Hey guys, my sister is currently doing her psychology dissertation on the individuals decision making regarding environmental choices. It would be a HUGE help if you could participant in the questionnaire linked below. All personal information will be recorded as anonymous from those participating and the researchers. (See link below)
The bees, especially those living in the wild are in trouble. They don’t find enough blossoms to collect pollen and nectar from in urban areas. Help them by throwing seedbombs with wildflower seeds everywhere in town!
Glass, paper, metal and even plastics are valuable materials. Sending them to landfill ends their lifecycles was too early. When you have the possibility, recycle. Even though creating less waste in the first place is even better, it might not always be possible to avoid some trash. So whenever possible, split your trash and put it in the right bin.
Most people don’t realize that conventional dairy already has been focused on sustainability, we just don’t advertise
- We sequester carbon with the crops growing for the cows
- We use organic fertilizer from the cows instead on relying on synthetic fertilizers
- We recycle all our water to grow crops for the cows
- Cows up-cycle food byproducts into usable nutrition that would otherwise go to a landfill
Cows are a valuable part of the earths ecology and ecosystems. Many dairy farms today are installing methane digesters- that take cow manure, capture the emissions, and make renewable power. Installing these systems make dairies carbon negative meaning they are taking out more emissions than they are creating.
Cows account for less than 4% of GHG emmisions in the U.S. while crops produce 4.8%
Cows take worthless grass/cellulose (that people can’t digest) and convert to nutrient dense foods. Without cows, you would need significantly more plant agriculture/ and environmental resources i.e. land, water
As a result changing your diet to vegan will only reduce your environmental impact as much as reducing 1 transatlantic flight
People forget though that cows are an important part of the earths ecology and nessesary- they perform an important function.
Methane from cows remains constant in the atmosphere— 10-15yrs— while C02 from fossil fuels accumulate in the environment— C02 lasts 100yrs. The key to reducing our environmental impact is not from changing our diet but reducing our dependence on fossils fuels
Dairy farmers in the U.S. have reduced their environmental impact 63% over the last 65 years. They’ve been able to produce more milk with less cows.
And many farmers today are working to convert the methane to renewable energy. Implementing this technology on dairy farms will allow these farms to become carbon-negative. Meaning they’ll be pulling more carbon out of the system than they put in- while producing renewable energy and food.
Cows have the potential to be the great change makers in our society
The Boy And The Wild Blue Girl gets some love from Kirkus Reviews: “This celebration of renewable power is all about the manic pixie wind girl” Out 4/14/20 - Now available for pre-order!
Awards season have long been associated with edgy, forward-thinking fashion, but Jane Fonda made a powerful statement by reprising an ensemble from her closet.
The “Grace and Frankie” star turned up at the 2020 Academy Awards Sunday in a red beaded gown by Elie Saab. She’d previously worn the dress six years earlier to the premiere of “Grace of Monaco” at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.
Fonda, who paired the dress with Pomellato jewelry, also used the night to debut a gray pixie cut, a striking departure from her signature blond locks.
The actor’s much-buzzed-about look was an environmental conscious choice. In recent months, she’s been spearheading “Fire Drill Fridays,” a series of large-scale protests in Washington, D.C., to urge action around climate change, with Greenpeace.
During one such event in November, Fonda vowed to stop purchasing new clothes. Citing Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg as inspiration, she proclaimed the red coat she’d worn to the protest would be the final article of clothing she’d purchase in her lifetime.
Please don’t let Hasankeyf be destroyed. 12,000 years of history, culture and life cannot be erased with bombs to build a dam designed to terrorize with water and resource wars. Please, urgently sign the petition HERE to put a stop to this dam. The dam is organised to start on the 10th of June.
This is one shoot that made me feel like, “If you’re looking for a sign to start shooting again - this is it.” Nobody knows why I have not picked up the camera in so long. I can’t even blame Covid for why I haven’t been consistently creating. Maybe too much life was happening and I couldn’t even tell when I was not making time for the things that really fill up my soul. Yes, actually, that is the perfect excuse. I always have an intense need to grow professionally as a photographer, but one thing I didn’t realise was that if I don’t practise then the craft won’t get better. Plants don’t water themselves, they won’t take themselves out to the sun - one has to apply their minds to any change they would like to see in their lives. I feel very grateful to my dear friend and mommy to my daughter, for allowing me to turn her into a guinea pig for half a day. Let’s create, collaborate and progress. Here’s to a good year starting now!
This, dear internet, is Glen Lyon or Gleann Lìomhann in Gaelic and is the longest Glen in Scotland.
With a name similar to that of the king of beasts, this is truly a royal glen.
Where mighty glaciers carved their way through the ancient mountains and hills of the land Scotland once was, now meanders the river Lyon peacefuly as a faint reminder of the forces that were once at work here, forming the landscape.
It’s vistas like this that should put you, human being, back to earth, with your two feet on the ground.
You are not that important.. Just a speck, a grain, a section of time, passing by.
But yet, it looks as if our race scars the planet more than the glaciers of times past have done. Those mighty ice rivers took their time carving out this beautiful landscape for us to behold and what do we do with it? We consume.. Consume more than we need. In only the past century so much nature has been sacrificed to still our unsupressable hunger for more that we are now almost on a path of no return.
So human being.. Take some time to contemplate on your behavior. Try to restore to the equilibrium that you see in this landscape. Don’t consume until there is nothing left.
Makoko is a fishing village located in the Lagos Lagoon. Due to the weakness of the nearby soil and its proximity to water, much of Makoko rests on structures constructed on stilts above Lagos Lagoon. Traditionally this area has been self governing so schools are funded and provided by the village.
The ingenious adaptation of building a structure that floats came from growing concerns with climate change and rising water levels. This adds to its versatility not just from an environmental standpoint but from a political and practical standpoint as well. The area of Makoko is consider a poor area and one of the slums of the city. The necessity to create a school that is not only low cost and sustainable but that also mobilizes as needed to serve the children of the village is significant. Additionally recent land reclamation efforts and commercial developments in the area have reclaimed much of the lagoon from the residents of Makoko. Their homes on stilts must be deconstructed and reassembled elsewhere, while the school’s maneuverability eliminates this process.
Built in 2013 with locally sourced wood and electrically powered with solar panels, the floating construct is designed to house about 100 students and even has a playground and green space. It is entirely sustainable due to the application of solar cells to the roof and incorporating a rainwater catchment system. The structure is also naturally ventilated and aerated. The barrels used to help the structure float are also used as water reservoirs from the catchment system. The floating schools are an ingenious design that serves the needs of the community in a cost effective and eco-friendly way.
Before I get too far along in documenting my journey to live sustainably, I’d like to talk a little more about the concept of a “no waste” (or “zero waste”) lifestyle.
The first real exposure I had to the concept was when I heard about an NYU student who could fit all of her trash in a mason jar. I vaguely remember reading news articles about her, but at the time didn’t give her much thought other than thinking how hard it must be to live like that.
A few years later, I watched a TED talk by Lauren Singer — the same person I’d read about previously. I considered a no waste lifestyle with a little more interest this time around.
And now, finally, in 2018, the message is finally resonating with me. I rewatched her TED talk this year when I started thinking more about going no waste.
Essentially, the no waste lifestyle just means you aren’t contributing trash to a landfill. The way Lauren practices, and the way I aspire to practice, however, allows for recyclables and compost.
This is an important clause. After all, most of us don’t live directly off the land, so buying the food you need to live a healthy lifestyle will involve some packaged goods. But if you are conscientious about the packaged goods you buy and make sure they are recyclable, you’re still offsetting (albeit not eliminating) your impact on the environment.
Since that TED talk, Lauren’s Instagram shows that her mason jar has gotten a little more full, but all her trash over the past five years still fits in that 16 ounce container.
I’m still a ways away from carrying around a mason jar of my own trash, but I hope to transition to that possibility as quickly as my current lifestyle allows.
If you have a second, I’d highly recommend checking out Lauren’s website at http://trashisfortossers.com/. It’s got a ton of helpful resources, which I plan to consult frequently.
You can also check out the website of Bea Johnson, who Lauren references on her blog. Bea has been in the waste-free lifestyle game since 2008, so you know she’s got the low down on doing the damn thing: https://zerowastehome.com/
Know of any other helpful resources? My ears (and asks) are open.
I didn’t remember ordering anything, so I had no idea what was inside. I went to open it.
Then I remembered: I’d ordered a camera battery for my new Canon M50.
And that’s it. That’s all that was in the box.
A whole big box, for one tiny thing.
I felt real bad. That’s a whole lot of waste for one little battery pack. Especially considering the conversations and discussions I’ve been having recently about waste, I felt like a complete hypocrite.
I aspire to produce no waste. It’s an overwhelming idea: to be someone who creates absolutely no trash in a world of plastic packaging, trendy clothes that are in one day and out the next, and cyclical technology trends that send us running to the Apple store every year.
How do you escape waste? I have no real idea. But I’d like to figure it out.
So this blog is really just accountability for me. It’s a way for me to think more consciously and take the time to write about my efforts and missteps in my quest to go no waste in a town that might make that difficult.
I think waste is inherently illogical. Even if thinking about waste from the standpoint of someone who doesn’t particularly care about the environment, we should question why and how we got to a point where trash is normal, an integral part of modern life. Why wouldn’t we try to minimize instead of accelerate the depletion of finite resources? We were only allotted so much, and we humans have known that for awhile — so why would we entertain a system so irrational, one that blatantly supports the constant production of waste?
Anyway, I’ll try to stay off my soapbox, because truthfully I’m still thinking through the philosophy of it all. But I will continue to question and learn about my own habits, and if you feel like joining in along the way, I’d love to hear about it.
I’m always looking for more educational materials so if you have any, please send them my way! For any of you who might already be on this path or for those just starting, I’d love to use this blog as a space to connect and share inspiration.
It’s going to be tough, and I’m not sure I will ever be able to say I live an entirely no waste lifestyle, but I’m going to try.
I can’t believe how quickly it took to reach 1000 followers. When I started this blog a little over a month ago, I did not expect this amount of people to love what I love. Thank you all for following!!!!
Send me a message and tell me what you enjoy the most about my blog
“Living” Chandelier That Naturally Purifies the Air Contains Real Algae
Design engineer and biotechnologist Julian Melchiorri is the brain behind the “living” chandelier, something that not only adorns your home but also purifies the air that you breathe in, an ingenious design that can be the perfect addition to your home decor.
He calls it Exhale, a lovely chandelier that is composed of seventy glass leaves filled with algae that purify air. This has been on display at the V&A Museum during the London Design Festival, another green design that has been created by the emerging design-engineer Julian Melchiorri, who has also created the world’s first synthetic biological leaf.
Melchiorri’s work is based on the simple principle of photosynthesis, but the well-thought of use of the man-made household item, making it functional for the environment, makes this a brilliant innovation. He has been awarded the Emerging Talent Award during London Design Week, in an effort to applaud his great contribution. While the Exhale chandelier is still a prototype, the young designer wishes to bring the technology to larger buildings in the future, combating against harmful emissions. Visit Melchiorri’s website here!
