World Environment Day (5 Simple Lifestyle Tips, VIDEO)
* 5 Minute Video + Transcription Below *
Hey there! It’s Brittany Stepniak, founder of Brainwashblog.com, which is a therapeutical approach to the everyday chaos and magic of life. But today in honor of World Environment Day — which is a celebration hosted by the United Nations to spread awareness and share information about protecting this beautiful world we live in — I want to share just 5 super quick and easy environmental tips with you. Because changing the world really starts with changing ourselves through small behaviors that then become habits.
1.) So number one, of course most of you are doing what you can to reduce, reuse, and recycle, but just make sure you’re checking labels and reading up on what’s actually accepted at recycling centers in your area because it does vary from town to town.
For example, a lot of water bottles, sports drinks, coffee creamers–– they come in plastic bottles that can be easily recycled, but that plastic wrapping on it usually cannot be. So just snip it and unwind it. Toss it in the trash; it takes an extra 10 seconds. On that note, there are 7 types of plastic that you can recycle, but not all of them are allowed everywhere. The most common are 1’s and 2’s, but just look for that little triangle that’s on the back or the bottom; it’s little angled arrows and that lets you know if it’s recyclable but it also tells you what type so you can match it up to what’s allowed at your recycling center.
2.) Number two: avoid using toxic chemicals in and outside your home when you can.
Instead of using things like pesticides and herbicides like roundup, which has been linked to numerous cancer lawsuits and billions of dollars in settlement money, just do a 5 minutes research on natural alternatives to pest control. For example, you can use lavender and basil in your yards and gardens to deter mosquitos and still attract other pollinators like bees and butterflies. Essential oils like eucalyptus, lemongrass, and peppermint are good for mosquitos, and citronella can be as effective as DEET–– far less toxic to your children and your pets. There are also other products for purchase that use non-toxic methods like LED violet light and chemical-free dehydration, so just google that. Keep the friendly pollinators, [and] kill the ones you don’t want–– mainly just the mosquitos.
3.) Number three is energy efficiency, and this is a true story: when I moved into this house just a few months ago and the neighbor said he installed solar panels and his electric bill was $8 a month.
That’s the same price as a fancy cup of coffee or a glass of wine at a restaurant — for an entire month of residential energy. So even if you can’t do fully solar as a transition, small things like swapping out your regular bulbs for compact fluorescent light bulbs, and just being conscientious about turning off lights when you leave the room, turning of the TV and other electronics when you’re not using them, and keeping your thermostat at about 78 in the summer and 68 in the winter; it will save a lot of money and help the environment.
4.) Also, look into number four: community clean-up groups, and I know that we’re in a pandemic right now, so the whole group, community aspect of it might not be possible, but afterwards, look into it.
We have tons of fun ones here in the Chesapeake Bay Area. You get to meet new people and help out at the same time, just a few hours on the weekend [and] you don’t have to commit tons of time if you don’t want to. But even right now while the pandemic is going on, you and your family can spend an afternoon hiking up to your local reservoir, another neighborhood, a nearby park, a river, something, and you can have a fun, free family day of just cleaning up and helping out. It will teach your children how rewarding social responsibility actually can be.
5.) Number five is about eliminating single-use plastics when you can.
According to EcoWatch, we currently dump the equivalent one garbage truck per day into the ocean every single minute, and that’s enough to circle the planet about four times over. So if every single person just did one or two plastic consumption changes, we can begin to reduce this gargantuan amount of plastic waste. So purchase of a Brita filter and get a reusable water bottle instead of buying cases of plastic water in bulk, look into a reusable silicone bags instead of those little ziplock sandwich baggies. Bring your own grocery bags to the supermarket, instead of using theirs. Another fun thing to note, you can find products now that are made out of recyclable bottles and little odds and ends. For example, Rothy’s is a high end brand; they’re pricey, but they’re made out of 100% post-consumer plastic water bottles. So it’s just another fun gift idea for that environmentally-conscientious loved one on your list!
Anyway, these are just some easy things to think about as you go through your day–– turning on and off the lights, swapping out your sandwich baggies, getting reusable water bottles, and using lavender instead of whatever chemicals your pesticide-sprayer wants to use.
In the mean time, I hope you have a very happy World Environment Day and cheers to making big differences, one small, altered behavior at a time.
