Recently we had a belated giveaway for Earth Day and one of the entry requirements was to comment an Earth Day tip. There were some awesome tips so I've compiled a list here, enjoy!
Home
1) Water plants with pasta water
2) Use a rain water barrel to collect water and then use to water the garden
3) Hang laundry and use wool dryer balls when drying to cut down drying time, and to replace dryer sheets and fabric softener (we recommend Splat And Co dryer balls of course)
"Hang laundry, If you must use a dryer use adorable dryer balls! " - Sarah Schaefer
4) Wash laundry in cold water and normal size loads
5) Unplug electrical appliances when not in use
6) Use LED light bulbs
7) Solar power
8) Turn off lights when you leave a room
9) Rechargeable batteries
10) Unpaper towels (we use cloth napkins and rags)
11) Put on a sweater instead of turning up the furnace ( Ideally a wool sweater as microplastics in our water are a major issue and wool is biodegradable)
"Get away from having a lawn and keeping it green with all that water!!!" - Tessa Dill
Food
1) use a reusable water bottle and coffee cups (ideally glass or stainless steel) I love my Klean Kanteen and Swell bottles, mason jars work great too!
2) Reusable containers ( we use stainless steel for our packed lunches Ecolunch Box and Onyx) and Glass Anchor for our leftovers and freezing as well as mason jars.
3) Beeswax wraps ( Abeego is awesome www.canada.abeego.com)
4) Covers for bowls for leftovers instead of plastic wrap (Edgy Moose www.facebook.com/The-Edgy-Moose-designs-1566967063578772/)
5) Carry your own utensils and straws when away from home
6) Grow your own food and regrow vegetables ( we've been re growing green onions,celery and lettuce)
7) Reduce,reuse and recycle ( try to reduce the amount of packaging coming into your house when grocery shopping, what does come in reuse (such as glass jars in your pantry, we purchase as much as we can in bulk)
8) Compost
Clothing
1) purchase second hand
2) Upcycle
3) Alter
4) If buying new choose natural fibres, ethically made, locally made
Transportation
1) Carpool
2) Bus
3) Walk and pick up litter along the way
5) Invest in an electric car
6) cycle
Personal Care
1) Use mama cloth ( we love Canadian company Treehugger www.treehuggerclothpads.com)
2) cloth diapers
3) cloth wipes
5) Shower instead of bath
6) Turn off the water when brushing your teeth
Shopping
1) Use cloth bags and leave a stash in the car
2) cloth bags and jars for produce and bulk section ( Bulk Barn www.bulkbarn.ca)
3) use reusable tubs or baskets
Miscellaneous
1) Pick up trash
2) repair items instead of replacing
3) repurpose items until they can't be used anymore and the recycle
"This is the only earth we have so we need to protect it! there is no Plan B Earth!" - Jessica Young