4 easy tips for a sustainable home
1. Add greenery.
Literally make your home more green by adding your favorite plants. You can start an herb garden so you always have fresh herbs for mealtimes. Succulents are super cute and easy to care for if you’re the type to always forget to water plants. And there are a number of houseplants that thrive in low-light areas. My favorite right now is the golden pothos vine that drapes beautifully around my window frames.
2. Ditch harsh cleaning chemicals.
I used to have a spray bottle for every area of my home like the kitchen, bathroom, and the living room. They all claimed to do different things, but all I really needed it to do was clean. Now, I literally have one spray bottle that does the job without being too harsh, and is safe for pets and kids. The secret concoction? Water, vinegar, and dish soap. Yup, it really gets the job done and cuts grease like NBD. If you’re not keen on DIY though, try Meyer’s multipurpose cleaning spray made with plant-derived ingredients and doesn’t contain parabens and phthalates.
3. Make reusable cloth napkins.
Seriously, go grab an old lavalava right now, and cut down into small squares, or whatever size/shape you want. And voila. This is the easiest DIY project of all time, saves you money on sad-looking single-use napkins that end up in the trash, and makes you look and feel classy whenever friends come over and they’re like “how cute are these!” And you’re just like, “yeah I made them”… yeah, you did that!
4. Clean, declutter, and minimize your stuff.
We all have a weird attachment to STUFF, which makes it easy to amass junk along the way. I’m not saying you need to fully go KonMari on your house if that’s a little too intense for you. But go through your stuff, make a pile of stuff you don’t care about, and donate it or figure out a way to reuse it for a different purpose. Try your best to not buy anything else that might take its place.
(in love with the natural light in our home)
DIY Beeswax Wraps ft. Alafaga
It’s 2019 and I’m still committed to making steady strides in sustainable living. Enter Beeswax fabric wraps, a DIY project with @Alafaga.
Zero Waste Kit for Beginners
Have you heard of Zero Waste? There are a lot of reasons to consider going zero waste. For me, it’s because I have always been interested in all matters of going green, recycling, and sustainable living, but putting it into practice daily is the challenge.
Photo Diary
A visual journal by Nerelle of her life in American Samoa, island adventures, sustainable living, and life’s work. A blog where photos meet words.
Journal – Highlights
Welcome to my my blog! This is where I share my life and adventures in American Samoa, travels, and efforts in sustainable living.
We sold all our stuff at the Rotaract x Moso’oi Fest Swap Meet
We decluttered our house in prep for our baby girl, and sold a bunch of stuff at the Rotaract x Moso’oi Festival Swap Meet back in October.
We’d somehow accumulated more and more stuff despite our number of attempts at minimizing what we own. It was a chance to get rid of the unused masses of mess and allowed us to focus on a ‘fewer but better’ approach — especially with baby soon to come.
It turned out to be a blessing too because we have since relocated. We did the darn thing and actually moved off the island, after many many years of saying ‘maybe next year.’ And now that year has finally come, with opportunities for growing our little family.
I don’t miss our stuff so much, but I am very happy that we got to re-home pretty much all of it! Grateful for the Rotaract x Moso’oi Festival teams for making this swap meet possible. It was also really nice to see American Samoa embracing this mode of sustainable living — using and exchanging things already on island so they continued to be used rather than sent to the landfill.
DIY Natural Lip Balm (Simple Recipe!)
I’m really enjoying concocting my own homemade products and working towards a more low impact/high quality lifestyle.
It just feels right. It contains clean, honest-to-earth ingredients. And it works!
In case you’re new here, I made my own deodorant a little while ago but what I didn’t share was that I also made my own lip balm. It’s so so so easy. So in case you’re feeling crafty and want to give it a go, here’s what you need to know!
Clean out and reuse old lip balm containers
I’ve had this EOS lip balm since right after college which was (omg) 7 years ago! It was a spare one I carried around in my various bags and miraculously didn’t lose. It started to get stale after so long and I didn’t have the heart to throw it away.
Then I came across this idea to make my own lip balm, and found a whole plethora of ways to reuse the EOS container. Here’s how to empty and clean out your EOS container to be reused.
1. Open EOS lip balm. Notice the removable cartridge holding the balm.
2. Remove the balm cartridge using a sharp utensil (I used a butter knife)
3. It might take a bit of prying, but will come out with a bit of leverage
4. Scrape out the old balm from the top and bottom of the cartridge
5. Then clean it all off under warm soapy water
6. Let dry. And you’re ready to reuse!
DIY Lip Balm & What You’ll Need
Ingredients:
1 tsp Cold pressed extra virgin Coconut oil
1 tsp Shea butter
1 tsp Beeswax
5 drops of preferred essential oil (optional – I used lavender for its soothing effect)
½ tsp Cinnamon (optional – add to naturally exfoliate your lips!)
Directions for Making the DIY Lip Balm
Mix all the ingredients in a double broiler (the exact same way I made the deodorant here).
While it’s still warm, pour into your lip balm container!
Place the cap back on upside down and let cool at room temperature.
Or you can put it in the fridge for a few minutes.
Once it’s dry – voila!
That it! That’s how easy it is!
I poured the ingredients into both the EOS lip balm container and a regular lip balm container – both of which I cleaned and disinfected before reusing.
So I hope you clean up those old cute lip balm containers, play around with these natural ingredients and and DIY your own sustainable lip balm!
xo, Nerelle
CAUGHT MY FIRST FISH ON THE POLE SPEAR: TIPS TO KNOW + LESSONS LEARNED
A couple weeks ago I caught my very first fish on my new JBL three-prong pole spear.
I’ve been wanting to learn how to spearfish for a while now because I’m literally surrounded by ocean, and yet I’ve only ever bought fish at the store—sometimes locally caught fish, but most times imported fish because they don’t always have local/fresh fish in stores—or when I’m lucky, my husband or friends will catch fish and share their bounty.
I’d like to be less reliant on pre-packaged food full of who knows what kinds of ingredients that I can’t even pronounce… and more reliant on fresh foods harvested straight from the source in a sustainable way.
Enter: fishing… specifically, spearfishing.
My neighbors have been doing a lot more spearfishing lately, and while I was out snorkeling a few times, they lent me their pole spear to get a feel for it. I’ve only ever tried using a three-prong pole spear once when I was in Hawaii with a friend of a friend… and two things: 1) I was not good at it because at the time I was uncomfortable in the water, and 2) there were basically no fish there, just lots of urchins. I haven’t been interested in spearfishing at all since then.
However, since watching Seaspiracy and learning about how bad the commercial seafood industry really is… I wanted to integrate more sustainable living practices.
My husband surprised me with my very first pole spear for our 7-year relationship anniversary (which is also exactly our 6-month wedding anniversary). It’s an aluminum JBL travel three-prong travel spear. It can be broken apart into three pieces so it’s great for travel and camping, and fully extended, it gets up to 6ft tall, or I can opt to only use two pieces for a shorter ~4ft pole spear.
I took it out for a spin a few weeks ago at our beach out front. I didn’t try to shoot anything, I just tested out my aim on some algae and tried to stretch out the band. I made a valiant effort though when we went camping a couple weekends ago and I was so close, but so far away to actually catching anything.
Last week, Ian and I went snorkeling out front and I brought my three-prong. I was in the water for about an hour and after many attempts at some manini (convict tang), and poge (striated surgeonfish), I was about to give up. I turned and saw from the corner of my eye a fish staring straight at me. I reloaded the band and turned to face it and let my pole spear fly without really even aiming, thinking I was going to miss again… but as my pole hit the sand I saw at the tip of the three-prong, a red fish… I got it!
It was unfortunately a little guy – a bloodspot squirrelfish (Neoniphon sammara). It looked so much bigger underwater! I splashed around and squealed for Ian to come over, and when he raised the pole out of the water to “brain it” (literally, bite the brains… ew), I got very sad as I understood I had taken a life. I said thank you to the fish, and we went home and prepped it for dinner.
And with that I wanted to share some initial lessons learned…
1. Be patient – spearfishing is not a speed sport
Don’t chase the fish – Let the fish come to you. I chased after a few fish thinking I could catch up to them but I actually ended up scaring them away with my thrashing. Plus, all the fish in the area could hear me coming and were like ‘peace out’.
2. Look where you’re spearing – Don’t spear onto living reef
It’s very uncool to kill a fish and their fish habitat, so pay attention to where you’re aiming to shoot, and avoid spearing onto living reef. If you break off a piece of living reef, that section may die and not grow back. And as you know, reefs are super important and we need them, so let’s take care of them.
3. Pay attention to what fish are on your reef – be selective of what you catch
This is a specific example, but I’ve known for a while now that parrotfish are extremely important fish species for reef health, and they are unfortunately overfished in my area. I’d suggest looking up size guides and fish stocks beforehand to get a better sense of different species’ reproductive sizes and what fish are abundant or rare in your area so you can make better fishing decisions.
4. Learn which fish are good to eat – and which are bad
Some fish are extra bony and may not be pleasant to eat, while others may have very little meat to begin with. I’m also learning which fish are likely to cause ciguatera toxin poisoning so I can avoid those completely.
5. Gut the fish right away – otherwise, it’ll spoil
This is something I just learned – The guts and innards will start to rot as soon as the fish dies and because they contain nasty bile and worms (ew), those will permeate onto the rest of the fish meat, making it unsafe to eat.
6. Fish sustainably – don’t catch more than you can consume
I’ve noticed many people fishing everyday or every other day for sport and catching way more fish than they need so they can store in their freezers or give away or sell for profit, but I’m learning that can easily become unsustainable.
7. Respect the circle of life – be grateful
This goes hand in hand with the previous lesson learned, but worth mentioning on its own. Fish, like humans, are part of the circle of life. Be grateful for what it means to take a life.
Week 1 Recap of Plastic Free July
Hello hello!
I’m here to keep myself accountable as I said I would… so here’s a recap of my week 1 doing the Plastic Free July challenge.
Prepping for the challenge
To prep for the Plastic Free July challenge, I had set some realistic goals and expectations for myself and did a really quick scan of my home to look out for ways I could improve. I got my zero waste kit ready, and I also received some mail I ordered last month which came just in time for Plastic Free July. One package was for Ian — I had ordered him a pair of upcycled boardshorts from Vissla made from coconut fibers. His other pair of board shorts have worn out so this was my little gift to him. The other package was for me, containing 7 pairs of period panties from Thinx. Just typing the words ‘period panties’ feels weird and almost TMI but I liked that the cardboard packaging the undies came in essentially said “we’re saying bye to stigmas around periods”. Anyway, I’m excited and feel more equipped to tackle the month.
July 1 — Didn’t use any new single use plastics (SUPs) on my first day! I’ve come to terms with the fact that if there are single use plastics that are already in our home (i.e. chopsticks from previous takeout orders), those would be okay as long as we reuse them and try to avoid new SUPs. I also learned how to make popcorn on my own! We got popcorn kernels in bulk last year and Ian normally makes the popcorn, so this was a win for me, because I was itching so hard to buy a bag of chips at the store for a snack and instead made this plastic free snack. I also started watching decluttering videos on YouTube because I’m in need of some minimization inspiration, and found these old bags in my closet that I never really use because they’re tucked away. Giving away the teal one, and keeping the fabric bag because I made it around 10 years ago!
Day 1 success rating: 10/10
July 2 — Decided to treat ourselves and get lunch from Henry’s Diner. I love their fried chicken and mashed potatoes, mmmm! We were only going to order one dish each, but we brought six of our food containers, and good thing we did because they all got used up! They always give really large Samoan sized servings, and they put each food item in a separate container. I love it because it always means delish now, and delish later when we have leftovers. We were hungry and excited, we got home and set it out like a big mukbang spread and put on our current favorite show, Community. We thought we did so well avoiding SUPs, but we later noticed they included two small plastic sauce cups in our container. A good lesson learned to include our own sauce cups in the future. Overall, valiant effort!
Day 2 success rating: 9/10
July 3 — We got the day off from work for the federal holiday. Ian wasn’t feeling too well, so I spent nearly the entire day with Gabby, and boy was it a busy day. We went fabric shopping at Island Image, and brought our own reusable bag, avoiding the plastic bag they almost gave us. Then we did some groceries, and it was a bit disappointing to really look around at the supermarkets and see almost all the produce wrapped in plastic and styrofoam. Most of our island’s food and supplies are imported by cargo ships from the mainland. I couldn’t avoid SUPs this day because I needed to get food supplies for the next couple weeks, and I did a bad thing and caved into my potato chip addiction, and got a jumbo bag of potato chips, since I was messing up anyway! I was also bummed to find a grab and go lunch box all packaged in plastic. For some reason, I didn’t think it would be, because it’s from a local cafe that really tries to make sustainable efforts. But of course, convenience, options, costs… they all play a factor here. BUT no hard feelings. I am also of the mind that we are imperfect, and all we can do is try our best, and minimize our plastic consumption as much as we can. It was a good eye opener though, about how jaded I’ve become (even though I’m a huge proponent for sustainable/low waste living) that I forgot how much of what we buy at the stores has plastic, and how abundant it is in our daily lives. I hope we can turn this part of the culture around. Later, I went with Gabby on one of her photo shoots, and then we stopped by Tradewinds for Charles’ birthday. He had so much yummy food! Luckily, Gabby had compostable paper clamshell takeout plates in her car, so we used those instead of styrofoam plates. I also had two pairs of chopsticks in my bag, and my reusable water bottled topped up, so we did pretty well considering!
Day 3 success rating: 6/10
July 4 — Learned to make almond flour pancakes with organic agave syrup at home! Ian suggested to add an over medium egg too, and I was skeptical at first but it tasted so good! Afterwards, Ian and I went out and bought a brand new washing machine! There wasn’t really much of any plastic, except for the stickers on the washing machine, and the large cardboard box was given to our neighbors to use as their kids’ new playhouse. I forgot it was the 4th of July, but I think I caught what Ian had the day prior. I was so lethargic that I took a nap on the floor of our living room, and Ian carried me to bed where I slept for most of the afternoon.
Day 4 success rating: 10/10
July 5 — Went to church, and my zero waste kit was all ready to go! We had toana’i (Sunday group lunch) after church to celebrate two church members’ birthdays. They had paper plates, plastic utensils, and plastic water bottles, and Ian and I looked at each other sideways and nodded. Ian and I grabbed our containers that we keep in the car for these “just in case moments”, I brought my own water bottle, and I also still had some leftover compostable utensils and chopsticks in my bag. We avoided SUPs the rest of the day!
Day 5 success rating: 10/10
July 6 — Did a good job I thought. I drank my morning matcha out of a reused glass pasta jar with a metal straw. I ate potato chips and shared on my daily instagram stories about how I felt a bit guilty about it, but I expalined, potato chips are my weakness! All other new SUPs were otherwise avoided. Gabby came over and hung out after work, and we started sewing her duvet cover with the fabric she bought at Island Image over the weekend. I was also stoked to get a few messages from friends on instagram who have watched my daily Plastic Free July updates, and how they were inspired to start the challenge too! I had some really good conversations about ideas on reusing glass jars for a variety of purposes like for propagating plants, as drinking glasses, to put homemade gifts into, or for shell collections. Those interactions have motivated me to keep sharing my sustainability journey on here and on instagram, and to try my best!
Day 6 success rating: 10/10
July 7 — A little change of scenery from the past few months, as I worked from my office in town on this day. Ian and I made plans to have lunch together at Ruby Red Cafe. We were going to eat in, but I still brought my zero waste kit in case I had leftovers. Which was a good call, because I did in fact have leftovers. I also had my own utensils with me in my bag, so I used that. Ruby Red Cafe has paper takeout boxes but it’s always good to avoid waste when possible. Plus, Ruby Red Cafe does this amazing thing where they will offer a 50-cent discount if customers bring their own reusable containers! I think it’s a great incentive, and another reason why I will always love supporting their small business. After work, Gabby asked me to go with her to Photogenix because she was going to pick up a photo frame. We went but turns out Photogenix was closed, so instead, we spontaneously decided to go thrifting at Savers Samoa just down the street. We were there for like, 2 hours! But we got some really good vintage pieces for suuuuuper cheap! And I’m very happy to say that I’ve made the shift to slow fashion over the years, including making my own clothes, repairing clothes I already own, and buying second hand. I’ve only had to buy some new pieces (like my Thinx period underwear) out of necessity, and I plan to wear and rewear them for many many many years.
Day 7 success rating: 10/10
Whew! What an update!
The Plastic Free July challenge is just that, a challenge. It has also been very rewarding and taught me a lot already in the first week. This is my third year doing Plastic Free July, and I feel renewed stoke for sustainable living. Hopefully we do better in week 2!
17 ways I try to be a better human of the Earth, from home
Happy Earth week, humans of the world!
This year marks the 50th year since the very first Earth Day was celebrated by 20 million Americans in 1970, after an oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara stirred a California senator to make a change. The history of Earth Day is actually quite fascinating, I’ve learned. You can read up on the history here.
Since I’m spending a lot of time at home these days, I wanted to share how I’ve adapted different sustainability actions over the past few years to achieve an earth friendly home. It’s not perfect by any means, but my home is always going to be a work in progress, and I’m always so excited when I can make small changes at home for the greater good!
17 WAYS I DO MY PART TO SAVE THE EARTH
MY TIPS FOR SUSTAINABLE LIVING IN AMERICAN SAMOA
Started a backyard compost
I had no idea what composting was until I went to university and was so confused with the color coded trash bins at UA Student Union. The green bins, I learned, were for food waste to be sent to compost centers where they would biodegrade into nutrient rich soil that could be used as natural fertilizers. Then I moved back home to American Samoa and learned about home composting, and how easy it was to start one in my backyard. I’ve got to give all the credit to my fiancé though for our compost. He was the one to set it up initially, and maintains it weekly… all I do is throw my food scraps into the compost. Oh, and he also shovels fresh dirt for me whenever I ask for new soil for the garden. Thanks babe!
Always bring reusable tote bags and produce bags when I grocery shopping
This one took some getting used to at first because I’d forget to leave bags in my car, or I’d have them in my car, but forget to bring it into the store with me, and would only realize it at checkout when I’d be too embarrassed to get my bags and hold up the line. Now, it’s second nature for me. I keep a few bags in my car at all times, in case I get groceries spontaneously, and when I plan for bigger grocery runs, I have a large tote bag hanging right by the front door filled with all my reusable tote bags and produce bags.
Also, always bring my reusable tupperware when I’m getting takeout
This also took some getting used to. It was a little weird at first walking into a restaurant with my own tupperware. I was always nervous that people would judge me if I asked for takeout in my own to-go container. But just thinking about getting my food in styrofoam and getting grossed out over the thought of nasty chemicals leaching into my salt and pepper popcorn chicken… it’s enough to make me bold and ask (politely)) to have my takeaway placed in my tupperware. I also now bring a tote bag to hide my tupperware, unless I need it, and it prevents me from having to use a single use plastic bag to carry my food out.
Swapped nasty sponges with these natural handmade tauaga
My best friend Gabby actually introduced me to this as a sponge alternative, and I love them! Tauaga is made of natural plant fibers from the local laufao plant. They’re used as a natural strainer to hand squeeze coconut cream, as a body scrub, or as a sponge. I much prefer them because they last longer than the store-bought sponges, and they’re a lot cleaner than waterlogged sponges.
Opt for glass jars over plastic jars, so we can repurpose them as drinking glasses or storage jars
Who else’s S/O constantly breaks all the drinking glasses in the house?! Mine does for sure. Or at least he did. As you can see, we now have a shelf full of mainly glass jars as drinking glasses because of it. We opt for glass not only because it’s a more renewable material than plastic; we also prefer to repurpose rather than recycle glass because it saves on costs and resources to transport and process recycling. If your S/O doesn’t have a reputation for accidentally breaking your glassware, you can also repurpose jars for storage, like we do with ours!
Ditched plastic trash bags, and made a washable drawstring cloth bag
I sewed up a quick cloth drawstring bag from black fabric and an old rope, and have been plastic free (with my waste bin liners) for over a year now! Someone asked me what I do when my trash gets stinky? Well, all of our food scraps gets composted, and we rinse and sort our recycling in a separate bin outside, so we don’t have any liquid-y foods going into our trash can, therefore we don’t have a smelly trash!
Learned about my local recycling programs
Another sustainable action made possible through my S/O. He happens to be the “Green Team Captain” at the National Park of American Samoa, and he’s helped me learn what recycling options we have on island, and how to be responsible with my consumption. Shockingly, he’s never watched Captain Planet, but I still sing the theme song to him because he is my Captain Planet!
Replaced paper towels with reusable/washable cloth napkins
I used to love paper towels. I thought, hey they’re made out of paper, and paper’s easily biodegradable, so that must mean they’re great, right? Wrong. Paper towels are, itself, not bad. But the sheer amount of trees cut down to produce paper towels yearly for the average American family? It’s too much. So I took a pair of scissors to my scrap fabric pile and cut out squares to be used as cloth napkins, and I’ve been using them for over a year now! I still do have some rolls of paper towels (made from bamboo) here at home just in case, but I’ve definitely cut down on throw-aways by reusing my cloth napkins.
Trying to reduce my carbon footprint
This is something I’ve more recently become aware of. Now with these shelter-in-place policies, I’ve noticed we don’t use our car nearly as much, and when we do, we’re more efficient about our driving around, reducing our footprint as a side benefit to staying safe. Things are pretty crazy with the pandemic, but I did just hear on the news that the demand for oil is so low that they have to decrease production. And skies are clearer than they’ve been in decades because there’s less gas pollution in the air. Like, that is so cool, how do we do this all year ‘round?!
Use solid soap and shampoo bars
Bars of soap just make more sense. They’re not wrapped in plastic, simple to use, and easy to pack for travels. Now shampoo bars? Hmm… when I first began making sustainable lifestyle changes, shampoo bars were the one thing I was skeptic about. I had never heard of solid shampoo bars before, but kept seeing them in all my sustainable living pinterest boards as a must. So I gave it a go. I tried the Lush Avocado Co-Wash bar because it was a conditioner and shampoo mix in a single bar, and to be honest, I didn’t love it. It got mushy in the shower, and I felt like I had to goop up a lot to get all over my hair. But then I tried a different shampoo bar from Lush (that wasn’t a co-wash) and learned how to use it by putting it all up in my hair to get a good rich lather, and I loved it! Now I’ll use pretty much any shampoo/conditioner bar I can get my hands on.
Took the leap and got a menstrual cup
Ok, this and the shampoo bars I was most skeptical about… In 2014, I swapped to oob tampons, which had minimal plastic packaging and were more comfortable to use than plastic tampon applicators. And I applauded myself for vastly reducing my plastic waste. But of course I had heard of these mysterious menstrual cups, and I was curious. I learned that these were reusable, and cleaner than pads and tampons. Then my eco-friendly curiosity led me to purchase a Saalt cup. I was definitely apprehensive of inserting a silicone cup up my vajayjay, and it took me a while to get used to the feeling of it. I watched a lot of YouTube videos, reviews, and tutorials, and took away some lessons learned. Now, more than a year later, I’m happy to report that I’m still using my Saalt cup, and I’ve probably saved so much money on period products! I’m contemplating trying period panties too, so that may be my next online purchase.
Chose to go paperless with all my bills
Yes, even in American Samoa, we can pay our bills online! And you can set up automated payments too with your bank if it’s a fixed amount monthly. It’s one of those life admin things that you probably always have on your to-do list but just haven’t gotten around to actually do yet, but once you do it, you’ll wonder what took you so long.
Buy local
This one is a bit of a mixed bag because on the one hand, local fruits and veg is amazing, but on the other hand, buying (non-food related) “off island stuff” from a local store can get really expensive. Since we have access to USPS, online shopping is a cheaper convenient option for buying those want versus need items. I know that I can spend a little extra to offset my carbon footprint, but that doesn’t feel like the right solution to me. I’ve been more selective these days with online shopping but I’m still learning to find the right balance.
Eat less (or no) meat
Oh, here’s yet another sustainable living action I give props to my S/O for pushing us to do. What a great influence, he is. In December 2018, he made it his 2019 new year resolution to cut out red meat from his diet, mostly due to the environmental hurt it the beef industry causes, but also for health reasons. Out of solidarity, I did the same. We’ve since explored a gastric adventure of healthier meals, given our island’s limited options.
Shop consciously
I made it my 2019 new year resolution to shop more consciously. In college, I used to shop like it was my hobby. I loved the thrill of finding a good deal. But then I learned about fast fashion, and how it the second biggest contributor to pollution… and do you know what the number one biggest contributor to pollution is? OIL!! Wow. That blew my mind. I wish I could say I quit fast fashion cold turkey, but truth is, I’m still working on it. I carefully consider my “buyerarchy of needs“, and choose low impact, ethical options as much as possible (like this amazing natural refillable bamboo makeup palette by Elate Cosmetics). Now, I mostly shop secondhand, or participate in clothing swaps with friends, but when I do buy from fast fashion brands, I make sure it’s a timeless fit that I really love and that I will wear on repeat for years to come, to slow down the cycle.
Invested in a water filter
I seriously, truly, ardently… do not understand why people rely on single use plastic water bottles still, to this day, even after experiencing a food and (bottled) water shortage on island just a few months ago. I have a Gravity Works water filter at home that I use daily and have only had to change the filter once in the two years we’ve had it. We’ve saved so much money and so much plastic waste by investing in a water filter, and I encourage everyone to get some sort of water filter. If you’re fortunate enough to have clean drinkable tap water, I am so jealous of you.
I just don’t suck
And neither should you… on plastic straws! It’s easy, because I love turtles too much. But also, why does anyone need straws at all anyway? The answer is, you don’t. They’re so unnecessary, and yet plastic straws are among the top 10 contributors to plastic marine debris across the globe. Please stop sucking.
Well there you have it!
Like I mentioned earlier, I’m an imperfect human making mistakes along the way, but trying my best anyway. The important thing is to keep it light, and make it fun. I like to think of new sustainable hacks as imaginary brownie points I award myself with whenever I’m able to adapt it into my routines and lifestyle. Or like I’ve unlocked a new level in a video game! It’s fun, and feels gratifying to be a small part of positive change.
Every day is Earth Day! What are some of your sustainable living tips that I should try out? Please share with me because I’d love to know!
xo, human of Earth
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