7 SMALL WAYS TO HELP THE ENVIRONMENT TODAY

WHITEWRITIN

We all love the beach, so lets try and save it together okay?!? Did you know that almost 40% of our ocean’s surfaces are covered in plastic? 14 billions pounds of garbage enter the ocean every year. We might think that as just one person we can’t make an impact, BUT we can! Small steps taken daily can help reduce your impact on our oceans, and on our beautiful planet. Here are 7 easy steps you can take today to do your part!

1. Reusable Water Bottles - over half of the garbage floating around the Pacific is plastic, and causes marine animal deaths by the hundreds daily. It takes a plastic bottle up to 400 years to decompose after it is thrown away. Reusable bottles are the EASIEST swap to make as they are cute, affordable, and refillable. Grab a few bottles, fill them up, and then line them up in your fridge just like you do with your plastic one! Grab N’ Go with your bottle and refill it throughout the day. Grab some Happy Sea stickers and get to decorating too, you can make those water bottles fun!

2.Reusable Bags - This is one I am very guilty of. I forget to put my cloth bag in the car, so I go to target and come home with 5 plastic bags. Some states are starting to charge a “grocery bag fee” so that you pay for using the plastic (such a good plan to get people to cut back!) but until that hits your state, be mindful of how many bags you’re bringing home and how you dispose of them. Consider recycling them! Stores like Trader Joes, WholeFoods, and even WalMart offer cloth bags for you to use over and over.

3. Your Own Straws - Now we can throw our own straws into our bag and take them with us to the coffee shop! Lots of local places are making the move to using paper, bamboo, or even steel straws to help cut down on the waste. You must have heard about Starbucks making the move to no plastic, and now DisneyLand is making the change, so you can too! You can grab a ten pack of glass or steel straws on Amazon for $9, what an easy switch!

4. Recycle in your Home - Look up your local recycling center and start separating your garbage. All those soda cans, plastic bags, laundry detergent containers, bottles, jugs, etc. can be taken straight to your local center.

5. SHOP LOCAL -looking for a way to give back but already made the “go green” steps? Decide to invest in your local community, these days Farmer’s Market are around every corner, or at least held on the weekends. Locally sourced and grown fruits and veggies are going to be fresher options, and most likely healthier too as they won’t have the grocery store pesticides added on! Pat yourself on the back because you will be supporting someones small business as well :)

6. Watch your water in your Home - switch the showers, take quicker showers, turn off the water while you brush, turn it off while you wash dishes, limit the laundry loads, limit the grass watering. Keep in mind how much you’re consuming!

7. Find a Carpool - Do you live down the street from your job? Consider biking! Do you live in a city? Find a co worker who lives nearby and just start a weekly carpool! Fewer cars = less traffic and less air pollution. If you have your kiddos in tow, maybe start a carpool taking them to school as well - alternate days to pick up and drop off! Even if these changes are once a week, they can make an impact!

Thank you to THE HAPPY SEA for sponsoring this post and basically being AMAZING at making a beautiful impact. SHOP LOCAL and start making moves toward a greener future!

xx- dowling