America's Effort, Global Impact, Individual Change

Plastic Free Aisles

Let’s be Plastic-Free!

If you haven’t heard the rage about plastic free products, you might be living under a rock! I am just kidding! Let me tell you!

Image result for plastic in our oceans

A lot of the products we produce are sold in plastic packages. This is a problem because plastic is ending up in our oceans and our environment! We need to do away with plastic things! 300 million tons of plastic are produced globally but only 12% are being recycled. Where does that leave the 88%? Something has to be done.

Supermarkets are now being urged to have plastic free aisles! This helps prevents tons of waste that is already effecting our Earth! Image result for plastic free aisle

Supermarkets including Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s said they would respond to the proposals once discussions with campaigners had taken place. I have also seen activists going into local super markets with their team. What ever they purchase, they take the plastic off with it and the purchase it.

Sarah Knapton from the telegraph news for science stats, “We have more choice than ever for everything. There are countless gluten-free, organic or kosha aisles, and yet we have absolutely no choice about buying food that is packaged in plastic.” Image result for plastic free aisle

It is true. How can you expect us to take part of this movement if there is way we could? Our only option right now is to buy plastic things. We must provide plastic free aisles to the public and then see the change happen!

She always tells us, “It is a double whammy problem because not only does it make us feel guilty about all this packaging we are using, but science is starting to show us that wrapping food in plastic can bring health problems.”Image result for no more plastic

If that doesn’t motivate you, I don’t know what will. Plastics are destroying our health and our home!

#ChangingOurPlanetOneAisleAtATime

 

*Check out the link below to see a video of the first plastic free store! 

America's Effort, Global Impact, Individual Change

Editable and Package Free Water Bottles!

Editable and Package Free Water Bottles… Say what??

Are you thirsty but trying to reduce your use of plastic? Look no further. Scientists have come up with a package free and editable way to drink water. “‘Ooho’ by Skipping Rocks Lab is an edible water bottle created out of 100% biodegradable brown algae that is an environmental-friendly alternative to plastic bottles.” They are also developing colored ones or ones that have taste to them!

Image result for edible water bottle

How you drink it: 

It is a very simple process. All you have to do is peel the film/skin around the edible water and pop it in your mouth.

The editable water bottles are being tested at certain sporting events. It’s something very simple that you can just pick up and go and then just pop it in your mouth. This will help us eliminate plastic water bottles for good! They will be coming to the market soon! Keep your eyes pealed for them! I am very interested in trying one of these. My only concern is having them pop in my backpack or something. Because it has a skin that you have to peal before you drink it, it makes me think it won’t. I will let you know if I get the chance to try one!

 

Check out this video below! 

America's Effort, Individual Change

Package Free Store

Package Free Stores do exist!!

A lot of us are trying to reduce our waste but it is actually harder than you think… If you look at the products you use everyday, their not package free. Even if you go to your local super market, you will find that the stores don’t even carry a package free product.

I came across a video Lauren Singer shared. She owns a package free store. The difference is the store hold everyday products that you wouldn’t be able to find package free at your typical store. You know her products are good because she uses also every product in the store for herself.

Singer is from New York and she has opened a package free store. She currently lives a waste free lifestyle. All of her trash from over the years, all fits in one tiny mason jar.

She explains in her video that when she tried to live a waste free lifestyle that it was hard for her to find simple things like shampoo. Now she provides all things like this. She even has a system for things like laundry detergent. You bring back your reusable jar to fill it up. She sells a lot of everyday reusable things that you wouldn’t normally think about.

“Every product we have here, I don’t have it just to be functional; it has to be beautiful too.”

Check out this video below!

Package Free shop

This Package Free store is an environmentalist's wonderland.

Posted by Mashable on Wednesday, January 3, 2018

 

America's Effort, Global Impact

Two Alternatives when Building Roads!

Roads made from waste plastics and Solar Roadways:

I can across a video on Facebook that has left my jaw wide open. Engineering Toby McCarthey has invented paved roads that made from Image result for toby mccartney plastic roadsrecycled plastic and plastic that is in the ocean! He replaced bitumen with recycled plastic pieces and created something better than what we had before. The plastic roads are 60% stronger than the traditional asphalt roads and last 10 times longer. The popularly of these plastic roads is rising! It is time for the United States to take part!

Image result for toby mccartney plastic roadsImage result for toby mccartney plastic roads

Currently, there is over billions of liters of oil make up our roads and over trillions of plastic materials that have no use or that are just simply floating in our oceans. This is yet another great use for plastic! This will help solve some of the plastic waste problems, help reduce global carbon emissions, and in return make our roads more durable! Plastic paved roads are the future!

Another alternative this made me think of was solar roadways. It was popular a couple of years ago and I’m sad it didn’t take off because I was really excited about it. I am going to share this with you anyways! 

Solar Roadways is basically solar panels that replaced our roads, sidewalks, driveways, etc. They were invented by an engineering couple named Scott and Julie Brusaw.Image result for solar roadways

Because their solar panels, they basically pay for themselves, so it lowers the cost of energy. Not to mention these are heated! You never have to worry about ice or snow on roads! YES! That includes no more Image result for solar roadwaysshoveling in your driveway! You can ride your bike, moped and motorcycle year round! Think about the salt we put down on our roads. Not only does it destroy the roads themselves but it also rusts your car!

Solar Roadways are so easy to replace, and you won’t have to worry about filling in pot holes. They each are an individual panel. They are also pressure censored so they can warn people telling them to slow down for people crossing, deer crossing, or even branches falling. The solar Image result for solar roadwaysroadways also light up with LED lights! They light up the lane changes, warning signs, parking spots, etc. And you never have to worry about repainting them because all you have to do is re program them! It also helps with water run off. It re directs the water and doesn’t contaminant it like traditional roads do!

The best part of it all… the solar panels are made from recycle materials!

 

 

Both of these are great Eco-friendly alternatives! I am excited to see our future paved roads! 

 

Check out this video below. It goes into more details about Solar Roadways! 

America's Effort, Global Impact, Individual Change

The Last Straw!

Straw’s Suck…LITERALLY!!!

Image result for no straw please

This week I heard about about not using plastic straws. They started campaigns called The Last Straw or No Straw Please, which I thought was very clever! I have always been one to not use a straw if I didn’t have to. I’m glad the rest of the world is finally taking notice as well!

Disposable straws are not recyclable. I actually told some of my friends this and they were surprised and didn’t know this. They often end up in landfills, oceans or our environment! According to the National Park Service, Americans throw away a half a billion straws everyday! That’s insane! It is insane to think that a tiny little piece of plastic could have such a big impact on our Earth. It is also crazy to not realize how many times you use a straw! Eight million tons of plastic enter our marine environments every year! They say by 2050 there will be more plastic then there is fish! These fish are also eating these plastic materials! This matter because we eat fish! I eat fish! This means were eating plastic! We are killing ourselves!

Image result for plastic straws in the ocean

CNN tells us that the average American uses two plastic straws a day, “Every day, Americans throw away 500 million plastic straws, enough to circle the Earth twice, or fill 125 school buses. That means the average American uses over 35,000 of them in a lifetime.” Image result for turtle and plastic straw

The movement started in 2011 by nine-year-old boy named Milo Cress. His campaign was called Be Straw Free.  It started when he went to restaurants and they gave him a straw without him even asking. He really didn’t need one and they gave him one without asking! He started going to local restaurants and asking them to not give anyone straws unless they ask. Those restaurants reported that they used 50% less straws!

Image result for restaurants saying no to straws

 

This campaign, however, started in our very own Seattle. The campaign saved over 2.3 million plastic straws in as little of three months! Restaurants are switching to paper straws. The city is even looking into having an official ban on straws and plastic utensils! Image result for no more plastic straws

 

I’m not asking you to stop using straws. I simply asking you to not use plastic straws! There are other alternatives like reusable glass, stainless steel, copper, bamboo, and several other kinds of reusable straws. I challenge you to go straw free for a full week! I am asking you to make the switch and say no to plastic straws!!

Image result for alternatives to plastic straws

 

Check out this video! 

America's Effort, Global Impact, Individual Change

11 Facts about Recycling

On a previous blog post I talked about what can and cannot be recycled. I can across this neat website! They gave such interesting facts about recycling I had to share!! Image result for recycling

11 Facts about Recycling:

  1. The average person generates over 4 pounds of trash every day and about 1.5 tons of solid waste per year.
  2. Americans make more than 200 million tons of garbage each year, enough to fill Busch Stadium from top to bottom twice a day. Next time you’re at a sporting event or tailgate, host a trash-free tailgate using only recyclable materials sign up for Trash-Free Tailgate.
  3. The EPA estimates that 75% of the American waste stream is recyclable, but we only recycle about 30% of it.
  4. We generate 21.5 million tons of food waste each year. If we composted that food, it would reduce the same amount of greenhouse gas as taking 2 million cars off the road.
  5. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to listen to a full album on your iPod. Recycling 100 cans could light your bedroom for two whole weeks. Sign up for 5 Cans Challenge to save energy and show off your creative side.
  6. The Container Recycling Institute (CRI) estimates that the 36 billion aluminum cans land filled last year had a scrap value of more than $600 million.
  7. Americans throw away about 28 billion bottles and jars every year.
  8. Over 87% of Americans have access to curbside or drop-off paper recycling programs.
  9. In 2009, Americans threw away almost 9 million tons of glass. That could fill enough tractor trailers to stretch from NYC to LA (and back!).
  10. In 2010, paper recycling had increased over 89% since 1990.
  11. A glass container can go from a recycling bin to a store shelf in as few as 30 days.Image result for recycling the world

Be the change! Recycle! This may be something small that you are doing but it makes a BIG difference!!! Image result for recycling the world

The link is below:

https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-recycling

America's Effort, Individual Change, Uncategorized

Update on Pescetarian Diet

The Pescetarian Diet:Image result for pescetarian diet

In my last post I talked about how I was going to try the pescetarian diet. If you don’t remember, the pescetarian diet is when you are pretty much a vegetation but you still eat seafood for the omega 3’s. For the entire month of February I tried new recipes and stayed true to my values. I am going to be honest… I had one slip up. It was after a late night outing, one of of my friends made pizza rolls. I ate two pizza rolls which contained meat. I wasn’t all there in my head but I am sad that that was the only factor that caused me not to be meat free. I am happy to say that  I enjoyed the diet and will continue to follow through with it.

There are two things that I think I might try but I’m not sure yet. I might want to have meat once a month in case I want to go back to my normal ways. Going vegetation could mess up your digestive system if you go without meat for a certain amount of time and then all of sudden try to bring it back. Your digestive system gets used to not having meat. I have also heard of a weekday vegetation. Image result for eating less meatThis means during the week you continue to follow through with not eating meat but on the weekends you are allowed to have meat. This still follows my same values. You are still helping the environment, you are reducing your meat consumption, and it is a lot more healthier than eating meat everyday. It is something I am going to think of. One top of that, I still do enjoy some meals that contain meat. That is why with the weekday veggie or once a month meat eater, you can still enjoy that. I also don’t like to be an inconvenience for people. Not everyone provides a veggie option.

Somethings I learned while trying to go pescetarian:

It is not as hard as you think. When you do try it, make sure you don’t have any meat in your house because it could cause some temptations. Talk to people who support and talk about the struggles. I have also found out that it is not the meat that I love so much.

Image result for eating less meat

It is the seasoning. There is a substitute for almost everything. All you need to do is find a substitute for the meat or meal you are making and add that same seasonings. It also always taste very similar if not better in my opinion.

One example that I can think of is tacos. I love tacos but I can’t eat ground beef. A way I found to make this work was to use beans instead of meat. I am not talking about deep fried beans but actual beans like pinto or black beans. I then added tacos seasoning to the beans and a little bit a lemon and it was amazing! Of course I had cheese and tomatoes as well! Literally, I enjoy the tacos just as much as I did before and feel a little bit better about it as well. You just have to be creative.Image result for beans

I have also tried a lot of new fish recipes. I have never had fish until I came to college. My mom doesn’t like it so it wasn’t something that was never cooked in my house. I have actually have  grown a real love for fish and have now cooked it often.

One struggle I had was when the weather was nice, my friends had a cook out. They grilled up hamburgers. The hamburgers smelled and looked so good. I held my ground and didn’t have one although I wanted one. Later I found a substitute for hamburgers although I have not tried it yet. I am excited to see how that turns out.

I still challenge you to try the pescetarian diet, you might actually really enjoy it and it might change your life!! Good luck!

America's Effort, Global Impact, Individual Change

Saving the BEES!

What would the world be like without bees? Image result for a world without bees

My first thought is oh no honey! I love honey but would I die if I didn’t have it? Probably not. What about coffee? Clothes? Bees do a lot more that what we think!

Image result for bee colony collapseIn US over these last 10 years, over 40% of the bee colonies have suffered Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). CCD is caused by the increased usage of pesticides. This is a problem because we won’t survive without bees!

BEES ARE LITERALLY THE LIFE BLOOD OF THE FOOD CHAIN! FOOD CHAINS WILL COLLAPSE!

Plants can’t bear fruit unless they have been pollinated. Bees pollinate 70% of the crops that feed 90% of the world! This is about 1/3 of the food you consume. Image result for bees pollinating

What kinds of foods are we talking about? 

  • Apples
  • Mangos
  • Rambutan
  • Kiwi Fruit
  • Plums
  • Peaches
  • Nectarines
  • Guava
  • Rose Hips
  • PomegranitesImage result for food we wouldn't have without bees
  • Pears
  • Black and Red Currants
  • Alfalfa
  • Okra
  • Strawberries
  • Onions
  • Cashews
  • Cactus
  • Prickly Pear
  • Apricots
  • Allspice
  • Avocados
  • Passion Fruit
  • Lima Beans
  • Kidney Beans
  • Adzuki Beans
  • Green Beans
  • Orchid Plants
  • Custard Apples
  • Cherries
  • Celery
  • Coffee
  • Walnut
  • Cotton
  • Lychee
  • Flax
  • Acerola – used in Vitamin C supplementsImage result for food we wouldn't have without bees
  • Macadamia Nuts
  • Sunflower Oil
  • Goa beans
  • Lemons
  • Buckwheat
  • Figs
  • Fennel
  • Limes
  • Quince
  • Carrots
  • Persimmons
  • Palm Oil
  • Loquat
  • Durian
  • Cucumber
  • Hazelnut
  • Cantaloupe
  • Tangelos
  • CorianderImage result for no food without bees
  • Caraway
  • Chestnut
  • Watermelon
  • Star Apples
  • Coconut
  • Tangerines
  • Boysenberries
  • Starfruit
  • Brazil Nuts
  •  Beets
  • Mustard Seed
  • Rapeseed
  • Broccoli
  • Cauliflower
  • Cabbage
  • Brussels Sprouts
  • Bok Choy (Chinese Cabbage)
  • Image result for no food without beesTurnips
  • Congo Beans
  • Sword beans
  • Chili peppers, red peppers, bell peppers, green peppers
  • Papaya
  • Safflower
  • Sesame
  • Eggplant
  • Raspberries
  • Image result for no food without beesElderberries
  • Blackberries
  • Clover
  • Tamarind
  • Cocoa
  • Black Eyed Peas
  • Vanilla
  • Cranberries
  • Tomatoes
  • Grapes

This list can keep going. Not to mention all the recipes that require these foods!

And it’s not just produce that is at risk here! Were talking about: beef, milk, cheese! We wouldn’t have these either! Bees pollinate alfalfa and guess what? COWS EAT ALFALFA! Think about how much beef you eat? Do you see how these relate?  Image result for cows eat alfalfa

 

Farmers would have to convert to growing wheat and corn because they are wind pollinated. Our diets would lack nutrients, there would be health complications and have less diverse foods. Our economy would be effected as well! Crop prices would raise so much that their prices could be equivalent to gold!! I already think fruits and veggie prices are high enough! Even beautiful plants wouldn’t be able to grow without bees! Trees would even be effected! The Earth would be so bare and look like a desert. Image result for what would the planet look like without bees

Without bees we would have shirking food resources (plants and animals), lack of nutrients, famine, fertility rates would stop…this would eventually lead to extinction! We would BE dead without BEES!

What are the possibly solutions?

Hand pollination, scientist building robotic bees, pollinator drones? These are all being tested but might not be enough. Image result for hand pollination

What can we do? 

Plant flowers without pesticides! Image result for what would the planet look like without bees

 

Check out this ted talk about bees!

 

America's Effort, Individual Change

What can I Recycle?

A lot of Americans are now recycling which is great! But… a lot of the times people don’t know what to recycle or if something is able to be recycled or not. To end this confusion and worry that I know we are all having, below is going to be that mystery list that contains what CAN and CANNOT be recycled!

 

I some found interesting information on ecoscapes.com. They had 3 general guidelines that I thought would be beneficial to share:

  1. Recycle all bottles, cans, and paper
  2. Keep items relatively clean
  3. Don’t mix plastic bags in with the rest of your recycled items

 

With that said let’s go over the DO’s and DON’T!

 

DO RECYCLE:

 Plastics/Bottles: This includes any plastic bottles or containers.

Paper and Cardboard: This includes cereal boxes, snack/cracker cardboard boxes, phonebooks, magazines, mail (recommend to take your information off first), all paper, newspaper, and cardboard.

Metals: This includes tin, aluminum, and steel cans.

Glass: This includes food containers, jars, soft drink containers, beer, wine and liquor bottles.

 

do recycle items

 

DON’T RECYCLE: 

Loose Plastic Bags: This includes plastic shopping bags and plastic stretch wrap.

Polystyrene Foam Cups or Containers: This includes egg cartons, take out containers and drinking cups.

Soiled Food Items: This includes food soiled containers and soiled paper products.

Others: This includes broken or sharp glass, fast food packaging and plastic utensils.

Don't Recycle Items

 

 

About 70% of our trash can be recycled

We only recycle 30% 🙁

LET’S CHANGE THAT!!

Start recycling!!!!

 

 

Image result for reuse recycle reduce

America's Effort, Individual Change

Why we should consider Indoor Farming

Indoor farming!? Ever heard of it? I didn’t know much about it either until I did some research. Indoor farming is the future of urban farming!! You can grow your crops at any time of the year and anywhere in the world! Think of the possibilities! Not only that but we don’t have to worry about the use of pesticides! Why? Because it’s indoors and that means no bugs! We can create the prefect crops and plants! Especially with today’s food production. There is a demand for food increase. Crops are currently being grown where climate conditions and in land that allows. Indoor farming expands this by allowing the crops to be grown ANYWHERE and AT ANY TIME! (I had to restate that and put a little emphasis on it because that is just amazing to me!)Image result for indoor farming

Side note: Although indoor farming is great, this doesn’t mean we should just give up on saving and taking care of our planet. I believe this is just an alternate solution especially with the population increase. It is also great to get year round veggies and fruit!!

 

Let’s talk about the benefits:

Indoor farming is more productive! It is so much more productive than traditional farming that it can produce 100 times more! It is because of the direction that one grows the crops. This may be confusing, let me explain. Indoor farms are designed vertically so it allows multiple different levels of production. For example, if you wanted to grow in your own home, traditionally you would have the plant sitting in a corner growing. Indoor farming allows you to grow on or behind the walls! Confused? Me too. Look at the picture below to get a better idea. 

This is just talking about your home. Imagine the possibles of a whole businesses or perhaps a warehouse of some sort. The production would overwhelming!

In the long run, indoor farming is more sustainable for a number of reasons! It uses less water (90% less), less power, less space and weather doesn’t have devastating effects on the crops like traditional farming does. Not to mention a recent concern with land space, no need to worry anymore! Indoor farming takes up not nearly as much space.Image result for indoor farming

We can grown organic food with out spending the extra money. We don’t need to use chemical pesticides or any chemicals in that matter to produce good crops. The environmental factors will not effect them because they are INDOOR! As I said before, fruits and vegetables YEAR ROUND! It is possible to harvest anything at any time! You want strawberries in December, not a problem! It’s so easy and simple!Image result for indoor farming

Technology is taking over traditional farming! There is no more for a need of fertilizers, getting down and dirty, or working harder than you need to! All of the requirements are good quality soil with nutrients, excellent lighting system, water, and of course space to grow. It’s that simple.Image result for indoor farming what do you need

Check out this Facebook video link!! Future farming might be in a warehouse in New York City!! Check out The Bowery Farming Company!! 

http://business.facebook.com/NowThisNews/videos/1384836634939790/