Earth Day!

What a wonderful world we live on. I often joke that my primary goal in fighting climate change is making sure the habitable zone for giant, flying insects stays by the equator where they belong. The irony of being a sustainability expert that is relatively "indoorsy" is not lost on me, but God creates everything with intention. Even those terrifying bugs.

Devil's Lake in Baraboo, WI

I often have people ask me what they should be doing to reduce their environmental impact, so, in honor of Earth Day, I've compiled a short list of environmental actions that make a bigger difference than people think.

1) Energy conservation! To quote your parents, turn the dang lights off and there's no need to heat the whole neighborhood. Conserving energy reduces carbon emissions and also indirectly conserves water, since many methods of electricity production burn fossil fuels and use substantial amounts of water for cooling.

2) Reducing! In a culture that always demands we spend more time and money on accruing items we don't need, reducing our consumption makes a huge impact. You avoid carbon emissions from the freight vehicles that typically transport consumer goods, and reduce waste from packaging and products designed for obsolescence.

3) Reusing/Repairing! In the same vein as reducing, reusing and repairing the items you have to extend their lifespan rather than replacing them makes a big environmental impact. Companies can make this difficult, since many companies don't sell parts to repair their products, or they make the parts so expensive it doesn't make financial sense to repair instead of replace.

4) Recycling! Bonus points if you learn about and use different recycling streams for unique items. Madewell offers free denim recycling for any brand (and you get a coupon for a discount on new jeans), Best Buy will take most electronic waste for free, and I take my metal recycling to a local recycling center where I'm paid whole entire quarters for it. Grocery stores also accept soft plastic films that should NEVER EVER go in your single-stream bin.

5) Composting! This can be done in your yard, inside your apartment, in a community garden, or (if you're lucky) your city may offer pick-up or drop-off sites. Food waste does not break down well in landfills, as they're an anaerobic (no oxygen) environment. This causes a chemical breakdown where organic waste produces methane gas, which is substantially more potent than carbon dioxide and contributes heavily to global warming. Food waste also contributes to less energy being produced from waste-to-energy plants (incinerators) due to their high water content.

Just for fun, I've also compiled a list of actions that make less of a difference than people think.

1) Putting everything you can in your single-stream recycling bin. Particularly when they're not supposed to be recycled! Contamination in recycling of food remnants, compostable bioplastics, yard waste, or just straight-up garbage do more harm to recycling systems than good. As painful as it is, when in doubt, throw it out!

2) Using compostable or paper straws instead of plastic. Plastic straws take up the same space in a landfill as compostable or paper straws, and unless restaurants or individuals are putting compostable straws into composting waste streams (which are a rarity in the U.S.), they're going to the same place. Not to mention, plastic straws can be an important accessibility item for disabled people as they seek to receive proper nutrition.

To wrap up, I wanted to include a quote from Anne-Marie Bonneau, who is an award-winning author and speaker with a specialty in sustainability.

"We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly. We need millions of people doing it imperfectly."

Anne-Marie Bonneau, author of Zero Waste Chef

I hope you all have a happy Earth Day, and don't give in to the pressure of perfectionism. Your imperfect sustainability efforts are enough!