My area of focus for the Earth Month Challenge will be Waste and Toxicity. I was drawn to this area because I have always been interested in how humans impact the environment with our waste and how we could lessen this negative impact. I would like to use the Earth Month Challenge to investigate what products would be best to buy for a positive impact and lessen my waste or toxic products that are put in the environment due to the products that I am responsible for buying.
Some options that I can do for this area of focus would be reducing food waste by eating all of the food I buy or take rather than throwing it away, buying food with minimal packaging, buying products with no palm oil, buying products with no microbeads or other plastic pollutants, compost whenever possible, use reusable cups, water bottles, or plates to reduce trash, take shorter and colder showers, reuse containers, recycle all items that are recyclable, thrift for clothes rather than buy new ones, bring reusable bags to the grocery store rather than use the plastic ones, buy organic and locally grown products, use less aerosol products, eat a more vegetarian or vegan diet, or even avoid red meat.
Lucky’s market or Portia’s diner would help to reduce food waste and toxicity since Portia’s has smaller portions and is organic, which reduces toxins in the environment and Lucky’s promotes organic products. The Zero Waste club is also a great resource to learn how to reduce my waste around campus.
Helpful websites:
https://www.recyclenow.com/reduce/reduce-your-waste-5-easy-steps
This website shows the easiest and most efficient ways to recycle in different situations. It would be helpful especially around campus where recycling options are more scarce.
http://www.rainforest-alliance.org/
This is a great website for reducing waste and toxicity. It shows all of the products that are Rainforest Alliance Certified, which means it is humanely and environmentally produced. This means buying this products ensures that it is organic and lacks many of the main toxins from nonorganic foods.
https://www.amherstma.gov/720/Reduce-Waste-Toxicity
This website provides even more details about toxic substances in many common products.
This website provides more details about how to reduce waste and recycle more responsibly.