sustainability Archives

OPL Spotlight: A Love of Nature Sparked a Focus on Sustainability for Yvonne Dwyer

by OPL | Mar 20, 2023 | Protect the Planet, Quality of Life

“It’s not something I have to force” is how Yvonne Dwyer describes her focus on sustainability.

For Yvonne Dwyer, sustainability has become an extension of a lifestyle immersed in nature. As a Master Naturalist and writer for One Planet Life, Dwyer places particular importance on sharing how the natural world can enrich our lives.

“This is stuff that I’ve been interested in my entire life,” she said. “I can remember back to when I was five, six years old, creating my own fort out of bifold doors in the woods.”

While working for REI, Dwyer found joy in having an outlet to share her love of the outdoors. When the Pittsburgh store where she was employed closed due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, it was time to reinvent herself. Lorie Buckingham, a lifelong friend of Dwyer, asked if she would like to write for her new sustainability-focused website, One Planet Life.

“I was applying for the Pennsylvania Master Naturalist program, so it seemed to be a good fit,” she said. “It makes us more credible to people than just sharing information. We are doing the things that we’re talking about. It’s important to be authentic and genuine in whatever you do.”

And it’s easy to see that Dwyer carries that authenticity into her work.

Sharing the Good News About Nature

As a naturalist, Dwyer aims to create stories that inspire positive messages. Getting out into nature is her best method.

“There’s research now where doctors are prescribing nature instead of medicine; that’s so wonderful,” she said. “Taking in the woods, the smell of the Balsam. You can’t recreate that. You’re using all of your senses.”

Enjoying the journey – not just the destination – when taking a walk in nature can be one of the best ways to encourage sustainable living because you’re experiencing the beauty at stake.

“People go from point A to point B, or I’ll say point A to point C and totally miss what’s happening in point B – the journey,” she said. “The red newt salamander you might see on the ground or a mushroom – there’s always something unusual happening in the woods, no matter what time of year you’re going there. It doesn’t have to be in the woods; you can be in a city park or your neighborhood.”

Dwyer encourages a “big picture” perspective to get the most out of outdoor adventures.

“The big picture for me is to use all of my senses, create a story, and inspire others to go out and take it all in,” she said. “Just to go out and explore and see what happens. See what your senses pick up.”

She’s also found inspiration in the naturalists who have come before her, women like Robin Wall Kimmerer and Anne LaBastille.

“Women like that inspire me,” she said. “It’s not that John Muir and [Ralph Waldo] Emerson and [Aldo] Leopold don’t – they inspire me to, but it’s cool to listen to what women are doing, their journeys, and how they’re affecting things that are happening. They’re not just sitting by; they’re on the park agency committee or a land trust committee. When we work together with everybody in diversity across the board, we all win.”

Nature offers a wonderful path toward more sustainable living. There is a tremendous amount of free information from naturalists like Dwyer, who are eager to share what they know. And there are inspiring online communities like One Planet Life and other apps.

“There are more ways than ever to educate and inform people about what is happening in our natural world, share that, and hopefully inspire others to go out and observe – maybe use iNaturalist or eBird, one of these apps. They can easily become citizen scientists, helping with climate change or bird migration.”

Committing to a Natural (and Local) Lifestyle

When Dwyer had her first child over 30 years ago, she focused on providing as much natural sustenance for her family as possible.

“We ate naturally. Our water was filtered, and I grew my own vegetables,” said Dwyer. “One of the reasons why it became important to grow my own vegetables is because the baby food company we bought our food from had glass in it. So I grew the vegetables, pureed them, put them in little ice cube trays, and froze them. That spurred my love for gardening.”

She remembered the guidance her grandmother offered as well.

“My grandmother was a big inspiration for my cooking,” she shared. “She told me, ‘When you get married, you never feed your family from a box.’ I never did.”

What she couldn’t grow on her own, Dwyer sourced as much as she could from local farmers.

“I think what started me on my journey shopping locally is that my oldest son was diagnosed with leukemia when he was three and a half,” she shared. “At the time, commercial farmers were putting in antibiotics and growth hormones. I wasn’t aware of what was being injected into our animals and how that would have an effect. So I found a farm near us.”

Shopping for pasture-raised meat, eggs, and dairy at a little farm store provided Dywer with transparency and freshness not often available at the supermarket.

“Our country exists on small businesses,” she said. “If we don’t protect small businesses, we are going to be locked down with the big businesses, their costs, and all the things that go along with it – our selection of choices may be lowered, protection for our workers, our natural resources. We can’t have a monopoly. We need to protect our small business owners to help preserve them.”

Joining Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), shopping for what is currently in season, and learning ways to preserve fresh food at home through freezing and canning are great ways to lower your carbon footprint when it comes to eating sustainably.

“I try to encourage people to join CSAs because you’re not only helping the farmer, you are also saving money in the end,” Dwyer said. “If you go to your local farmer or CSA, you won’t pay as much as you do in the big box grocery stores. It’s going to be fresher because it came from right here.”

She tries to encourage others by giving them samples to try. Once tasting the difference in freshness, it’s easy to make the switch to local.

“If you’re buying in season, you’ll be getting the freshest food,” she added. “It can be sustained if you buy extra, put it in your freezer, or make a soup out of it, put it in your freezer, and you can have it during the winter months when produce selection is a little bit lower.”

And the best part of it all?

“It’s relationship building,” Dwyer said. “You never know who you’ll meet at one of these little places that might become your best friend, someone to walk with. There are a lot of people from COVID who are still wary of going to these big box stores. You go into smaller businesses and somehow feel a little bit safer. You feel a little bit more welcome.”

Through a lifetime love affair with the outdoors, a keen interest in learning about the natural world, and dedication to providing her family with fresh, natural meals, Dwyer’s sustainability journey has been decades in the making.

“All the things that I do, it’s natural,” she said. “It’s not something I have to force.”

And that mentality shouldn’t seem so difficult – returning to our roots. After all, our climate crisis has only been accelerating within the past few decades. If we all make an effort to support our local food chain, consume the plethora of free resources available from experts, and revel in the wonder of the outdoors, a sustainable lifestyle could quickly become “natural” for all of us.

You can read more about Yvonne’s Sustainability Journey here:

My Journey to Reduce My Carbon Footprint Started With Trash

An Easy Guide to Backyard Composting

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and REFILL to Benefit the Planet

The staff at One Planet Life are serious about sustainable living. That’s why we decided to share the struggles and successes of our individual sustainability journeys. We will share tips directly from our team members, curated through authentic personal experience. We hope that by sharing our stories, we can help foster a community committed to helping each other – and the planet!

Read about One Planet Life Founder Lorie Buckingham’s sustainability Journey.

OPL Spotlight: Lorie Buckingham’s Sustainability Journey Began with a Craving to Learn More

by OPL | Mar 8, 2023 | Protect the Planet, Quality of Life

“Don’t be too hard on yourself,” advises Lorie Buckingham. “Living sustainably is a journey that will take time.”

Decades before founding One Planet Life, Lorie Buckingham had already embarked on her own sustainability journey. With a background in science, Buckingham became interested in learning more about what harmful additives can be found in our food and environment.

“Majoring in chemistry and learning about the impact of chemicals, I became intrigued,” she said. “I started wondering what really is in my food. That led to being shocked that companies did not have to put ingredients on labels – they could keep the information from you.”

Finding sources of information that were based on facts and could be trusted for their credibility was challenging. Through environmental science classes at Harvard, she learned how to have a keen eye when researching information.

“It’s actually incredibly hard to find what I’ll call trusted resources,” she said. “There’s so much information, and you don’t even know what to trust or not trust. They really helped me understand that I’m not going to find everything I want, but how I could parse through, know what I could trust, and that it was always evolving.”

That experience confirmed the need for continuous learning and establishing a centralized hub for sharing this specialized information with the greater sustainability-focused community.

“That’s part of One Planet Life – I want to keep putting information out there because we don’t know enough, and there are so many false claims,” she said. “Every time I think there’s more qualified information, I’d like us to share it. Knowledge is power.”

Feeding the Family with a Focus on Sustainability.

Buckingham’s journey didn’t solely weave through the pages of scientific study, though – she was moved to take action because of the impact on her everyday life.

“The moment that brought it home to me was when I had my daughter,” she shared. “When she was little, we realized that when she would eat beef, she would have an incredible allergic reaction. Supposedly, you can’t have an allergic reaction to beef.”

It turned out that her daughter had developed a reaction from excess penicillin that had treated ear infections in her early years. Factory-farmed beef has so much antibiotics in it that it triggered severe allergic reactions in my daughter (and others).

That experience caused a shift in the way Buckingham looked at feeding her family.

“For my family, I really started avoiding anything but the exterior aisles of the grocery store,” she said. “I’m looking for fresh fruit, vegetables, everything fresh. The next thing was local and then, where possible, organic.”

As with building any new habit, it wasn’t always easy.

“It’s not balance; it’s more of riding the wave,” she said. “There were times when I didn’t have a lot of time to focus on it. I’d make strides with what we ate, and it was an easy way to do that because I controlled the shopping. My husband helped with the cooking. The other thing I think you have to do is not force your family. I’m never going to have my kids not eat sugar and not have snack foods. We’re not going to be what I would call a ‘never family.'”

So Buckingham focused mainly on leading by example, and years later, she saw changes that resonated with her family.

“There were a lot of complaints made by my kids because their friend’s house had much ‘cooler’ food,” she said. “But now they both cook. They’re into being healthy. I think when you do things honestly, and you have some type of consistency – even consistency that has its moments when you don’t have it – you do create that ripple effect.”

One Planet Life is born.

When Buckingham decided to take the leap and give life to the idea that’s been on her mind for years, she quickly realized as she started building a team that One Planet Life would be fulfilling a long-awaited need.

“What I found fascinating is that they were all thinking about journeys but couldn’t say whether they were on a journey,” she said. “Each of them cared about this, wanting to be on a journey, but felt frustrated by what they could and could not do. They’re all living busy lives. This idea of having an app that helps you understand how you’re making a difference really resonated with them.”

The idea of helping individuals find their voice and make a difference has been intentionally built into the foundation of One Planet Life.

“For One Planet Life, maybe that can be the place where we can bring people together who care about these things – all different types of people and start with little steps that are doable but that add up over time,” she said. “I call it the ripple effect. Before you know it, you’ve made some pretty amazing changes in your life that do make a difference in the world and in your life.”

Embarking on a sustainability journey for the first time?

Sometimes, people are just too hard on themselves, Buckingham has come to recognize. Easing into the journey can be a better approach to help make changes stick.

“When you’re starting something out, don’t be afraid to make just one small change; don’t pick the hardest thing, don’t pick ten things, just pick one or two,” she said. “It can be one that you can do and just enjoy it – be happy about it. Just make one change, track it, and enjoy that you’re doing it.”

Accepting that success can often be the result of compounding failures, and it’s also important to grant yourself some grace along the way.

“It’s about doing things that you can have your headspace into,” she said. “If it backfires, then stop and do a different one for a while. Pick out the level of difficulty that you’re ready to take on. People have busy, stressful lives. There’s no need to make this something crazy.”

Everyone is on their own journey. You can’t force it.

“Don’t expect others you live with to do the same,” she said. “Know that they’re on their own timing. They’re going to do their own thing. Honor them to choose when to do things because that also adds stress if you’re trying to do it and you’re trying to make others do it.”

But having support from others going through this journey is also essential. That’s where One Planet Life comes in.

“I’d love to see One Planet Life continue to be this safe place where I can try on my journey, and everybody makes a difference,” she said. “At the same time, we can become a powerful voice making the world better, one person at a time. We do have this ripple effect. There are so many people in the world that are suffering and don’t have the advantages we have. If we could raise our voices and help them – that would be the dream.”

The staff at One Planet Life are serious about sustainable living. That’s why we decided to share the struggles and successes of our individual sustainability journeys. We will share tips from our team members, curated through authentic personal experience. We hope that by sharing our stories, we can help foster a community committed to helping each other and the planet!

Packing It Out: Learning More About “Leave No Trace”

by OPL | Mar 2, 2023 | Protect the Planet

The Leave No Trace (LNT) principle brings attention to the conservation, preservation, and protection of our parks and ecosystems.

The Leave No Trace (LNT) idea dates back to the 18th century and has increased in popularity in recent years as we have become more aware of the impending climate disaster Earth is facing.

Since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, many have found solace in heading outside to release stress and anxiety and find joy in nature and recreation. It’s a wonderful feeling to experience the natural world around you: crisp air, beautiful vistas, and the quiet humming of wildlife as you embark on your outdoor adventure. Excursions are great for your physical and mental well-being – an opportunity to reflect and be mindful of the planet that sustains you.

But the peace and wonder you feel can quickly be interrupted by the sight of trash along your path. Your mind may begin racing with questions about how the rubbish came to be abandoned. You may feel frustrated with how humans treat our planet or concerned about the short- and long-term consequences litter will have on our ecosystem.

Refuse Decomposition: A Sobering Reality

Litter decomposes differently depending on the material. Below are a few examples of commonly-abandoned trash and how long they will linger:

Glass, Styrofoam, and tin foil never decompose.
Plastic can take two to one million years to decompose, depending on its composition.
Aluminum cans take 80 to 100 years to disintegrate.
Conventional chewing gum – the world’s second most common form of litter – is not biodegradable and can take hundreds of years to decompose due to the synthetic plastic polymers used in its creation.
Animal poop in a knotted bag can take ten to twenty years to decompose.
Paper products will disintegrate in two to six weeks.
Fruit and their skins will decompose from six months to two years.
Rubber tires in a landfill will decompose within fifty to eighty years.

FUN FACT:

You can find gum that is better for the environment and made with natural ingredients, similar to what the ancient Mayans made from chicle, a form of rubber that is biodegradable and can disintegrate in two weeks.

There is a way you can help, and it starts with awareness of the Leave No Trace principle.

Take Only Pictures, Leave Only Footprints. There are seven main tenants of the Leave No Trace principle:

Plan ahead and prepare. Before you go on an excursion, consider what you need to protect yourself and the place you are visiting. For tips, check out our OPL blogs about Planning for a Successful Outdoor Adventure. What to Wear and What to Pack.
- Select clothing and gear to protect yourself from outdoor elements.
- Avoid traveling alone, as unexpected things can happen.
- Always leave a message with a family member or friend about your outdoor plan, the time you plan to return, and what to do if you do not return as scheduled.
- Carry a lightweight, waterproof tarp or emergency blanket to use as an emergency shelter.
- Carry extra food and water. Trail food such as nuts, dried fruit, dark chocolate, hard salami, and hard cheese cubes are good options to take with you on an excursion.
- Do not take any unnecessary risks, especially if the weather turns foul, daylight is nearing an end, or you or someone in your party becomes ill.
- If you think that you are lost, stay where you are and try to remain calm. Only continue traveling once you know where you are.
- Three of anything (shouts, whistles, flashes of light, etc.) is a standard distress signal. Only use these in emergencies.
Travel and camp on durable surfaces. Stay on marked trails to prevent unnecessary scarring of the landscape and avoid damaging vegetation, organisms, and waterways.
If camping, choose a surface that is durable.
Dispose of waste properly. Ensure that any waste you generate is carried with you (also referred to as “packing it out”) and deposited in a waste receptacle at the end of your hike.
Leave what you find. Enjoy the wildflowers, plants, fungi, and trees but do not collect them without permission.
Minimize campfire impact. Become familiar with fire safety and containment, and ensure that fires are never left unattended.
Respect wildlife. Quietly view wildlife and birdwatch without disturbing them. You can use the eBird app to help you identify them and help scientists track the habits of these animals. Never feed wildlife.
Be considerate of others. Refrain from shouting or making loud noises on the trail. Make space for other groups to pass if your party stops to take a break.

As individuals, we can be a part of the Leave No Trace solution by showing respect and care for nature and seeking to educate others on the harmful effects that rubbish has on our health, wildlife, and our environment.

At One Planet Life, we share our adventurous journeys on the OPL app, and use our knowledge to inspire, educate, and create energy for your own joyful experiences. We would love for you to share your venture with us.

What to Pack: How to Prepare for a Great Outdoor Adventure

by OPL | Feb 28, 2023 | Protect the Planet, Quality of Life

The key to making any outdoor excursion enjoyable is to be prepared before you head outside.

In our last article, we shared how to best dress for your next great outdoor adventure. Today, we’re sharing how to pack for your next trip in the wide outdoors.

Here are the 10 Essentials You Should Have on Nearly Every Outdoor Excursion.

Preparedness can be the difference between a wonderful winter hike or a miserable experience and can mean the difference between life and death if your outdoor adventure goes awry.

Ensure that you are prepared for whatever comes by packing these 10 essential items in your daypack:

Headlamp: One or two of these, plus spare batteries.
Navigation: Physical map of the area you are exploring, and a compass. While using your phone for directions using AllTrails or other apps is very helpful, you shouldn’t rely solely on it. Your battery may drain quickly in cold weather, leaving you with no map or idea of your location and how to return to your starting point. Carrying a rechargeable phone battery is always a recommended item to have in your bag.
Fire Source: Waterproof matches, lighter, and outdoor portable fire igniter. It is always better to have two sources than one in the event that one may not work due to excess moisture.
Water: Carry 2-3 liters in a wide-mouth Nalgene bottle or insulated wide-mouth bottle depending on your outdoor activity’s length and activity level.
1. You can bring a mini lightweight outdoor water filtration system such as Sawyer’s, Grayl, or another brand to help you gather more potable water should you run out. Water can freeze quickly, however, in freezing temperatures, so a water filtration system may not be helpful if the water sources are frozen.
2. To prevent your water from freezing, you can create a wool or fleece insulator covering to place around your bottle. Ensure the lid is tight, then pack your water bottle upside down in your bag since water freezes from the top.
Knife/Multi-Tool: The knife/multi-tool is vital as you never know when you may need to use it for first-aid, gear repair, or for cutting.
Food: Carry a variety of food options and more than you need, as you never know what circumstances may require you to need it. Some snack ideas to consider are protein bars, fruit, nuts, cheese, sardines, crackers, peanut butter-banana tortilla roll-ups, soppressata or pepperoni rolls, and pickles.
Extra Clothing: One or two pairs of merino wool socks, sock liners, an extra moisture-wicking base layer, bandana, neck gaiter, and gloves or mittens. These are all essential if you are out longer than anticipated and are cold from sweat.
First Aid Kit: Know how to use this before it is required, and ensure your first aid kit is fully stocked in the event of an emergency. There are several types of first aid kits with variable pricing depending on the kind of adventure you are pursuing.
Shelter: An emergency blanket should be a part of your essential items as it helps with hypothermia should the weather become inclement. An emergency blanket can also provide protection from the elements if needed.
Sun Protection: Sunscreen is a must even on a cloudy day, as the sun’s rays could come through the clouds causing your skin to burn. Sunscreen also helps to keep your skin moisturized during dry cold weather and helps with windburn. Sunglasses and lip balm are also requirements for your sun protection kit.

While the following list is not required, it is highly encouraged that you consider bringing the following, depending on the type of adventure you are embarking on:

A set of binoculars or a monocular, to help you view wildlife up close without disturbing them.
Trekking poles, which help take weight off knees and assist with stability and balance over hills, rocks, and uneven terrain.
YakTrax or crampons, if you are hiking on uneven terrain with packed snow and icy conditions. YakTrax and crampons are invaluable and help you grip as you are ascending/descending a hill or walking on level trails.
A small bag for any trash and garbage collected on the trail.
Journal and pen, to keep notes.
A camera, to help you capture beautiful scenery and wildlife.
Portable battery pack and charging cord, or solar charger for charging electronic equipment.
Bandana
Whistle, used for distressed emergency situations.

There are many resources available to help make your winter outdoor activity a memorable and enjoyable experience.

Be prepared by checking out regional recreational outfitters, outdoor retail shops, and YouTube, to name a few. Better yet, join an outdoor adventure group and get involved with an organization to help conserve, preserve, and protect our great natural resources. We promise you will receive so many joyful benefits in return!

Lastly, and most importantly, always leave a message or note with your loved one or neighbor to let them know where you are going, including the trailhead or route you plan to hike and your approximate return time.

Have fun out there!

Written by Yvonne Dwyer

Master Naturalist and OPL Content Contributor

“It is truly an honor for me to be a contributor to One Planet Life. By sharing my experiences and lifetime of learning, I hope to inspire conservation, sustainability, stewardship, and awareness of enjoying the natural wonders of the world for the wellbeing of people and the planet.”

Make Simple Changes to Drastically Cut Waste Generated in Your Kitchen

by OPL | Feb 15, 2023 | Joyful Change, People and Planet First, Protect the Planet, Quality of Life

Put Eco-friendly Alternatives to Work for You to Cut Waste in Your Kitchen.

Do you find yourself pulling several paper towels off the roll for every mess? How about reaching for single-use plastics like water bottles and plastic wrap more often than not? Is your trash overflowing with smelly food scraps? You’re not alone. Thankfully, there are many ways to reduce the amount of waste in your kitchen.

Explore the Eco-Friendly Alternatives.

Did you know that the average American uses seven trees a year in paper, wood, and other products made from trees? This amounts to about two billion trees per year, according to data from Middle Georgia University. The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year would be enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years.

Paper towels are a huge source of unnecessary waste that falls into that category. Americans use 13 billion pounds of paper towels a year, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. It’s not surprising when you consider families go through an average of nearly two rolls a week. A whopping 110 million trees are downed annually to produce paper towels alone.

Thankfully, there are many eco-friendly alternatives to help clean up messes in the kitchen and beyond.

Cloth towel rolls, often made of flannel or cotton to easily stick together and include a simple stitch along the edges to prevent fraying, are super easy to make for the novice seamstress. If sewing isn’t your thing, we recommend the ones pictured here from Cheeks Ahoy. A quick search on Etsy can deliver plenty of variations to choose from – plus, you’re supporting a small business!

Swedish Dishcloths have taken the sustainability world by storm.

By adding a few of these absorbent little squares to my kitchen, I’ve been able to nearly cut paper towels out of my life. They are super absorbent, compact to store, and easy to keep clean for everyday use.

“Invented by a Swedish engineer in 1949, the rags are made of 100 percent naturally biodegradable cellulose or a combination of wood pulp and renewable cotton,” writer Ashlea Halpern noted. “They are superabsorbent, able to soak up 20 times their own weight in liquid. They are soft and pliable when wet but dry quickly in between uses.”

Looking for a cheap and simple solution to replace old paper towels? Cut your old bath towels and cotton t-shirts into squares. Not only will you be giving this fabric a second life, but well-used cotton is ultra absorbent! This is a completely cost-free solution you can implement immediately.

Still not sure if this Joyful Change will make an impact? Think again. If each American household swapped just one roll of paper towels for a recycled version, nearly 54,000 trees could be saved each year!

Plastic wrap is another culprit for unnecessary trash in the kitchen.

That sticky, flimsy plastic cannot be recycled because it contains PVC. Considering that 5.3 million Americans used ten or more rolls of plastic wrap in 2020 alone, landfills are filling up fast. When sent to the dump, plastic cling film can take about 450 years to decompose. That’s where beeswax wraps can save the day. Instead of breaking out the roll of harmful, single-use plastic, invest in a few different sizes of beeswax wraps – fabric squares, often organic cotton, coated in naturally produced beeswax that you can rinse off and use over and over again.

Speaking of flimsy plastic, we all know how intrusive plastic grocery store bags have become in the environment.

Make the switch to a canvas tote or foldable tote bag instead. Stash one in your car, purse, or backpack so you always have one available for those spur-of-the-moment stops at the local grocery store or farmer’s market. Do you have some flimsy bags tucked in a drawer at home? Do some research on where you can take these to recycle since most curbside recycling can’t utilize them. A lot of grocery stores have drop-off bins available for these items.

Do you find yourself packing plastic water bottles and single-use cutlery into your family’s lunches?

These items are notorious for overloading landfills and aren’t easily recycled. Instead, opt for a water filtration system and encourage reusable water bottles in your household. Filtration systems give you that same fresh taste, and reusable bottles will often keep water cold for much longer. To cut down on single-use cutlery, try substituting a washable set, like the pouch sets we have available in our eco-store.

Give Composting a Try.

We’re all trying our best to combat the food waste problem. However, we inevitably end up with bits and pieces of food that get tossed into the trash can – potato peels, coffee grounds, or the moldy cucumber that never made it to our lunchtime salad. Before you toss this waste into the trash can, consider composting it.

What exactly is composting? According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, composting entails the following:

“A controlled, aerobic (oxygen-required) process that converts organic materials into a nutrient-rich soil amendment or mulch through natural decomposition. The end product is compost – a dark, crumbly, earthy-smelling material. Microorganisms feed on the materials added to the compost pile during the composting process. They use carbon and nitrogen to grow and reproduce, water to digest materials, and oxygen to breathe.”

By composting anything from kitchen scraps to yard trimmings, you are implementing a resourceful habit of managing waste in a more sustainable way. All you need to get started is a compost bin in your kitchen. In no time, you’ll be able to generate free, high-quality soil for your houseplants or garden.

If you have space to set up a compost pit in your backyard, be sure to allow for enough room to turn over your compost regularly for even decomposition. If you live in an urban area, check out our map of curated composting services nationwide to get started.

Composting is an easy and rewarding sustainable practice; you’ll wonder why you didn’t start sooner!

Pro Tip: Add some earthworms to your compost pit, “Vermicomposting,” to help speed up the decomposition process!

Save electricity in your kitchen.

In the market for a new kitchen appliance? Look for the blue “Energy Star” designation for energy-efficient models. The United States Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency has even teamed up to create a free online resource to search for efficient models.

If your refrigerator is over 15 years old, consider looking for a new one. It’s likely using twice the amount of energy than a new Energy Star certified model! Make sure to recycle your old one, too; by properly recycling your old refrigerator and replacing it with a new Energy Star-certified version, you can save more than $260 over the 12-year lifetime of the product.

Dishwashers are another appliance worth upgrading in your kitchen. A standard-sized Energy Star certified dishwasher costs about $35 per year to run and can save you about 3,800 gallons of water over its lifetime.

In 2020 alone, Energy Star certified appliances helped save more than 520 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and avoid $42 billion in energy costs. These savings resulted in associated emission reductions of more than 400 million metric tons of greenhouse gasses, roughly equivalent to more than 5% of U.S. total greenhouse gas emissions.

Food production constitutes 8-16% of the total national energy consumption in the US, according to the Yale Environmental Review. Cooking accounts for 20% of consumers’ energy use. Refrigeration and dishwashing evenly split the remaining energy demand.

Is a gas or electric oven more efficient? The typical gas stove in America is only 40% efficient, whereas its electric counterpart is 80%, according to a 2013 study, “Review Energy consumption during cooking in the residential sector of developed nations: A review”. However, when you take a more holistic view of how each form of energy is generated, researchers determined that electric stoves powered with gas are the more efficient choice by approximately 20%.

Cooking methods can affect the amount of energy we use in the kitchen. Curious as to whether specialty appliances, like rice cookers and electric kettles, are more efficient? Most studies determined that these specialty appliances are more efficient than ovens and stovetops.

“The microwave showed trends that were less clear, but seems to emerge victorious for small portions and foods with short cook times,” the Yale Environmental Review reported.

Simple practices, such as cooking in large batches, putting a lid on a pot during cooking, and cooking food in full pots, are easy habits that can make a big difference in cutting energy waste in the kitchen.

The Energy Saving Trust recommends a few additional tips to implement when preparing meals:

Only use as much water as you need – boiling extra takes more time and energy.
Always cover your pots and pans – the water will boil faster and use less energy to heat your food.
Turn off the heat a couple of minutes before your food is fully cooked – particularly if you’ve got an electric hob, as they take some time to cool down and will continue to cook your food.
Don’t open the oven door repeatedly – you’ll let out hot air and waste energy. If you can, take a look through the glass door instead.

These tips are just a few simple ways your family can contribute to creating a more sustainable space. With a room as versatile as the kitchen, the possibilities are truly endless. Be sure to track and measure your efforts to reduce waste in your kitchen. Get the One Planet Life app and select the Reduce Waste Journey.

Written by Carley Kimball

Freelance Journalist and OPL Content Contributor

“I’ve always tried to implement planet-friendly practices in my life but didn’t quite realize just how much of an impact individuals can make until I was introduced to One Planet Life. I’m so excited to be able to utilize my professional skills to contribute valuable information and positive personal experiences to help make the world a better place.”

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