I can safely say that I have upped my use of hand soap over the past months. And with 6 people washing their hands frequently, we go through a lot of hand soap in my house.  Happily, that doesn’t include bringing more plastic into our home.

I first discovered Bare Market as a pop-up in the Toronto Patagonia store a few years ago. I was just starting out on my mission to be more conscious about the choices I make as a consumer. I was already taking advantage of the BYOC (bring your own container) at the Bulk Barn for pantry items but I had no idea that a concept existed like that for personal hygiene products. Now I can’t remember the last time I bought a plastic bottle of hand soap, dish soap, or body wash. I love that these and many more personal products are among the offerings at several package free stores in Toronto. 

I don’t get tired of advocating for more responsible plastic use. Our current use of plastic is not sustainable. But change needs to happen on more than just a personal level. By now you have probably heard the urgent warnings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). We need to act now to reduce our use of fossil fuels and slow climate change.  Plastic is a part of the fossil fuel industry and releases carbon dioxide throughout its lifecycle. Whether it is the petroleum in plastic, the energy required to make products, the recycling or disposal, CO₂ is released into the environment. There is no question that plastic is convenient, but at what cost? What if plastic producers were responsible for taking back and recycling plastic at the end of its life cycle instead of mining and manufacturing virgin plastic? What if returning plastic bottles and containers was incentivized for consumers so that plastic didn’t end up in landfill (or worse, littered!). What if there were no more single-use plastics except in areas where absolutely necessary?

While plastic does have some very important and necessary uses, I don’t think that bringing home hand soap is one of them. Package free and refill stores are becoming more mainstream in many circles but imagine if it was the norm? 

The onus should not be on the consumer. While I do believe that we all need to do our part to live sustainably, those producing the plastic should be required to take more responsibility. That’s where regulations come in. I’m not an expert and I still have a lot to learn but I do know that things are not going to change by themselves.  Elections are coming – where do the candidates in your riding stand on climate change and how will they take action? 

Cost: varies by product. My last jar of hand soap refill was $2.80 for just over 400mL. Probably cheaper than a hand soap of comparable quality and I also use it for dishes. Shampoo, conditioner, and body wash can definitely range in price depending on where you refill. There is also the option of shampoo and conditioner bars, but I haven’t yet experimented with those yet.

Convenience: 9/10 you may not be able to refill at a mainstream store, but I am lucky to have a refill store close by. Since I tend to buy quite a few items package free already it is a weekly shopping trip that only requires that I bring enough containers. If I do happen to forget my container there is also a deposit program to borrow one.

https://davidsuzuki.org/press/environmental-groups-calling-on-big-plastic-to-drop-its-lawsuit-against-federal-government-this-plastic-free-july/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190415144004.htm

Ending Plastic Pollution

https://350.org/canada/

47% of plastic waste comes from packaging. I would bet that a big chunk of that packaging is from the grocery store. When I did a plastic audit last July, most of my plastic waste was from the weekly trip to the supermarket. Plastic has some great qualities. It’s durable, light, and helps keep our food fresh and free from bacteria. This is especially important for some of our food that travels a long way before it hits the grocery store shelves. And while some of this plastic does help reduce food waste by keeping food from spoiling, there is a lot of unnecessary plastic coming home with our groceries. While my kitchen is far from plastic free, here are a few swaps I have made that make me feel a little better about the amount of plastic I have to get rid of every week: 

Produce: do you really need to put your fruit in a plastic bag? Probably not – you’re going to wash it anyway when you get home.  I do have some reusable lightweight bags for smaller items like mushrooms or brussel sprouts, but most of our produce goes straight into the cart.

Dairy: we go through a lot of yogurt in this house.  I have a drawer full of yogurt tubs to prove it. Now, instead of buying yogurt in a new tub every week, I take them to my favourite package free store, Bare Market, and refill them. We used to go through a lot of milk in my house, but that consumption is way down so it may be time to switch to a deposit jug option. It’s less milk for a higher cost but now that my kids drink more water than milk it is accessible. Our cheese still comes in plastic, but where possible I opt for a larger amount to reduce the amount of overall packaging.

Pantry items: lentils, beans, rice, baking supplies, quinoa the list goes on.  I no longer buy these at the supermarket, but instead opt for package free grocery stores where I can bring my own jar (or yogurt container since I still have a ton of them!)

Meat/Fish: Still working on this one.  We don’t eat a ton of meat and fish in this house but it still brings plastic into our home.  I think purchasing straight from the counter or from local butcher shops reduces the packaging. We do have a charcuterie board once a week for dinner (pandemic routine!) so it would be great to find more of these products with less packaging.  Before Covid, the deli counter would let me use my own container, but pretty sure that hasn’t returned yet.

While making these swaps makes me feel better about my own actions, what really needs to change is regulations. In May of this year, the federal government listed some plastic manufactured items as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. This means more management in how plastic is produced, used, and disposed of.  In my mind, this requires  the plastic producers to take a more active role in ensuring that plastic is easier and cost effective to recycle and engage in more sustainable practices. Less virgin plastics being created, less waste in our world. But instead of innovation, Big Plastic (the three biggest plastic companies in Canada: Imperial/Exxon, Dow, NOVA) is suing the Canadian government. That money and brain power could be better spent on creating more sustainable options and tackling climate change. What if instead of focusing on taking more fossil fuels out of the ground, the focus was on creating plastics that were easily recyclable and less toxic?

In the meantime, I love that there are more and more package free shopping options. I would love to see deposit bottles and refillable containers become a part of the mainstream grocery shopping experience.

Cost: Hard to determine. Sometimes supermarket chains are able to provide items at a lower cost than smaller businesses. However, the upside of buying package free is that you can choose the amount you need. I reuse containers and jars so there is no extra cost there. I bought my reusable produce bags from 4R Planet for about $6.50 for a set of 4 (but I don’t see them available there anymore). I was also gifted a ChicoBag from Well.ca that retails for about $7.

Convenience: 7/10 It is definitely less convenient to shop at more stores than a one-stop shop. It also takes a little more planning to pack containers ahead of time. However, it feels good to support local and reduce packaging so I think it is definitely worth the effort.

Want to take action? Visit Environmental Defence or David Suzuki Foundation to learn more.

https://www.wastetodaymagazine.com/article/organizations-form-canada-plastics-pact-increase-recycled-content-use-packaging-2025/

https://davidsuzuki.org/press/environmental-groups-calling-on-big-plastic-to-drop-its-lawsuit-against-federal-government-this-plastic-free-july/

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2021/01/29/package-free-stores-how-the-zero-waste-lifestyle-movement-is-boosting-a-retail-trend/

Ending Plastic Pollution

After coffee cups and water bottles, plastic straws were probably one of the first single-use plastic items to hit the chopping block for me. I still remember watching the viral video of a sea turtle having a plastic straw removed from its nose. That video launched many campaigns and straw bans because of the emotional response it evoked. It definitely changed my relationship with straws.

Straws have been around for a long time. Ancient Sumarians are thought to be the first users. Over 5,000 years ago, they submerged long, thin tubes of precious metals to bypass the fermentation byproducts on top of their beer! Throughout history there were probably many different materials used for straws. The first patent for a drinking straw was filed by Marvis Stone in 1888. He wrapped strips of paper around a pencil and glued them together as an early prototype. In the 1930s inventor Joseph Friedman used a screw to create indentations so that straws could bend without breaking. Not surprisingly, hospitals quickly embraced bendable straws because patients were then able to drink while lying down. However, it wasn’t until after WWII that straws started being made from plastic. Plastic straws quickly became cheaper to produce and they were more durable than paper, easily passing through to-go cup lids without tearing. In the 1980s new takes on the plastic straw (remember crazy straws?) were also produced. 

A 2019 study showed that 8.3 billion straws pollute the world’s beaches. In 2017 straws were 7th on the list of collected litter and now have moved down to number 11 (according to community collected data). Out of the eight million tons of plastic that flow into the ocean every year (!!) straws make up only 0.025%. 

So why the big emphasis on straws? Some say that banning plastic straws gets us one step closer to banning other single-use plastics. Others say it’s a distraction and masks a bigger problem of cultural dependency on single-use plastic. Either way, straws remain a danger to wildlife and our environment. Straws can be sharper than they look and injure or choke animals as they mistake them for food. They are light enough to be blown out of uncovered garbage cans and landfills and also end up as litter. Like other plastic pollution, they break down into microplastics which end up in our drinking water and soil.

In Toronto, plastic straws cannot be recycled. (Side note; paper straws that have a waxy lining also belong in the garbage and unlined paper straws can be composted). Straws are on the list of six single-use plastic items to be banned in Canada. According to a 2020 press release from the Canadian government, single-use plastic items make up most of the plastic litter found in freshwater environments and straws are among the most common littered items found on our shores. Close to 57 million straws are used daily and during the pandemic our use of single-use food and beverage packaging increased 10% proportionally.

So while straws are not the biggest environmental concern we face, they still have an impact on our environment. For those who are able to drink easily out of a glass and don’t need plastic straws because of a disability, skipping a straw is a pretty easy step to take. Of course, if you enjoy using a straw, there are many reusable options which were quickly marketed to environmentally conscious consumers after that viral turtle video.

In the warmer months, I try to travel with reusable straws. I have a few silicon ones that travel easily and are dishwasher safe. At home, I often use stainless steel straws for drinks that are iced and somehow smoothies taste better with a straw! That being said, if I’m out and about without a reusable I choose to refuse.

Cost: GreenPaxx silicon straws 4 pack are currently $16.99 at Well.ca. I also have stainless steel straws which I believe I purchased from Bulk Barn years ago that came with a cleaning brush. Plastic straws generally cost less than a penny so it will take a while to break even financially but you are less likely to run out of straws!

Convenience: 8/10 you have to remember to bring them with you! Most reusable straws are dishwasher safe. Running a brush through before washing is definitely recommended.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/news-plastic-drinking-straw-history-ban?loggedin=true

https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/environment/2018/07/how-do-plastic-straw-bans-work

https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/news/2020/10/canada-one-step-closer-to-zero-plastic-waste-by-2030.html

https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/news/2020/10/canada-one-step-closer-to-zero-plastic-waste-by-2030.html

https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/evaluating-existing-substances/science-assessment-plastic-pollution.html#toc9

https://www.aquablog.ca/2021/06/ditching-the-dirty-dozen/

https://www.greenmatters.com/p/how-plastic-straws-affect-ocean-turtles

Ziploc bags to reusable 

In my last sustainable swap post I talked about reducing single-use snack wrapper use.  But you still need a way to carry those homemade snacks on the go. Many people have a good collection of reusable containers even if the lid and container collections don’t quite match! (I wonder if the lids end up in the same place as those single socks that go missing from the dryer…?)  Either way, sometimes you want the ease of a resealable bag which folds up much more neatly when you’re done consuming it’s contents.  Cue the plastic…

But plastic bags are recyclable some might argue.  In Toronto, our curbside recycling program does accept plastic bags including resealable ones.  However, the bags must be clean and dry with no food residue otherwise they will contaminate the rest of the recycling which will then be sent to landfill.  That’s also one of the biggest problems with outdoor recycling bins. Most of the time, they are contaminated with leftover food and drink and so many of those recyclables end up going to landfill as well. So that means you need to bring that plastic bag home with you anyway. In that case, it might as well be a reusable one.  They are much sturdier and easier to clean than your average ziploc!

Full disclosure, sometimes I do still use resealable plastic bags – some have travelled to my house filled with yumminess.  I carefully wash and reuse them.  When they’ve been used for food too many times I repurpose them to hold other small items and they do come in handy at school sometimes.  However, I much prefer my Stasher bags. I regularly use them in the freezer and I can put them in the dishwasher and be confident that they are still food safe. I have even used them to hold my personal items when packing my carry on even though travelling seems like a distant memory right now.

But whether you reuse or recycle your zip top bags there is still the question of what goes into making them.  Although there are some companies that are trying to offset carbon and use more sustainable energy during manufacturing (progress!), these bags still require good old petroleum products. Mining and extracting oil to make more plastic is not within the realm of what I call sustainable. 

Cost: Stasher bags range from $12 – $30 so the investment can be a deterrent.  I currently have 1 sandwich bag, 1 snack bag, and 2 pocket bags and I use them all the time.  They go from fridge, to freezer, to on the go, to dishwasher.  You can even use them for sous-vide cooking.  I’ve also used them as my travel bag for toiletries. The seal on them is far superior to your average ziploc and they are made from silicon so withstand a lot of use.  My oldest one I’ve had for about 3 years and it shows no signs of wear and tear. At 10¢ or less per bag for a disposable bag it will take a while to balance out the financial cost, but if you have the means, I would argue that the cost to the environment is worth the investment.

Convenience: 9/10 The only downside for me is that I may not have one clean when I need it because I don’t have a big collection. I looooove that they go right into my dishwasher after being used.

https://www.toronto.ca/services-payments/recycling-organics-garbage/houses/what-goes-in-my-blue-bin/

Are Plastic Ziploc Bags Suddenly Green or Greenwashed?

I’m more than halfway through my Earth Month challenge of picking up one bag of garbage on every run and I’m definitely seeing some trends.  Apart from cigarette butts which are the most littered item and make up 38% of litter the things I pick up most are pieces of plastic, many of which come from food packaging.  

I’ve been working for a while now to try and reduce my food plastic waste in a few different areas which will all get their own post.  One of these is in the snack department. Who doesn’t love an easy grab-and-go snack or a quick answer when the kids ask for a snack.  The convenience of individually packaged snacks is alluring but the garbage left behind? Not so much! 

Most snack wrappers (i.e. granola bars, candy bars, chips, crackers) are made of multiple layers that include foil and polyethylene (plastic).  You know, bright and colourful on the outside and silver on the inside. Keeps your snack fresh and tasting good but difficult to recycle because of the way it is made. I don’t know if there are any Canadian recycling programs that accept this material although I have heard that Nature Valley has started a return to store program for their new recyclable granola bar wrappers in the US.  But until that packaging and technology are common I will keep working towards replacing individually packaged snacks with homemade snacks.

I will admit that this is far more time-consuming than grabbing something from the grocery store aisle.  I know that this is not feasible for everyone but I enjoy making messes in my kitchen (cleaning is not my forte) and the results are often healthier and yummier than most pre-packaged snacks.  Some of my favourite snacks to make are granola bars, cookies, and muffins. I use way less sugar and a lot more nutrient-dense foods with a healthy sprinkling of chocolate. I buy a lot of my ingredients at my favourite package free store Bare Market on the Danforth.  My current favourite is the iron-rich granola bar recipe by Elyse Kopecky found on the Women’s Running site.  My children’s favourites include Superhero muffins from Run Fast Eat Slow and the sneak peak Trail Mix Breakfast Cookies from Shalane Flanagan and Elyse Kopecky’s upcoming Rise and Run cookbook. If you’re more of a savoury person, Bare Market also sells chips, pretzels, and other goodies package free. Popcorn is also a popular snack at my house and I even have a reusable silicon microwave popcorn maker.

I’m definitely not completely free of snack packaging but I’ve managed to make weekly baking a part of my routine and I’m happier for it!

Cost Comparision: Pretty hard to gauge. I would imagine that buying individual snacks in bulk is cheaper than many of the ingredients that I use.  That being said, oats and raisins are not expensive so you could modify recipes to make them more cost-effective. Popcorn is another cheap and cheerful snack.

Convenience Factor: 6/10? Definitely not as convenient, but with a little time and planning it is possible to set yourself up for the week.  I usually bake once or twice a week so that there are a couple of options available.  

https://www.womensrunning.com/health/food/boost-iron-levels-with-snack-high-in-iron/

https://baremarket.ca/

https://www.agreenerfuture.ca/blog/2021/4/12/recycle-cigarettes-with-terracycle-and-a-greener-future

Nature Valley Introduces Recyclable Wrapper

Packaging the Chip Challenge Flavors

Plastic bags.

Where do I start?

I am lucky that I live across from the grocery store because I can remember days where I left with an armful of groceries rather than use a plastic bag. Nowadays, I don’t think there are as many grocery stores that still have plastic bags. In fact, plastic grocery bags are on a list of single-use plastic items that will be banned nationwide by the end of 2021 (although, like many other things, that will probably change because of the pandemic). 

However, even if plastic grocery bags are completely banned, that is only one source. Plastic bags are still widely used in retail stores, for food products, take-out, and a variety of other products and services. Canadians use up to 15 billion plastic bags every year.  South of the border that number rises to 100 billion. And even though there are many people that reuse plastic bags many of them still end up as litter.  You don’t have to look far to see one sailing through the air on a windy day or being washed down the street where it clogs drains and ends up polluting our lakes and rivers.

Plastic bags are made from fossil fuels – an estimated 8-10% of the oil supply goes to making plastic products. That’s more extraction and production emitting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. Petroleum-based plastic bags are made of resistant synthetic polymers that may take up to 1,000 years to decompose if they do at all.  That’s a long time to be around when the average use is about 12 minutes. 

The statistics about plastic pollution and its impact on wildlife are not any better. By now, we’ve all heard of whales or other sea animals washing up with bellies full of plastic as they mistake a plastic bag for food.  Animals can also become entangled in plastic pollution (so remember to cut those six-pack rings before you throw them out!). Every year an estimated 100,000 marine creatures and one million sea birds die because of plastic. As plastics break down into microplastics they continue to cause problems. Microplastics contaminate our water and soil and have worked their way up the food chain into our own bodies. In some places the mass microplastic exceeds the mass of plankton and one study even found that a quarter of all fish sold in grocery stores contain some type of plastic. 

But don’t go replacing all your plastic bags with paper bags.  Although they do much better on the degrading front (you can even compost them) they still have a high environmental cost. It can take 4 times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag and here’s hoping they are made from recycled paper!

The solution? Carry a reusable bag with you and use it whenever you can! Remember not all reusable bags are created equal! Choose one that is durable and easy to clean so that you can use it safely for years. If you do have plastic bags that you can’t reuse, be sure to recycle them.  Make sure they are clean and dry so that they don’t contaminate the rest of your recycling. I admit that plastic bags can be handy to have around to reuse, but as someone who makes an effort not to use them I still have a huge stash so we definitely have waaaay more plastic bags in our lives than we need to!

Cost: Grocery bags $1.00 and up, produce bags $10 – $30 

Convenience: 9/10 I actually like reusable bags way better than the plastic ones – they are sturdy and more convenient to carry as long as you remember them! I think the same things about reusable produce bags. Although they are definitely pricier I think it is also important to keep in mind that those thin produce bags are a pain to use, don’t keep your produce well, and also can be difficult to recycle because they are so thin!

https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/canada-banning-plastic-bags-straws-cutlery-and-other-single-use-items-by-the-end-of-2021-1.5135968

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/plastic-pollution

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/plastic-grocery-bag-ban-environment-1.5755723

Understanding Plastic Bag Bans Around the World [INFOGRAPHIC]

10 Reasons Why Should We Ban Plastic Bags

https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/population_and_sustainability/sustainability/plastic_bag_facts.html

Learn

I feel like I truly committed to reusable coffee mugs when I went back to school to become a teacher.  I would stop off at my local coffee shop, get my mug filled with a delicious latte, and hop on the subway to get to class. To me, reusable mugs are far superior to disposable cups – they don’t spill as easily, coffee stays hot longer (especially important back in the day where I could walk around my classroom drinking a coffee), and the environmental cost is way lower.

Those disposable cups may be made of paper (even recycled paper) but they are lined with a thin layer of plastic which means they can’t easily be recycled after use.  Some plastic lids may be recycled but not if they’re soiled.  Can you drink a coffee without getting any on the lid? Pretty sure that’s not possible.  So that means if you’re out walking with that cozy coffee in a disposable cup the only part that can be recycled is the sleeve.  The rest goes in the garbage. Hours of production, years to break down, minutes of actual use. Canadians use millions of disposable cups a day and a lot of resources and energy go into making each cup. A mug or travel cup will eventually break even in energy used to create it and energy saved after multiple uses. 

As I became more aware of the true cost of disposable cups I made a real effort not to use them.  If I didn’t have a mug on me, I would enjoy my coffee ‘to stay’ if there was time or sometimes forgo that coffee altogether.  But since the pandemic started things have changed.  In March of last year, most coffee shops packed away their mugs and stopped accepting reusables.  At the time, it made sense.  We didn’t know what we didn’t know.  I haven’t read extensively on the subject, but it would make sense that hygiene and sanitization procedures that are in place would work just as well whether you are using a paper cup or a reusable mug. 

Even so, there isn’t really a lot of incentive to bring your own mug. When you can order on your phone through an app or go through a drive-through there’s no option to use your own mug. There is sometimes a discount for using a personal cup, but it’s not enough to convince someone to avoid using a disposable. I have seen calls for coffee chains to either charge more for coffee in disposable cups or for accountability to recycle their own cups.  Yes, it’s true, they can be recycled, even though most recycling programs don’t accept them. At many levels, it seems we value convenience over true costs to the environment.

I will continue to support my local coffee shops – those frothy lattes really have a way of brightening my day and that’s definitely something needed in these times.  But I am looking forward to the days I can enjoy my coffee from my trusty traveller mug instead of a single-use cup.

Cost: $20 – $40 depending on the brand (If you get a 25¢ discount/coffee you would have to buy at least 80 coffees to break even)

Convenience: 8/10 some mugs require handwashing and you have to plan ahead especially if you have more than one coffee while out. Most places are not currently accepting reusable coffee mugs. 

Do you have a favourite coffee shop that still accepts reusable mugs? Drop it below!

Sources:

Ecological and social costs of single use coffee cups

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/berkeley-businesses-single-use-to-go-coffee-cups-fee-1.5395807

https://fspstoryofstuffblog.wordpress.com/the-story-of-paper-cups-by-julien-blanchard/

Health Experts Agree that Reusable Coffee Cups are Safe During COVID

https://www.fastcompany.com/90270871/starbucks-recycled-25-million-old-paper-coffee-cups-into-new-cups

Ditching plastic water bottles for a reusable one was one of the first sustainable swaps I made. Having access to clean tap water makes it one of the easier and cheaper swaps I have made. The only real investment is purchasing a reusable bottle and in the long term, you save money by not having to purchase a plastic bottle that may or may not be recycled to drink what is in many cases, glorified tap water. 

Water is a basic human right. Yet, there are millions of people around the world that don’t have access to clean drinking water.  In Canada, there are still tens of thousands of people that don’t have access to clean drinking water including close to 60 Indigenous communities that are under boil water advisories, some for more than a decade. Other communities are without a connection to a water treatment facility, for example, Six Nations, just 90 minutes away from Toronto, had a water line installed in 2018 but the cost to hook up individual homes to that line mean that many still do not have access to potable water in their homes. It is hard to believe that is happening in Canada, a water-rich country with one-fifth of the world’s fresh water and 60% of the world’s lakes. This is something that many large companies (e.g. Nestle) have continued to take advantage of, bottling what should be a free natural resources and then selling it back to consumers at hundreds of times the cost.  

I would argue though, that water bottle companies are not really selling you water.  They are selling you a cheap plastic bottle with a side of convenience.  But what price are you really paying? Bottled water requires up to 2,000 times the energy used to produce tap water. Water bottles are made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) which is sourced from fossil fuels. Not to mention the water used to actually make the bottle itself! Although companies like to share how much they are using recycled PET in their water bottles, in Canada water bottles are made up of an average of 19% recycled materials. Nestle comes in at only 5%. That’s because it’s still cheaper and easier to use raw materials than recycled PET.

All of that before you even drink the water which a study found to contain twice as many microplastics as tap water. After that, you still have to dispose of that plastic bottle.  Millions of bottles are sold every minute and it takes 450 years for them to completely degrade.  In Canada, 79% are recycled (compared to 30% in the US and 97% in Norway that’s not completely awful) and about half of that recycled PET is sold to the US. Definitely a lot of hidden costs in those plastic water bottles.

The last time I used a plastic water bottle was last summer during a team relay where I didn’t carry water in my run. I still haven’t found a perfect water system that I’m happy carrying while running at a hard effort but that’s a story for another time. In fact, there have been instances where I’ve decided to stay thirsty instead of purchasing a water bottle. I have a choice. And I choose to drink the water out of my tap instead of supporting companies that value profit over equitable access to water. World Water Day is one month from now and the theme for this year is the true value of water. What does water mean to you and what will you do to protect this vital resource?

Investment: $3 and up

Convenience Factor: 9/10 – 1 = lots of effort, 10 = easy peasy

(It doesn’t take much effort to fill a bottle from the tap, but hand washing water bottles can be slightly annoying)

Sources: https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/bottle-recycling-1.5416614

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/canada-indigenous-drinking-water-dangers/

https://time.com/5581326/plastic-particles-in-bottled-water/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/08/plastic-bottles/

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2018/oct/04/ontario-six-nations-nestle-running-water

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2013/10/28/241419373/how-much-water-actually-goes-into-making-a-bottle-of-water

Elected Council to seek funding for household water line hookups

It’s hard to turn around these days without bumping into an opinion. We are regularly overloaded with information and disinformation. So why add my voice?

Well, to be honest, it’s probably more for me. It’s a way for me to reflect on positive changes and areas for improvement as I try to live more sustainably. To me, sustainability is about building and maintaining habits that are environmentally friendly, budget friendly, and not overly time consuming. I also recognize that not everyone has the same choices I have. I live in a city that has a lot of options and I have the privilege that comes along with fitting into most of the boxes that society constructs. I want to learn from others who are further ahead in their journey than I am and motivate others who can to join me in making sustainable changes.

If there is anything 2020 has highlighted, it is that there are systems in place that benefit some and harm others and that we need to work together to change that. There are some things that shouldn’t go back to normal because our old normal wasn’t sustainable. My actions alone may not make a big impact, but a journey is made up of many small steps. Writing here, is one of mine.