Sustainable Living
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Secondhand September: Embracing Conscious Consumption
Secondhand September is a month-long initiative encouraging all of us to explore and embrace the world of secondhand fashion and goods. This global movement is not just about finding great deals—it’s about making a positive impact on our planet and our communities. Along with Platsic-Free July, Secondhand September is one of our favourite months: Alison and I are both avid secondhand and thrift shoppers and a month that focuses on the benefits of secondhand items will always be exciting for us! The Rise of Secondhand September Secondhand September was initiated by Oxfam, a UK-based charity organization, as part of its broader mission to promote sustainable fashion and reduce waste. The…
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How joining together makes a difference for our planet
The last couple of months I’ve been pretty close to house-bound due to a recent injury. This period of time has truly highlighted the value of community to me. I would have suffered and struggled so much more if it were not for the people that rallied around me. It feels fitting that we’ve come up on the two year anniversary of our Climate Change Collective. The Climate Change Collective is a group of bloggers that have monthly conversations via our blogs about different climate change related topics. This month, we’re taking time to look back on how many topics we’ve covered together. For me, this anniversary is a reminder…
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Summer fun with kids: How to build a solar oven
I was recently putting together treat bags for my daughter’s birthday and trying to minimize the cost to create the 25 or so bags. One of my ideas to stay within budget was to melt old crayons in a mold to make new marbled crayons to share. To make the process fun (and keep the house cooler on a hot day), we decided to experiment with using a homemade solar oven to melt the old crayons in our mold! A solar oven uses the sun’s energy to heat food or other items, reducing the need for conventional energy sources. Building a solar oven out of a cardboard box turned out…
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Sustainability Thoughts for Days When Life Gives you Lemons
A while ago I wrote about things you can do for the environment when you are too tired to care. Sometimes life is just too overwhelming to be able to focus on sustainability and I really get that. We cannot be all things all the time and it’s important to acknowledge that. This week I’ve been dealing with a completely different overwhelming life issue which has made me think about the idea of sustainability when you are physically unable to do much. Life’s Unexpected Setbacks Last week I ended up injuring myself in a way that has left me physically unable to do much. Now, don’t get me wrong, I…
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Unique Plastic Solutions: 6 Innovations for a Greener Future
Plastic Free July 2024 is drawing to a close and the month seems to have gone by so quickly! Over the last few weeks Alison and I have shared about topics such as: After diving into the negative health and environmental effects of the many phases and types of plastic, I thought it would be interesting to share a few of the innovations and creative solutions that are emerging to tackle this serious issue that affects us all. After all, as much as many of us are trying to reduce or eliminate our plastic use, what can be done with the vast quantities of plastic currently in existence? Though plastic…
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Looking into the Life Cycle of Plastic
Plastic Free July is all about minimizing the plastic in our lives, but why is plastic so bad? A part of the problem is that plastic does not break down. Plastic is not biodegradable, so it takes hundreds of years for plastic to go anywhere. There is an entire life cycle of plastic before it gets to the garbage bin, though, so I want to take a look at this and see how else plastic hurts our planet. This post is a part of our Climate Change Collective conversations. We’re happy to contribute the lead post for the conversation this month. Learn more about the Climate Change Collective below. Plastic…