Climate Tips from YUWO's Climate Action Network

TAKE THE PLASTIC FREE JULY CHALLENGE!

While we relish longer days and more time outdoors, we can also look around us and make small changes that have a huge impact for our communities, our health and our planet.

Join the 100+ million strong movement of refusing single use plastic — there are plenty of places (at home, in restaurants, grocery stores and cafes) as a start and plenty of ways to do just one thing by swapping out plastic with green alternatives. Click here for ideas from our friends at Wilton Go Green to make your switch in July. In just 30 days, your small change will take hold and become a habit, maybe one that inspires others to join the movement. Collectively your small change will become part of the collective solution for solving the plastic pollution problem.

There are hundreds of simple ways to feel good about your contributions in preventing one more piece of plastic from landing in the trash:

• Be Ready with Reusable Bags:  Keep reusable shopping bags & reusable produce bags handy in your car for trips to grocery stores and other errands throughout the day. Reusable bags can also serve another purchase — for putting your fruits and veggies in versus the plastic bags supplied at the grocery store.

• Look for Products with Minimal Packaging:  Where feasible, choose products with minimal or no plastic packaging, and consider buying local produce unpackaged. For purchasing meats and fish, can your preferred grocer package these items in paper versus plastic?

• Glass & Metal Containers Can Hold and Store Food:  Switch from plastic containers to glass or metal options for food storage. Look to glass and metal as alternatives to plastic for packaging food —oils for example can usually be found in both metal and glass containers both easily recyclable materials. Save all the pasta sauce and jelly jars you get to reuse as food storage!

• Identify Household items that Can Make the Switch to Sustainable Materials: Plastic free solutions are within our reach for the bath, wash and cleaning products. There are plenty of refillable companies for any of your household products including Blueland, Grove Collaborativeand Earthhero. Take a look and make the switch – just one product can make a difference! Even going back to something as simple as bar soap makes a difference!

• Skip the straws and plastic utensils at take-out:  Portable metal straws and utensils sets are the perfect plastic replacement and get thousands of uses.

Plastic Free July is an opportunity to take the pressure off the planet and do one thing that moves us away from our dependence on single use plastics.  

Learn more and join the official Plastic Free July Challenge to create sustainable habits that will last a lifetime.Worldwide, almost 40 percent of food is wasted. Nearly two billion people go hungry every year: yet we waste enough food to give each of them at least one additional meal every day.

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UPDATE ON FOOD WASTE: WHAT YOU CAN DO

Worldwide, almost 40 percent of food is wasted. Nearly two billion people go hungry every year: yet we waste enough food to give each of them at least one additional meal every day.

In rich countries, the food is simply thrown out because it doesn’t look perfect, it’s past its due date, or we just don’t want it. In poor countries, most food waste happens because it spoils before it can get to market or be eaten—which is why inventions like this sticker, that releases natural antimicrobial vapors to keep fruit and vegetables from spoiling for weeks, are so important.

And in both cases, when food decays, it produces methane, a powerful heat-trapping gas. Worldwide, if food waste were its own country, it would be the third biggest emitter in the world!

Everyone eats food, so reducing your food waste is a climate action that’s accessible to us all. Although many improvements are needed along the food chain, ReFed identifies four key solutions everyone can engage in:

• Changing our behavior including menu planning to make sure you eat the food you buy; understanding the difference between “best by” versus “use by” to avoid throwing out food that is still good; storing food properly so it doesn’t go bad; and figuring out how to use leftovers. Personally, I’ve started shopping for groceries multiple times a week instead of doing one big shop, so that the items I use are fresher and less likely to be forgotten in the back of my fridge until they’ve gone bad.
• Managing our portion sizes. Did you know these have grown massively over the years? If you have too much food, save it for later (and make sure you have storage on hand to make it easy).
• Knowing where to donate unused food, especially if you organize group events that often have leftovers.
• Using apps that help find food that is still good to eat but would otherwise go to waste. These apps are usually local, so I recommend searching for what’s available where you live. For example, where I live in Texas, Too Good To Go allows consumers to purchase “surprise bags” from local businesses at a discounted price. One local bakery near me was offering a surprise bag containing $18 worth of items for $6!

Whether you influence decisions at a restaurant, school, company, or at home, there are smart ways to cut food waste, and, once again, the most powerful tool you have is your voice. Advocating for policies that help your organization, community, or even your country, reduce waste can drive real change.

As I’ve shared before, South Korea has nearly eliminated food waste through a nationwide curbside composting program—because people demanded it. If no one speaks up, how will solutions like this ever be adopted?

CALCULATE YOUR OWN CARBON FOOTPRINT

“GRAY IS GREEN”

New YUWO member, Kathleen Schomaker, has been researching and sharing information with others to help provide a more sustainable future for all our children and grandchildren.  Visit her “Gray is Green” website at https://grayisgreen.org and consider signing up for her Newsletter.  If you are involved in efforts toward creating a sustainable future, please email Margaret Sipple at sipplemp@gmail.com or Sharon Huttner at sharonhuttner48@gmail.com

The Climate Action Network would like to learn more about the different ways YUWO members are taking positive action.

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