Green Thought Thursdays: Reusable Coffee Cups

Once a week, I am offering up a tip or action or idea that we can all engage with to work towards living in ways that allow for more health and wellbeing for all aspects of the planet. Last week we talked about voting.

This week the green thought is about reusable coffee cups.

This is not news. We, as a society, use a lot of coffee cups. The disposable coffee cups that we all get when we visit a café or coffee shop are a classic one-use-item. We drink our beverage, and then throw away the cup. Maybe we recycle it. Either way, the USA alone uses, and disposes of, about 2.5 billion disposable coffee cups a year! That is about 5,000 cups a minute! And that is just one country! That is a lot of waste!

A variety of reusable coffee cups. Photo: Bon Appetit

One solution, which is is not innovative or revolutionary, is that we can all bring our reusable coffee mugs with us when we are going out for coffee! Reusable coffee cups are pretty! They are easy to use, and easy to clean. And they could greatly reduce the amount of trash we produce. We just need to remember them when we leave the house.

What do you think of these thoughts and the solution? Is this a step you will take? Do you have any other solution ideas?

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Green Thought Thursdays: Pumpkins

Once a week, I am offering up a tip or action or idea that we can all engage with to work towards living in ways that allow for more health and wellbeing for all aspects of the planet. Last week we talked about house plants.

This week the green thought is about pumpkins (in honor of Halloween!).

A collection of lighted Jack-o-lanterns ready for Halloween. Photo: Merriam-Webster.com

Growing pumpkins is a big deal in the USA. Over a billion pounds of pumpkin is grown each year. A lot of these end up canned as pie filling, and a lot become jack-o-lanterns for Halloween. Growing all these pumpkins has some serious implications on the environment. One is the use of pesticides. Since many insects and fungi like pumpkins, growers use quite a bit of pesticide to prevent infestations. Transporting food is another issue. Moving pumpkins around the world means the burning of quite a bit of fossil fuels. A third issue is the decomposition of jack-o-lanterns once Halloween has passed. The majority of the pumpkins that are carved into jack-o-lanterns end up in landfill after Halloween. As they decompose in landfills, they contribute to the release of methane which is a powerful greenhouse gas. All of these issues raise problems that we should all be aware of when carving pumpkins this Halloween.

Luckily, these problems have solutions! Buy organic pumpkins. Buy pumpkins that were grown close to where you live. Eat the pumpkin flesh and seeds. Compost the pumpkin or simply bury it in the garden. All of these actions reduce the environmental impacts of pumpkins and allow for a greener, healthier Halloween for all of us and the planet as well.

What do you think of these thoughts and the solution? Is this a step you will take? Do you have any other solution ideas?

Thank you for visiting my blog! Please check back next week for another Green Thought Thursday!

If you are interested in other ways to connect with me, here are a few options:

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Green Thought Thursdays: The 30-Wears Rule

Once a week, I am offering up a tip or action or idea that we can all engage with to work towards living in ways that allow for more health and wellbeing for all aspects of the planet. Last week we talked about Low-VOC Paints.

This week the green thought is about the 30-Wears Rule.

When buying clothing, ask if an will be used 30+ times. Photo: Ecobnb

Clothing uses a lot of resources to make and transport. And that is not where the issues with clothing ends because once purchased, those clothing items are often not used all that much! On average, an article of clothing is worn seven times before being discarded. That results in over 16 million tons of fabric being thrown away around the world every year. That is a huge environmental impact!

One solution is to follow the 30-wear rule. Before purchasing an item of clothing, we can all ask ourselves if we will wear the item 30 times or more. If the answer is 100% yes, that item might be a good buy. But if the answer is anything less than 100% yes, we should all choose to not buy the item. And when we do decide to buy something, we all then have the responsibility to follow through and actually wear the item 30 or more times. This will help reduce waste, and also tend to slow clothing production which both will help the environment.

What do you think of these thoughts and the solution? Is this a step you will take? Do you have any other solution ideas?

Thank you for visiting my blog! Please check back next week for another Green Thought Thursday!

If you are interested in other ways to connect with me, here are a few options:

Follow this blog!

View and subscribe to my YouTube channel – A Birding Naturalist

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