them. Did you know that 80% of our oxygen comes from the oceans? We encourage you all to watch the documentary “Seaspiracy” as it dives deeper into the disturbing inner workings of the commercial fishing industry, and how it is slowly destroying our oceans and the ecosystems within. This film helpfully explains the concept of bycatch, marine life accidentally caught while dredging for other species which is cast, usually dead or dying, right back into the ocean. Ali Tabrizi, maker of the film, captures all types of shocking details such as, the dolphin slaughter in Taiji, the harms of plastic fishing debris, the shark fin soup issue, the Faroe islands whale hunt and so much more. Now we won’t spoil it for you any further, but please watch this documentary, it will truly open your eyes and help you see why the oceans and it’s marine life are so essential to our future. What can you do? After you watch this film, we hope that you are compelled to lessen your seafood consumption or even cut it out all together. The more we consume, the more we support this extremely corrupt industry that is ruining our oceans. According to Dr. Sylvia Alice Earle, the commercial fishing industry takes 2.7 trillion fish out of our oceans every year and at this rate the ocean will be empty by 2050. Remember we cannot survive with a dead sea, so do your part, educate yourselves and be weary of what you consume.

some of our favourite foods forever is a big ask. However, going vegetarian for just one day a week can have a huge positive environmental impact, while this seems like an insignificant action to take, if every person in the US alone went vegetarian for one day a week it would save over 1.4 billion animals per year from being raised for meat. This would have huge positive impacts on the amount of emissions released annually from the agriculture industry. There are many small individual actions that you and your family can take to help the environment.”

and well known that the mass production of plastic needs to be improved and fixed. Landfills over the past years receive up to 30.5 million tons of plastic, and only 9% of plastic ever produced is ever recycled. Further, “from 1950 to 2012, plastics production increased from about 1.7 million tons to nearly 300 million tons per year”. Much of this waste plastic waste is actually single use plastic. Therefore, many of us can actually create huge change simply by being more mindful about what we purchase and how we purchase our goods. So, what are some ways you can reduce your packaging?! Well, there are many. The easiest is simply just being more mindful about packaging in your daily life. By becoming a more conscious consumer, you can support companies that prioritize sustainable packaging or companies that use recycled materials in their packaging. Further replacing plastic bags and ziploc bags for reusable bags and reusable containers are fabulous ways to reduce waste. As a result, you and the community can decrease the collective carbon footprint, which will help the environment immensely. Further, we can incentivize companies to practice sustainability as they will see that people are endorsing companies that are sustainable, and they will in turn want to become greener. All in all, there are lots of ways to reduce your packaging and lots of important reasons why we should!”

nearly 440 kg of carbon dioxide emissions in a year. Most of that energy is used up in the dryer cycle. Washing in hot water also carries a carbon cost that exponentially increases with the age of the machine. If it’s not in perfect condition at all times, it will take more energy to run. Clogging, or failing to clean out a washer or dryer regularly means having to run it more often and at higher temperatures. This increases the energy output. It’s hard when such a regular chore can have such a negative impact on the environment, but the good news is that small changes in this area can help to seriously reduce the impact! So how can you help? The less you run your washing machine the less impact, washing more clothes at once to avoid unnecessary extra washes is a great way to limit the number of times you run your washing machine. Clothes dryers also have a significant impact on the environment, An average drying-machine cycle uses just over 4kWh of energy and produces around 1.8kg CO2. If all households with a tumble dryer dried one load of washing outside each week, instead of by machine, they would save over a million tonnes of CO2 in a year.”

Garment production utilizes trend replication and low-quality materials in order to bring inexpensive styles to the public. These cheaply made, trendy pieces have resulted in an industry-wide movement towards overwhelming amounts of consumption. Unfortunately, this results in harmful impacts on the environment, garment workers, and, ultimately, consumers’ wallets. What can you do? Shop at thrift stores and recycle all your clothes. There is no need to support fast fashion companies when there are perfectly good reusable clothes in consignment stores. Stop clothes from ending up in the landfill! Educate yourself.”