What I've Been Reading: April 2024, Part 2

 Books about the climate emergency, sisters, and birds

What I've Been Reading: January-February 2024

 Books about science, the climate crisis, and struggle

Are Electric Cars Really Better? (Why We Bought an Electric Car, 2-Year Update, Part Two!)

Are electric vehicles better for the environment, are they better for your wallet, and are they okay for our power grid? (Spoilers: yes.)

Why We Bought an Electric Car (and what it's like in real life): 2-Year Update, Part One!

 

Answers to questions about our electric car, battery life, charging, road-tripping, and more!

Plastic Free July: The Conclusion (Two Weeks Later)

 

Did anyone notice that August happened? I thought it was still July, and then it was August, and now the weather feels like October, and I'm just confused.

(And now it's two weeks later from when I started drafting this post and I still have no idea what month it is. Happy Pandemic!)

Plastic Free July: Trash from Days 18-24

(Read all Plastic Free July posts here.)

One of my good friends, Baba Yaga, a witch of Slavic folklore, is fond of saying to people as a means of farewell, "Don't get crushed by the existential dread!"

I've been saying this to myself a lot lately.

In the midst of personal crises (helping my mom as she faces a severe injury, and now self-quarantining with a head cold until I can get the results of my Covid test back*) and nationwide nonsense, I find it hard to feel like anything I do matters. I started a blog post on plastic-free swaps and ended up rage-quitting because the change needs to be so, so much bigger, and the amount of effort put into little tiny swaps for little tiny plastic pieces feels so wasted. 

I will return to the blog post one of these days. I'm still cataloguing my plastic. I'm still encouraging others to be mindful of your trash and try to figure out what it's telling you and where you want to head with your eco action. Some days the dread just feels heavier than others. I remind myself that there's nothing wrong with self-care, especially when that manifests as curling up with a library book and a cup of herbal tea that I harvested straight from the garden. 

To do more, I must rest more. Existential dread or not.

*Update: I just heard back and my test was negative! I'm just regular sick!

#mood

Below is a list of my trash, but first, some quick links…

• 10 Ways to Turn Off the Corporate Plastic Pollution Spigot by Zero Waste Chef. Helpful knowledge, petitions to sign, action ideas to effect larger-scale change, and more!

• How to NOT Go Zero Waste by Sustainable in the Suburbs. Really good (I mean bad) advice for getting started on your journey.

• 10 High-Impact Zero Waste Challenge Ideas by Polly Barks. These challenges encourage you to choose the action steps that will create the biggest impact.

• If we want a future in which everyone (regardless of income) has access to good, healthy, nourishing food, we need to invest in farmers who are looking not only to heal the soil but heal their communities. Three incredible farmers are currently fundraising, and every dollar counts. Check out Indy Srinath (L.A.), Amber Tamm Canty (New York) and Sylvanaqua Farms (Virginia). 

Now, onto the trash!

Parchment paper (trash)— Perhaps I will buy biodegradable parchment paper in the future when I am not under active quarantine. What a strange, distant future this is. What is the future? What is the past? What is reality? At least I have bread.  

Dried fruit bag (recycle at store)— This is clean and dry, so I can add it to bag recycling to take to the grocery store. You can normally buy dried fruit in bulk, if you live in a mythical world where there is either no pandemic or you're allowed to bring your own container and also probably if you live on the west coast or something. Maybe I should dry my own fruit instead, from the farmers market. Honestly. I have a dehydrator. It wouldn't be that hard.

Peanut butter seal (recycle at store)— Organic peanut butter comes in tiny jars and we eat a lot!

Sausage wrapping (trash)— Support your local farmer!

Plastic bag (recycle at store)

Tortilla seals (recycle at store)

Tortilla chip bag (trash)— I fell behind on making Zach's snacks this week, so he filled in the cracks with a bag of chips and a jar of salsa. I may or may not have sneaked several chips as well. 

Floss (trash)— I might possibly maybe order some silk floss sometime in the undetermined future.

Receipts (trash)

Tofu packaging (recycle at store once cleaned)— I have made tofu from scratch before, but so far I've had no luck finding bulk soybeans in the Midwest! Why is this? I can bike five minutes from my house and see soybean fields with no end in sight, and yet I haven't found a store here that carries the actual beans! #governmentconspiracy #noactuallyitis

Half-and-half carton (recycle)— I learned that our city does accept these kinds of cartons for recycling! Not everywhere does, though, so be sure to check your regulations.

Butter wrappers (trash)— For the aforementioned bread.

Packing tape (trash)— This was the lone piece of plastic on a 48-roll pack of Who Gives a Crap toilet paper. So I'd say that's pretty good. 

Cheese wrapper (trash)— So many quesadillas.

~~~

Updated goals for this month:

1. Don't get Covid. *(Update: Managed to meet this goal better than I expected!)

2. Get well from the cold.

3. Use points 1 and 2 to be able to actually visit my injured mother again.

4. Figure out where to buy silk floss.

5. Write one blog post (it's currently half-finished after I rage-quit).

6. Make a list of zero-waste swaps and resources to research later when I'm not so physically and emotionally exhausted.

7. Write one email asking a brand to take responsibility for its plastic packaging.

8. Eat more bread.

~~~

Want to support my work? You can send a few bucks via my Ko-Fi page, or check out my illustration work for sale on Zazzle. Thanks!

Plastic Free July: Trash from Days 11-17

(Read all Plastic Free July posts here.) 

I'll be honest: it's been a pretty bad week. Between an allergic reaction to a wasp sting on my ankle that made it impossible for me to walk or stand, to spending a lot of time at my mom's house helping out after she broke her collarbone, it's one of those weeks that is just never-ending exhaustion and annoyance and the occasional emotional breakdown. 

Plastic Free July: Trash from the First 10 Days

(Read all Plastic Free July posts here.)

Even though I officially started Plastic Free July a little late, fortunately I had the foresight to start saving my plastic trash on the first. So, I now have 10 days' worth of plastic trash to analyze!

Plastic Free July: 10 Zero Waste Blogs to Check Out

Okay so this photo has nothing to do with the post, but I like it anyway.

If you're looking for some good reading this July, use these 10 blogs as a starting point! I'll admit that I don't listen to podcasts or watch videos very much, so feel free to chime in with ones you've found helpful!

Polly Barks- One of my favorite bloggers because she's always thinking beyond the individual— she encourages large-scale problem-solving and challenges you to use your privilege, knowledge, and skills to help others! Also check out her excellent book, More Than a Plastic Bag, which just came out.

Sensible Sustainability- Yue takes huge amounts of information and presents it in manageable chunks, while still showing the nuance and complexity of environmental issues. If you're interested in the larger implications of zero waste, this is a great place to start.

Fat Change- Mariah covers a wide range of environmental topics, with an emphasis on how environmentalism fits into real life.

Zero Waste Chef- With a focus on avoiding food waste, Anne-Marie is funny, practical, and deeply encouraging. I've learned so much from her! (Also, if you're one of the many who started a sourdough during quarantine, you'll find a lot of useful tips here.)

Old World New- Tips and sponsored content with a focus on eco-friendly fashion, parenting, and Black-owned businesses.

Litterless- Although Celia isn't blogging anymore, she still keeps her website up to date with bulk shopping options and a treasure trove of nuts-and-bolts tips for living plastic-free.

The Daily Greens- Accessible and encouraging, Abbey focuses on practical steps for a lower-waste life.

Sustainable in the Suburbs- Sarah blogs about eco-friendly life with children in a "cookie-cutter neighborhood." A great resource for families, especially those who live in (you guessed it) the suburbs!

Rob Greenfield- This environmental activists engages in extreme life experiments to prove important points about the way we live on the earth. Great for anyone wanting to stretch themselves beyond the easy swaps. 

Leah Stella Payne- Interviews, recipes, and practical tips for cutting your waste.

What are your favorite environmental blogs/Instagrams/YouTube channels/podcasts?

~~~

Want to support my work? You can send a few bucks via my Ko-Fi page, or check out my illustration work for sale on Zazzle. Thanks!

Plastic Free July: Why Is Plastic So Bad?

An illustration of my roommate's cat checking out my plastic-free farmers market haul

(Read all Plastic Free July posts here.)

As you may have noticed, there is a lot going on in the world right now. We as humans can only keep up with a couple things at a time, and it may seem a bit weird to try to care about plastic pollution at this particular moment. 

But I wanted to do a quick run-down of the reasons that I'm doing #plasticfreeJuly, and why I believe that plastic matters, especially now.

1. Plastic factories are harmful to people. In the U.S., plastic is manufactured in incredibly polluting factories, negatively affecting the communities around them with respiratory issues and cancer. See this article and this one for more about "Cancer Alley" in Louisiana. Factories are overwhelmingly placed in communities of color, so plastic is a racial issue. And speaking of racism…

2. Our plastic trash harms people in other countries. The U.S. sends a huge amount of plastic waste (supposedly for recycling) to other countries, where it creates huge health and safety hazards and often isn't recycled at all. Read more about that process here.

3. Plastic harms wildlife. Plastic never decomposes, but it does degrade, breaking into smaller and smaller pieces. These, along with microplastics (threads of polyester, microbeads from cosmetic products, etc.), wash into waterways and are eaten by fish and small creatures, sometimes starving them because their bodies can't process it.

Although plastic has improved our lives in countless ways, especially in the medical field and for accessibility (and I'm particularly grateful for plastic technology in backpacking gear, too), the vast majority of plastic goods— polyester and flatware, microbeads and bottles— could be scaled back significantly. If we only used plastic where it was really important, the waste would be easier to deal with and the need for factories would go down. We can be part of making that happen.

What motivates you to reduce your plastic waste?

~~~

Want to support my work? You can send a few bucks via my Ko-Fi page, or check out my illustration work for sale on Zazzle. Thanks!

Plastic-Free July: A Late Start

Hello friends!

July definitely sneaked up on me this year, and I realized a bit too late that Plastic-Free July— an international month-long challenge to refuse single-use plastics— was already underway. No matter, though, I'm doing my own version of the challenge anyway!

If you want to play along at home, here's my basic process: 

1: Start collecting all the plastic waste that I accumulate in one spot.

2. At the end of each week, catalogue all the plastic and analyze where it came from, how it can be reused or recycled, and whether or not I can avoid it in the first place.

3. Start making a couple swaps to reduce some of the plastic. (For instance, I want to make produce bags so we can buy fruit loose instead of bagged.)

4. Challenge myself to make some of the harder swaps. 

This week I'm focusing on just collecting plastic, without any shame or blame or change of habits, to see what I end up with. Next week, I'll start focusing on changing my habits to reduce it.

I'll be sharing tips, info, and helpful articles about plastic both here and on my Facebook page, as well as posting about my plastic consumption and what I learn along the way. It's going to be a weird challenge with all the Covid stuff going on, but I'll do my best!

Would you like to do the challenge with me? If so, leave a comment below so we can cheer each other on!

~~~

Notes from a Civil Rights Movement

Dear Black friends,

I love you, am listening to you, grieve with you, and support you. I repent of my silence and my apathy, and promise to dive into the hard work of unlearning the white supremacist script I've read all my life, and to fight alongside you. Your lives, your success, your flourishing, and your right to joy matter.

Love, Lisa

~~~

Dear white friends,

Six Ways to Help Mitigate Flooding

Frontier Park, St. Charles, 2017

A couple weekends ago, the St. Louis area experienced a flash flood caused by an ungodly amount of rain falling all at once. The ground couldn't hold it, the storm drains got overwhelmed, and three inches of water gushed up from the drain into Zach's and my basement, destroying a whole lot of our roommate's stuff. Our house smelled like wet cardboard for a week, and it got me thinking about flooding.

22 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day While Quarantined

A few weeks ago I was pretty bummed out when I scratched "STL Earth Day Fest" from my calendar. In the past I've enjoyed attending the festival to walk around the brightly-colored booths, learn about local environmental projects, watch chickens and meet farmers, explore hands-on activities, enjoy food from local eco-friendly restaurants, and more. But of course, this year we'll be hanging out at home— or, at best, taking a walk in a nearby park— and that got me thinking of all the ways to celebrate Earth Day while quarantined. 

The Greener Year Challenge: Spread the Word

Fellow volunteers at an organic farm in Washington, 2010

I chose "spreading the word" as the final theme for the Greener Year Challenge because it's a wonderful way to tie everything together. Individual actions are important because they help us make sense of the larger issues and align our actions with our ethics— but collective action is essential if we want to heal the hurts that the earth is currently experiencing.

Zero waste is wonderful, but not effective if it's totally inaccessible to most of the population. Using your own water bottle saves plastic, but if the groundwater is polluted there are bigger issues at hand. Gardening is great, but it's useless if acid rain is falling. We need to step back and look at the bigger issues: accessibility, pollution, ecosystem health, watershed health, local economy, and so on. This can be totally overwhelming when you just begin your journey, but, as always, there are ways to break it down into actionable steps. 

Here are some ideas, no matter where you are in your journey. 

BEGINNER:

Remember that doing something is better than doing nothing. Perfectionism is the enemy of getting anything done, and that includes being kinder to the planet. Can't give up your gas-guzzling commute? Start eating less conventionally-raised meat to make up for it. Frustrated that there is no "zero waste" shopping in your area? Buy something in glass instead of plastic. I repeat: Doing something is better than doing nothing!

Learn to listen. The older I get, the more I realize that I need to listen, because without listening, you can't understand. From an environmental perspective, it's especially important to listen to Indigenous peoples, people of color, people from the global South, and youth. White people love to think that we invented conservation, but indigenous peoples around the world have been interacting with and relying on the health of their ecosystem for thousands of years. In addition, in America, your skin color is the #1 factor in whether or not a toxic, polluting facility is built next to you. Environmental issues a matter of social justice as well. If you're unsure where to start, check out this overview of young activists of color making an impact.

Sorting blueberries: tasty and local!
(Another organic farm in WA, 2010)

Post about something eco-friendly on social media. Share an article that you found interesting, or post about something you're doing. You don't have to preach; just show the steps you're doing to improve, and maybe you'll inspire someone.

Give a zero-waste item to someone who doesn't have one. Tote bags, glass straws, water bottles, cloth napkins, and homemade beauty products all make great gifts. 

Find someone to keep you accountable. It's much easier to make changes to your life if you have someone cheering you on. Find someone else who wants to change their habits, too, and go at it together.

Look for an eco-friendly event in your area. Earth Day is coming up next month, so see if your city has an Earth Day event, and plan to attend! What about trash clean-ups, invasive species removal, or other events? It's worth a look. 

Sign petitions with the Sierra Club. One of this non-profit's projects is keeping an eye on legislation and notifying people when an issue comes up that requires petitions and signatures, such as a fracking ban bill in the Senate, rollbacks on environmental protections, and even letters to banks and investors asking to divest from fossil fuels. It's a quick and easy way to dip your toe into politics. 

INTERMEDIATE:

Step up to change the status quo. Enough people started using reusable bags that it's socially-acceptable. Let's make it that way of carrying a coffee mug, asking for to-go food in your own containers, growing food in your front yard, installing solar panels, and walking instead of taking a car. The more of us there are, the more we can do!

Keep a blog or other public diary about what you're doing. Keeping a blog is a great tool for keeping yourself accountable! It can inspire other people to make changes in their lives, too. My greatest moments are when someone tells me, "I've started eating less meat" or "I began composting" because of my blog.

Share zero-waste items with your community. This can look like many different things: sewing totes or produce bags to share at the farmers market; creating a lending library of silverware and plates for large events; setting up a compost bin at your work; creating a "leave a cup, take a cup" station at a coffeehouse; buying groceries in bulk and distributing them to neighbors for cost; or dozens of other options. Be creative and think about how you can share the love!

Join or start a club of like-minded people. The best things happen in community, and the more you can get people to help you out, the better. See if there is an environmental group near you (try terms like "zero waste" or "eco friendly groups") and join up, and if there's not, put out the word that you'd like to start one! (St. Louis friends, check out MO Green Action.)

Volunteering on a trail project in Washington, 2017

Get a group of friends together to volunteer. A lot of people would be happy to clean up litter, distribute food to the needy, or make phone calls for an organization they believe in— but it can be hard to get motivated if it's just you. Troll around https://www.volunteermatch.org/ and see if anything speaks to you. Ask some friends if they'd like to volunteer together, and make it happen! (St. Louis friends, check out EarthDance Farms, which has regular volunteer days.)

Have a call-your-senator party. If you're like me, calling people causes anxiety, but it's easier when you have solidarity. Find some like-minded people, invite them over, and then everyone calls their representatives about an issue that matters to them. Then celebrate with some homemade sourdough bread!

Write companies to ask them to reduce their environmental impact. Whether that's arguing against a human rights violation, asking for greater transparency in the process, lobbying with a labor union, asking them to reduce packaging, or simply taking your business elsewhere, public opinion can sway companies in certain circumstances. Here's an example of what that can look like.

Share your skills. If you know how to bake bread, shop in bulk, decode meat labels, fix a bike, do taxes, or arrange flowers, offer that skill to someone else. The more we help each other out, the more skilled we'll all become (and the more energy we'll have to fight the good fight!). (Check out February's post for more ideas.)

ADVANCED: 

Get involved in policy change in your city. Find out when and where your city council meets and start showing up. At public comments sections, talk about things that affect your city's environmental impact, such as zoning, walking and biking infrastructure, public transit, carbon emissions, municipal composting, and more. You (and some friends) can try to get specific policies passed (overturning a ban on front-yard gardens, banning plastic bags, securing funding for bike infrastructure, etc.), or petition your city to make an environmental resolution that details how the city is going to meet some sort of goal (for examples, see the city of Clayton's sustainability resolution). You can also talk personally with city council members, or run for office. 

Lead community workshops. Do you have skills and want to share with more than just your friends? Find a public space and spread the word! Community centers, churches, and libraries are good places to start, although if the weather is nice you can always use a park as well. 

Campaign for causes you care about. Find an issue that matters to you and thoroughly research it. But don't stop there— figure out what you can actually do to help. What's your issue— zero waste, Indigenous land sovereignty, regenerative agriculture, rainforest destruction, pollution, strip-mining, littering laws, municipal composting, saving a particular species/ecosystem? Throw all of your force into that, and give yourself permission to let some of the details slide. You'll likely be more effective if you're focused, and then everyone who is focused can share with others.

Devote a monthly stream of money to environmental causes. There are so many amazing groups doing good work, and you can amplify their efforts with a monthly donation. If everyone in the U.S. donated just one dollar a month to a non-profit they cared about, a lot of the organizations would be better funded. If you're unsure where to start, check out The Indigenous Environmental Network, The Sierra Club, The Land Institute, The Cornucopia Institute— and for my St. Louis friends, EarthDance Farms and Great Rivers Greenway.

Never stop learning. Pace yourself, but always keep reading, listening, studying, and letting your mind be changed about how to best serve the earth that we've been given. Your sense of focus will change over time, and that's totally okay. Never lock yourself into one perspective: be open to changing if you find a system or an idea that makes more sense for you. The important thing is to keep trying. We're all in this together!

Which of these challenges would you like to take on this month? What would you add to the list?

~~~

Previous posts in this series: 

Getting Started

Celebrate Biodiversity (April)

Optimize Energy (May)

Eat Your Leftovers (June)

Curb Your Trash (July)

Find Earth-Friendly Food (August)

Move Beyond Cars (September)

Green Your Home (October)

Rebel Against Consumerism (November)
Celebrate Sensibly (December)
Cultivate Skills (January)
Share Resources (February)