cucumber & green tea, and coconut & pink jasmine), and it appears to be the same formula as their other 0% aluminum deodorants. 

There are simple instructions to twist the refill onto the base.

The case is stainless steel, and the plastic holding the refill is post-consumer plastic.

While not entirely plastic-free, check out the amount of plastic on the refill, compared to the plastic from traditional packaging. It's 54% less plastic, and 98% post-consumer.

What I also enjoy is, once you take the lid off, you can see the entire deodorant stick. No more guesswork about how much is left, or doing a click each day to expose more.

This swap does cost a bit more than its traditional counterpart, and hopefully the costs will come down as this system becomes more normalized. It's similar in concept to shaving razors, where you can get a reusable handle and replaceable heads. 

A starter kit contains the stainless steel base and lid, along with your first deodorant, for an initial investment of $15. You can get 2-pack refills for $10. This means the permanent base costs $10, and each deodorant is $5. This compares to $3 for the traditionally-packaged Dove deodorant of the same size (1.6 oz). Learn more from Dove here.

Seeking an antiperspirant and not just a deodorant? It looks like Secret did in fact come out with a refillable system too, and theirs contains no plastic at all, with their refill pod coming in a cardboard tube. It's available in Target and Walmart as well, with the starter kit at $10 and refills at $8. Current scents are lavender for the starter pack, and lavender and rose for refills. 

Kudos to both companies for making better solutions available!

Extend the Life of Your Footwear

I have a perfect pair of black heeled booties. They are the right height (a medium heel) for wearing with pants or dresses, have a classic black leather look, with stylish gold zipper and buckles. 

But the most important thing? They are comfortable. The arch is just the right height, to not put pressure on my feet after a a full day's wear, and the toe box is wide enough. 

Needless to say, they've gotten a ton of wear and were starting to show it. And I fell into a super common trap: "They weren't super expensive. I don't think they're worth the cost of repair." Fortunately, my friend Julie changed my mind. Not only is repair cheaper than buying new, and the sustainable choice, but her argument? "How often do you find a pair dress shoes that is actually comfortable?"

So I found myself a shoe repair shop, a small one-man shop named Vic's in Burien, and requested a few areas be improved. First, the toes, which were both scuffed and a little stained from the rain. Here is the after - he did a pretty nice job with polishing!

I neglected to take "before" pictures, but this is a pretty good representation of the level of discoloring. 

Next, the heels had two big issues. The leather on the heel was pushed up, exposing the white core, and the heel tip was unevenly worn. Vic fully replaced the tip and smoothed and glued down the heel wrap.

Again, not my "before" photo, but this shows a similar type of heel wrap peeling I was facing.

Overall, I was pretty pleased with the repairs. I paid $22, and probably could have invested a little more to fully replace the heel wrap. These Sam Edelman booties cost around $60 originally, meaning I can repair them 3 times before it would financially make sense to replace them, and more if they continue to be comfortable and supportive to my feet.

Thanks to Julie for reminding me about my priorities and saving my favorite booties!

In this era of fast fashion, what are some items that you've forgotten you can repair yourself or get repaired at a low cost?

Seed Starters, Part 2

Last month, I tested out 4 simple seed starters for my edible garden. I wanted to see for myself if all those videos showing crafty reuses of materials around your home were legit. 

Today, I bring you my findings:

Option 1: the reused glass jar with marbles in the bottom. I'll give this a C. I have a couple thin sad little sprouts starting to show, but they took longer to sprout than other options and just don't look as healthy. When I checked the soil after a few days, it was still very wet, despite having more room for drainage. I think it's just that glass can't "breathe". 

Option 2: the plastic container with vented lid. Rating: A! I have multiple sprouts after about 1 week. They are a healthy green and now have grown to the point I need to open the lid of the container. 

Option 3: the plastic tub with drainage holes. Rating: A-. This one also produced several healthy looking sprouts. There are a few less than with the lidded container and I did have to water this one slightly more, without the greenhouse effect of a lid.

Option 4: the folded TP roll. Rating: F. This one produced 0 sprouts. Honestly, this one was just hard to keep the soil moist. The cardboard kept drying out, and leaking out the folded base. It would require watering a couple times a day just for basic moisture, compared to 2-3 days with the plastic containers. 

In all, this was a fun experiment. I will be able to use the tomato plants resulting from the plastic tubs, and will likely use this method again in the future. 

Pro tip, though: I'm not a professor gardener. :-) I highly recommend checking out gardening classes from your local gardening organization or community college. I recently attended a webinar from @bellevuedemonstrationgarden for a $5 recommended donation that shared fantastic tips on temperature, soil conditions, when to transplant, disease prevention, and more. Support your local professionals while optimizing your fruit and veggie production!