Yes on public composting services!! My city website has a “share your idea with us” page and I wrote a quick paragraph on why a city composting program would be so beneficial (and meet my states own landfill diversion goal they set a few years ago). Not sure if they read it but I will keep pressing them! Since I started composting on my own with a bin I have reduced the amount going in my trash SO much, my garbage bin doesn’t wreak anymore, and I now am way more aware of what foods I’m throwing in the compost and it’s helping me alter my grocery list so I don’t waste as much.
Maybe send them examples of other cities who have successful composting services. If they have a plan they may be less overwhelmed at starting up a brand new system. That way they can reach out to those cities and possibly use them as a model. It might get them over a hump of being overwhelmed by the thought of such a large project -- no matter how much it makes sense.
Better public transportation! At least in the US Edit: while I'm at it, building cities up and not out (aka reducing urban sprawl). And protecting more green areas as wildlife reserves. I'd LOVE to see a video where you talk about the current mass extinction we're fighting. As a biologist, I feel like it's often overlooked in the discussion of climate change! Great vid Shelbi.
Especially since ecosystem fragmentation due to urban sprawl is a huge thing here on N.America. Here in Canada, I'm becoming more active in my local municipal space because we've lost 60% of our green space in the last 15yrs in my municipality. We want better transit systems and better build that do densification right
@@maddieb_99 I personally love trains but N.Americans have been brainwashed by capitalism that using mass transit is terrible. Plus once you get to the end destination, it isn't walkable/there's no transit
I agree! I would love to see the town actually take a stand. My hometown started exploding in population, and there have been so many problems, such as a labor shortage and no affordable housing. But the town itself has backed down on what they consider protected lands, in favor of developing stores and large houses for the rich. We just lost our last protected wetland last year
we need more eco friendly funeral stuff.. mushroom coffins that assist decomposition is one idea but excellent ideas here Shelbi. I'm here for the bigger things. I am sure companies are pretty much aware of changes that can be made they just choose not to do them..
thanks guys. I also mean we do need these things to be offered and available. My parents both died recently and there was nothing eco available in the UK
I live in a very rural area in Poland and the supermarket at our town put up nuts and dry fruits bins after people asked (because buying packaged in tiny amounts wasn't efficient). It's great start and I hope it will continue with other items. I recommend you could contact your local stores because when you think you're the only one, you're wrong. Unpackaged goods benefit everyone!
and cheaper!! I got a little thing of oregano from sprouts, maybe 2 oz, for $6!!! it was maybe a few tablespoons worth. i cant afford that, especially if i have four or five spices i need to fill
We need more environmental education in K-12. Personally, I didn’t get taught about climate change until I was in college in a Sustainability class. In high school we learned about greenhouse gasses a little but not enough.
They had a earth day thing at my kids school. It was absolutely appaling how inaccurate and how useless it was when I was reading the stuff they sent home with freebies of plastic reusable bags and plastic waterbottles.the maker of the objects were greenwashed. I asked my kids if he learned anything new he said no-he learns more at home. At least there was an effort made I guess...
Agreed. Usually talking about changing systems makes me feel small and useless, but for some reason this video and the composting ones got me energized. Don’t know why but I guess shelbi just has a more realistic and down to earth way of presenting it.
This!! I feel like city/ county level things are definitely something we can influence. I didn't even know that city wide composting was a thing! It makes so much sense. We are and can be active members of our community so I feel like it's more achievable then mailing our state representatives or corporations (which is important, but sometimes I feel like they go unread)
In my town, a few coffee shops started offering take back to-go cups. You pay a small deposit when you take the cup that is returned when you bring it back. They are light cups, similar to the regular to-go cups, but are reusable and you don't have to carry a silicon or metal tumbler with you all day.
I'm living in CA in an apartment. Our complex got a compost bin about two months ago and it seems like a decent portion of people are actually using it appropriately. It's massive and emptied on a weekly basis but is always at least half full and it just makes me smile. Not perfect, but a nice first step!
That’s awesome! Any chance you can share details on your property manager? I’m about to ask my apartment complex to install one and it might help if they can call another landlord who will say “yea we do it. It’s not a hassle at all really!”
My city recently implemented a ban on plastic bag. It’s definitely doable and drives positive change, so I would love to see it become more and more popular.
We need a more circular economy in general. Nutrients (compost to fertilizer), a 2nd hand market for all goods, and right to repair for appliances. People have been dumbed down so much they really don't know how much they can do themselves. Education of the young and adults should be more hands on, how to repair, make, build or grow simple stuff. Sewing, cooking, woodworking, gardening should return to school curriculums. Instead of watching TV all night adults can learn more in a functional community, elderly people shouldn't be regarded as useless eaters, they have much to teach to the younger generations.
A system that needs to change when we talk about eco-friendly that I have not heard talked about much is the pet care industry. As someone with dogs, a previous cat owner, worked in the veterinary field and is currently volunteering in animal shelters, the system in it's entirety needs more ways to be eco friendly. Like the argument made over what to feed domestic pets, what's a more eco-alternative to a litter box, the responsibility the community has over their pet's waste, the amount of waste generated from toys that will be broken, trashed, and then replaced. This all ties back to how, as you pointed out, how disconnected we have all gotten from where stuff comes from and where it goes to when we are done with it. Anyway it's just a suggestion, good luck with the series.
One thing to be careful about with e charging stations: Many chunks of the country still generate electricity from those finite resources. So we also need to put a collective effort towards changing our electrical infrastructures to being more renewable.
I would love for you to talk about the negative impact of mining for the resources needed for batteries, which at this time are needed for solar/electric cars. And how sustainable that is in the long run.
Ugh, you've just made me want to contact everyone to address all these issues. I want to grow my own food (especially after reading "Silent Spring") so bad but don't have the resources to. Community/rooftop gardens would be so beneficial , mentally and physically, for everyone.
What is silent spring about? Maybe you can start with something small like herbs! I was thinking I wanted to grow food too but also I have commitment issues so I was thinking herbs.
You may be able to grow something after all. You can grow herbs, sprouts, micro greens, cut & come again salad greens, etc in a window, on the counter, on a balcony, in window boxes, etc. There's even tomatoes & peppers that are dwarf plants that can grow in 6"-8" pots indoors. Lots of online info & TH-cam videos on small space indoor gardening & lots of ideas for reusing stuff that would otherwise be trashed to grow stuff in.
@@gawahamster7608 Silent Spring is about the harmful consequences on the environment and species from pesticides and other chemicals that were used to get rid of the "undesirables" (ie weeds and insects). Rachel Carson wrote it in the 1960s. Yeah, I thought about herbs, since they have those indoor ones.
@@future.homesteader Awesome, thanks! I'm actually trying to grow lettuce in water right now. It's probably best to start small anyway to get used to gardening. Having indoor plants would also be wonderful for the atmosphere of my home.
@@maggiekudrick4616 Lots of food plants make cool looking house plants. Malabar spinach is a fast growing vine with nice leaves, red or rainbow chard has colored stems with green leaves and you can harvest the outside leaves while it continues to grow, you can grow wheatgrass on a coffee table like people grow regular grass as decor, etc.
I really appreciate your systemic viewpoint. Part of the issue is that people don't see that their energy and time would be much better utilized to advocate for systemic changes that making their own cleaning products, etc.
Ok, between the last video and this one you got me all energized. I’m gonna do some research on composting and rooftop gardens and then send a proposal to my landlord of what could be implemented. They’ll probably say no way, but there’s always that chance that they’ll do it 🤞
The ultimate renewable energy source. People power! By that I mean, generators made to covert human exercise into energy. Stationary bikes, treadmills, ellipticals. You could have a power plant that looks like a gym or even have these in homes and apartments. It's a wonderful incentive to get some exercise in. It's a wonderful accompaniment to solar energy as well.
Yes. Would love for there to be more of a shift in schools towards sustainability. The amount of disposables in schools is astonishing tbh. I do understand with covid a lot of parents are scared but we could start with small things.
My college composts and recycles paper based products like paper towels and paper disposable containers, they also have reusable lunch boxes and set up stations for water bottles that are less germs scary than water fountains
Reusable containers seem like a good option for small business restaurants. I order from my favorite couple of restaurants pretty frequently (I keep and reuse their current plastic containers right now) it seems like a great option to get people to have another incentive to become a returning customer if they have a reason to give back the reusable container. There might even be incentive for several businesses to share the same containers so that people in the community could go to ALL their local restaurants and keep reusing the containers. I'm sure there's a lot more that goes into it, but it seems like that's a really cool idea
I love the educational videos that give realistic ideas of expectations we can put on municipalities. Sure, bamboo toilet brushes are neat, but products are just…more things. Thank you for doing what you do!
GREEN UP DAYS! Vermont is the only state I know that designates one day a year to clean up the state - it’s practically a VT holiday. They supply green bags, you fill them up with trash along the roads/waterways and bring them back! Such a great idea, so easy to clean up the state when everyone’s helping out! Great way to get outside, help the earth and feel a sense of community 😊
Hi ! I wanted to share that in Switzerland we have a curbside composting system and I believe most people compost here ! It's easy and avoids the trash to rot and stink :)
Sadly this depends on the canton/city. Where I live (Fribourg) it's only a thing if you sign up and pay for it. As a renter, I'm not allowed to sign up my apartment building. This definitely annoys me, because where I grew up (small village in canton Bern) it was free and everyone could use the service.
We need more cover crops and farmer-led watershed councils. Wisconsin has some cool movements in those categories and its already making a difference on soil loss and nutrient run off to surface water!
What we need more of: 1) Social / societal acceptance of showering less. 2) Social / societal acceptance of not wearing deodorant and just getting a little stinky. (It's really ok.) 3) Social / societal acceptance of not shaving (especially women). 4) More teleworking! (Saves on emissions as more people work from home and less people commute.) 5) More cool products made from recycled / upcycled materials. And more places to send donated items to. For example, what am I going to do with bras that no longer fit? It's SO much work to find a place to take them. I just saw an Instagram page for wood products made of recycled (old) skateboards. How cool!
As an older person, Ive learned how I can make changes myself to help the environment from your channel. I love it! But of course the larger picture and circular systems are very important. Keep up the good work of educating us. Thank you!
There are SO many videos and resources to find sustainable products. It’s definitely more difficult to find videos on how to make large scale changes (in my opinion). I’d love a video of just following along in a day where you write to companies, political figures, etc then post templates for those emails and links to where to find your local politicians, etc in the resources.
One thing that I just recently learned about is how this one company collects oil with hair! This is something every city and every country needs!!! Cars loose oil, we have big problems in the oceans and there is this super simple eco friendly solution!!!! Instead of throwing away the hair, hairdressers can donate it to places that turn it into those mats.
Honestly more options for android phone cases, specifically targeting Pela. I know Pelacase is a great start for sustainability, however, it's not fair how there is a VAST AMOUNT OF variety IPhone cases, but there's 3-8 choices for Android. To me that's really bull. I totally understand iphone/apple products are the main users, but it needs to be fair if they want more people to be aware and start their eco friendly journey. I am an avid Android user and it was really hard to get a case because they didn't have the specific case at the time I got my phone. I had to wait a bit before doing so. I'm not consistent at emailing them and @ them but I do message them when I can and check every now and then to see if they added more variety of Android cases. This is just my individual gripe only because it's been frustrating for 1-2 years now. However! I also so agree with majority of what you said about city composting and community garden. Edit: I did check their website again and they added a couple more of android options than when I last saw a few months years ago....but compare the instant fast options for Apple products it's not compared.
I'm in both camps. I firmly believe that individual change would be easier and possible for most people if we had these larger systemic changes. If there were still subsidies for solar panels, we'd be able to afford them and do it. If there were more community gardens and ways to compost, we'd participate in those. If companies would listen and offer more plastic-free options, I'd buy them.
We need more green corridors in urban areas and across streets etc to connect wildlife populations and protect our biodiversity 🙏🐢 And personnaly I´m here for the broader sense of sustainable living because I think they have the bigger impact in the long run and are more important than companies coming up with new products.... In so many ways, we already have the solutions to being more sustainable as a society, now we "just" need to get them implemented.
Thanks to your ongoing information and encouragement, I have learned so much. I'm doing my very first ECO chat at a local meeting this week! I was asked to speak about my zero-waste lifestyle by the organizers, who have admired and been inspired by MY journey.... as I'm inspired by YOURS... so THANK YOU. We are making ripples!!!
One thing the study on reusable takeout containers in colleges forgot to account for was labor in washing the items. The additional labor needed would drastically reduce the annual savings of switching to reusables. And what happens if some of your dishwashers break and you can't keep up with the influx of dirty dishes before they get fixed? That being said, I think it's a great idea and even if there was no financial benefit it would be a valuable switch.
You hire students to hand wash them. Some students will work at the college as part of their grant. It lowers student debt and allows them to earn extra money.
@@AutumnMoonlight95 not always possible. My hometown has such a severe labor shortage because people who have been moving here has been rich people who have mommy and daddy paying for everything. Many businesses have closed due to lack of workers. And the university services have been the same.
My school had something similar - each student was responsible for their own school-issued to-go box. it was our responsibility to have it when we needed it, clean it between uses, store it, etc. There were no spares, no single use - idk but if you wanted a new one you probably had to pay to replace it.
I mean even if they were paying wages for dishwashers you could pay 7 or 8 workers in that time frame. They would still be below what they are spending for those throw away containers. It would also be generating income and creating jobs.
More community fridges should be available … some parts of Brooklyn have them… fridges and pantry areas on busy streets for people to leave and take food items that people may have dropped off so food doesn’t go to waste and into hands of people who may really benefit from that food.
Every EV charging station I’ve ever seen has been open air, but I think it’d be cool to have it setup like a typical gas station with an overhead cover, but with solar panels on top! Of course the amount of energy able to be captured isn’t going to offset much, but it will make a small difference and a lot of small difference can create a big impact! (Plus it’ll protect drivers from rain). I have also seen that something that discourages people from choosing EV’s is that it takes so much time to stop and recharge on road trips or even just long drives (thanks TX, for being so big…). I think one way to ease that fear would be if we built our roadways and EV’s to incorporate wireless charging! I did some read watch in college about making wireless charging of devices more accessible by increasing the distance at which charging could be achieved with the goal of being able to walk into a geographic area and your devices would begin charging, and we saw results across 1 meter. If we implemented this into our infrastructure and EV’s, and paid for the energy by creating a purchasable pass (similar to toll tag), you can literally charge your vehicle as you drive. It would level the playing field more in favor of EV’s I think.
I live in Switzerland and used to work in a place that tried the takeback-container and we had to replace them so often, they started smelling, people brought them back moldy, it was a hustle to check if all the regulations for food-safety are met, we were not allowed to put all kinds of food into the container because of allergens and so many people just never brought them back. Now you can grab a container, you pay a small depot and if you return your container clean and useable, you get your money back.
I know a lot of local breweries around here are switching to 32oz cans instead of the large growler bottles because people do such a poor job cleaning the bottles and staff ends up having to spend time sanitizing them or often tossing out because they can't be cleaned
I would like a general 'how to' video about contacting your local council/representative to suggest these kinds of changes, preferably international friendly since I'm Aussie. As well as a sort of template to nicely bully companies into doing the write thing as I see and hear a lot of people wanting to write to politicians and companies but lack the time or confidence to do so. Thanks!
i think we need both. not because we need more stuff, but because those are stepping stones for personal problems towards a more sustainable life. and we need larger structural changes, we need to talk about the IPCC reports and what can do in our communities to make our worlds more sustainable. and we also need to talk about how that effects our politics and social lives. that is not a divorced conversation, we will need to go there to dive deeper into humanities relationship with the natural world/the planet.
I'm attending a colloquium on "Advancing Natural Building" by OUR Ecovillage right now. One of the insightful presentations was on how water capture retention and use actually had many positive downstream effects and that the effects were most pronounced by individual home initiatives to capture water as opposed to large scale projects. Capturing rainwater lessens the peak load impact on the storm water systems collecting water, the treatment systems, the downstream effects of post treatment so the streams are not flooded, using rainwater you collect leaves more in the dams for everyone else when drought hits. The effects of multiple individuals are actually much higher then say... the city paying millions to put in a large project that could handle higher and higher peak loads.
Love these! Thank you for thinking broadly we cannot consume our way to being eco friendly. 1) New legislation around strict energy efficiency standards for buildings, housing, vehicles 2) institute a jet fuel tax (did you all know that plane fuel is tax free everywhere in the world 🤯) 3) Municipalities could provide financial incentives for households that produce little to no waste. In my city the smaller your garbage bin, the less the bill 👍 4) Strict and simple legislation on non renewable packaging - as long as companies have no financial incentive or they are not forced to - they will stick to plastics.
Great video. I don’t know that I fully agree with the move to electric vehicles though. There are so many ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles already in existence that finding a way to make those more efficient and repair them vs moving to electric feels more sustainable. Would love to see a video about why new electric is more environmentally friendly in your opinion. I have personally driven an electric vehicle but after issues with the battery I returned to a used ICE vehicle.
The switch to electric vehicles requires massive lithium mining, as well, so I would like to see how the extrapolation of these resources out weighs everyone switching to electric cars? Would electric cars last nearly as long as gasoline? Is the electric we’re using to charge these batteries also renewable energy? I think switching to electric cars is too short-minded of an idea and needs to be explored and studied more.
I don’t think we have a perfect solution or alternative yet, so far the best option I know of is cars running on biogas. In my area there is a biogas plant that collects organic compostable waste from all the households and farmers in my municipality and uses it to create the biogas which people can fill up into their cars. The leftover ”compost” is then sold to farmers who use it as fertilizer on their crops, that will feed their livestock or grow other food, making it a fully circular option once that food is thrown into the bio waste bin. I think it’s the most sustainable because you can make a regular gasoline car into a gas car, the switch costs around 4000€ IIRC and will be much cheaper for the driver. And the fact that we don’t need to make new cars but could just modify our cars that we have I’d say it’s the best option we have, even if it involves biogas. I can barely tell a tractor from a tricycle though, so I can’t at all say what the parts/engines are or if they’re sustainable as products but I think it’s definitely something that not only solves food waste but allows for more jobs and a circular economy type of situation.
Communal compost is so important. Weather just the neighborhood or municipalities. Thank you as always for speaking on these things. I love your videos and your ideas.
Structural changes are more measurable/meaningful and create the largest impact, so this is important to incorporate. Individual changes are important also (we all want to feel like we are making a meaningful contribution to sustainable practices), but ultimately this is far less of an impact than at the larger structural level. I vote for balance, please continue to include both!!
i’m here for the sustainable systems content! i’m so interested in green rooves and urban greening. we have a balcony planting box which never gets any water, i started using waste water (from cooking or pre-shower heating) to water it and there is so much growing now! things that are classed as “weeds” but are actually really pretty and hardy wildflowers. i love inviting nature back into our sub/urban lives.
Bike lanes And community that helps its people, I should not be expected to have all the things I might possibly need at any given moment. We need more trust in boring and renting things.
One thing I would like to see more are “sustainable” funds with low expense ratio that are accessible and high performant. To me that’s one of the most powerful way to “vote with your money”. There’s literally an ETF (ticker name VOTE) that invests in the big companies to become active stakeholders and through that ownership hold companies accountable to create social values. The small, individuals investors like us should not have to compromise our financial health for our values.
Completely agree with your point about making composting more accessible. I live in a 1b-1b apartment in the city with my husband, with no balcony and very limited access to composting. My friend has a lot in a community garden nearby so we just freeze the food scraps and dump every 2 weeks, but it’s not possible to do that in the winter since my friend can’t do anything with his garden when it’s cold. I purchased a Lomi and have loved it so so much! I know it’s not ideal since it still consumes electricity and resource, but it has made composting so much easier and more convenient for me. I make sure to save enough scraps for the most optimal batch, chop my scraps as finely as possible, and defrost them until room temperature before starting a cycle to hopefully reduce the amount of energy required for a cycle.
YASS to community gardens and green roofs!! Really yes to all the things. One additional one is creating community awareness (something that you mentioned in passing with some of your things) across all age groups. My Dad is super into "eco-friendly, tree-hugger, hippie" stuff but he reuses single use sandwich bags, so for Father's Day we're getting him some reusable silicon ones.
Green roofs are great in cold climates. My electricity usage nearly triples every winter here in Finland due to heating, so if I had the ability to create a green roof I would do so in a heartbeat! I’ve also seen brick, cement or stone houses where they’ve planted moss onto the walls, it’s supposed to be a great insulation against both heat and cold and obviously needs little to no care.
I'd really like a template for what to say when writing to companies to ask them to change their methods, their packaging, etc. I figure you've come up with the language for it but I would struggle with how to word it. I don't know the lingo of businesses. If you could create templates for different types of asks I would do my best to do what you've suggested in previous videos in terms of taking time once a month to write to companies. I just don't know what to say! I know for various political causes I've seen websites with a pre-written letter you can copy and edit as needed to send to your own representative. I'm thinking something like that.
I have started leaning more into systems changes these days. I feel like I've gone as far as I can reasonably go with personal changes, so I want to start learning more about what I should be looking for from my local communities and governments.
I'm in the UK but separate cycle paths- close the roads to cars in city centers or like London have a congestion charge those going in (but not just in London, all cities). Better more reliable public transport Access to packaging free products at all large supermarkets. That's all that is available in some areas
Hey Shelbi! Here's a great idea for fast food and convenience restaurants (such as McDonald's, Starbucks, In-and-Out, etc ...) For customers who dine in at those places the food workers use reusable mugs and dishes to make food, and customers return the dishes when they are done. Simple transition. Saves a lot of money for the chain restaurants. Drastically reduces waste.
I agree with you on public composting services and rooftop gardens! My grandpa has a rooftop garden, and it’s super cool. I don’t have one, but I regrow food scraps at home. I would definitely like to see more sustainable fuel options. Yes, electric is good, but it’s inconvenient to have to charge your car (since that takes time) and there’s the question of where the electricity comes from.
Don’t get me wrong I love learning about products and individual changes, but I would love to see you and other people talking more about the bigger, systemic changes.
i am very happy to see you talk about more structural changes, i find the more consumer-based conversations around sustainability are kind of missing the mark a bit. this is a crisis that needs big societal changes, in some ways fundamental overhauls of the systems in place and only talking about what different products to buy feels, at times, borderline inappropriate to me. so very happy to hear you talk more along these lines!
I think people start out with making personal lifestyle changes. I started with wanting to limit chemicals and fragrances in my household products and it just snowballed into a low waste lifestyle and now I am more interested in the bigger picture stuff outside of my household habits. Keep doing what you’re doing, it gives variety to your content and helps a lot of people throughout the different stages of their journey.
Yes I'm always trying to persuade my clients to have a green roof. But I often struggle to persuade them... (I'm an eco home architect and mainly work with homeowners who want to extend their home. I also try to persuade them to build less or not at all, which sometimes works, sometimes not...)
Even a lot of the restaurants themselves don’t reuse the containers. Theyre used for a lot of prep and once it’s emptied it’s thrown out. I’ve worked at many different food and bev establishments and only one of them cleaned and saved plastic containers.
I would LOVE for you talk more about sustainable systematic change. I appreciate eco-friendly hacks vids as much as the next person, but you are right, let’s not encourage businesses to make more stuff at the risk of ignoring the bigger picture.
I love this video so much cause all these things are things that are completely doable have such a large positive impact when implemented properly. We just need to do them!!!
I’d love to hear more about system change. That would be really cool if that was a larger portion of the conversation on this channel 😊 but I also like hearing about individual change topics 😊
I think both social structure things and independent things we can do are important and helpful to have videos on. Independent things, as it can help people find changes they can make at what ever place they are at in their environmentally conscious journey. Social structure things help with giving people a direction to look or encourage or start up in their area if they happen to be in a place that they can.
Also, I definitely fall into the category of wanting to hear more about broad structural changes that we need more of! I've loved all the products that you recommend, but I feel like hearing more about ways that I can I helping other than consumables is where I think more people (like myself) need more help with so I can write to my representatives and encourage my friends to do so to! Thank you again for the quality content queen!
I like to hear about both products and large structural stuff! I think large structural issues are the biggest issues we face and we need to talk about them. I also feel that when we talk about products or smaller actions and ways of consuming it feels like something we have a bit more control over.
Municipal collection of food waste is a standard where I live, it seems wild that not everywhere does it. That said, in my municipality it doesn't actually get composted - it's used for biofuel and biogas production, and the waste heat from the process goes into the district heating system. The biggest problem is getting people to sort their food waste; a lot of it still ends up in regular trash, unfortunately.
Also another cool thing is Lomi from Pela. It is a tabletop composter which turns food scraps directly into soil without having to deal with an outdoor composter. Definitely worth checking out.
I'm a big fan of the system changes because those tend to have a larger impact than individual-scale changes. One thing I've been trying to learn more about is sustainable/ESG investing because I don't want the money I'm saving to be invested in any part of the fossil fuel industry. I would actually like to use my retirement fund someday, and so many managers invest in the oil and gas industry, or other industries that I don't feel comfortable supporting, so it ends up being difficult to find sustainable investing options
I think there’s more than enough out there about sustainable products, but not enough out there about the big stuff. Maybe some people will feel better making a product swap but there is a bigger picture at play.
Literally everything you can share with us that can help live more sustainably helps. I've made so many changes personally based on your videos and I still have a long way to go. The focus not being on just products or just actions is why I'm here, every aspect of sustainability matters
I think the divide in views is about control. It’s like I don’t feel like I have the power and control to influence a big company but I do have it over my own actions.
In Germany there is a system for resuable take away containers. Any buisness can register for the service and you as a costumer just leave a deposit when you take a cup or a bowl and get the deposit back at any other store that is part of the system. It is called Recup. And a lot of Coffe shopa and restaurants in my area partizipacte :)
I personally love that you give us a MIX of broad structural changes that need to be made as well as smaller things that we can do to minimize our individual footprints! It spreads awareness that its not all on us as individuals but there is so much that we can do and advocate for!
I'm interested in hearing about both - broad, structural changes but also changes we can make as individuals. There are a lot of entry points at which people join in on the movement - those small individual steps are what helped me start to understand the bigger pieces.
I’m not buying more product… there’s already videos about any product you could want. Obviously new brands pop up here and there and brands change but I would much rather watch something like this rather than product. Thank you Shelby!
One thing I'd love to see is better international rail infrastructure. I live in Europe so it's pretty good but could be better/more accessible to a wider group of people! Also I have to say while governments and corporations are responsible for the vast majority of emissions it definitely makes sense to discuss structural changes!
zero waste stores that are reasonably priced!! the zero waste store near me is too much of a boutique and costs 2-3x more than stuff at regular grocery stores which makes it very inaccessible for me as a college student :(
in north america in particular, having cities that arent so built around cars because currently biking/walking can be quite dangerous, not to mention all the space wasted on parkings. overall people in charge not being so old and focused on the now rather than the people the decisions are actually going to impact
I think individual products are what came to mind for me when I saw your question on Instagram but I think all the things you mentioned in this video are what we should be focusing on. My brain just want thinking about the right ideas!
I save my compost material then take it to the community garden for them to compost!! I live in an apartment so I don’t really have the space to compost on my own and this works out great
After moving out into an apartment with my boyfriend we noticed we were throwing away so much food. We started using meal kit services and since then have not wasted any food, however I wonder if it’s actually better for the environment since it comes in a big box with 1-3 ice packs and a disposable insulated layer, and some of the produce comes in plastic. We don’t have access to very good composting here and our recycling definitely goes to landfill because no one puts their trash in the right receptacle at our apartment complex. It’s hard not knowing what the best options really is 😭
Yes on public composting services!! My city website has a “share your idea with us” page and I wrote a quick paragraph on why a city composting program would be so beneficial (and meet my states own landfill diversion goal they set a few years ago). Not sure if they read it but I will keep pressing them! Since I started composting on my own with a bin I have reduced the amount going in my trash SO much, my garbage bin doesn’t wreak anymore, and I now am way more aware of what foods I’m throwing in the compost and it’s helping me alter my grocery list so I don’t waste as much.
That's so great! Good luck with that!
It's only a slight change of adding an extra bin on garbage day but it adds a lot of value. Good luck with your initiative!
Awesome!
Yes yes yes!!!! More composting programs!!!!
Maybe send them examples of other cities who have successful composting services. If they have a plan they may be less overwhelmed at starting up a brand new system. That way they can reach out to those cities and possibly use them as a model. It might get them over a hump of being overwhelmed by the thought of such a large project -- no matter how much it makes sense.
Better public transportation! At least in the US
Edit: while I'm at it, building cities up and not out (aka reducing urban sprawl). And protecting more green areas as wildlife reserves. I'd LOVE to see a video where you talk about the current mass extinction we're fighting. As a biologist, I feel like it's often overlooked in the discussion of climate change! Great vid Shelbi.
Couldn’t agree more. CA just got rid of single family home zoning and I’m excited to see how that changes things over the next 10 years.
Especially since ecosystem fragmentation due to urban sprawl is a huge thing here on N.America. Here in Canada, I'm becoming more active in my local municipal space because we've lost 60% of our green space in the last 15yrs in my municipality. We want better transit systems and better build that do densification right
100%! and there needs to be a better way to get places than highways, too.... there's too many cars on the road
@@maddieb_99 I personally love trains but N.Americans have been brainwashed by capitalism that using mass transit is terrible. Plus once you get to the end destination, it isn't walkable/there's no transit
I agree! I would love to see the town actually take a stand. My hometown started exploding in population, and there have been so many problems, such as a labor shortage and no affordable housing. But the town itself has backed down on what they consider protected lands, in favor of developing stores and large houses for the rich. We just lost our last protected wetland last year
we need more eco friendly funeral stuff.. mushroom coffins that assist decomposition is one idea but excellent ideas here Shelbi. I'm here for the bigger things. I am sure companies are pretty much aware of changes that can be made they just choose not to do them..
Caitlin Doughty is an American mortician that focuses on green funerals. She has a YT channel
@@AutumnMoonlight95 was gonna recomend her. Her channel is amazing and she discusses hangups in furthering the funeral system because of laws/lobbism
thanks guys. I also mean we do need these things to be offered and available. My parents both died recently and there was nothing eco available in the UK
@@AthynVixen I'm so sorry for what you and your family are going through.
@@AthynVixen I'm very sorry for your loss.
I would love UNPACKAGED bulk items to become more common at least around me
I live in a very rural area in Poland and the supermarket at our town put up nuts and dry fruits bins after people asked (because buying packaged in tiny amounts wasn't efficient). It's great start and I hope it will continue with other items. I recommend you could contact your local stores because when you think you're the only one, you're wrong. Unpackaged goods benefit everyone!
@@lpsstars6080 love it ! I will try that thank you!
and cheaper!! I got a little thing of oregano from sprouts, maybe 2 oz, for $6!!! it was maybe a few tablespoons worth. i cant afford that, especially if i have four or five spices i need to fill
@@jessicaa86 exactly!! And sometimes I don't need so much spice
We need more environmental education in K-12. Personally, I didn’t get taught about climate change until I was in college in a Sustainability class. In high school we learned about greenhouse gasses a little but not enough.
They had a earth day thing at my kids school. It was absolutely appaling how inaccurate and how useless it was when I was reading the stuff they sent home with freebies of plastic reusable bags and plastic waterbottles.the maker of the objects were greenwashed. I asked my kids if he learned anything new he said no-he learns more at home. At least there was an effort made I guess...
This is the reason I became a science teacher!
I would love more content on changing systems to be more sustainable, especially focusing on how we can approach change at the county/city level!
I also would love to see more content from Shelbi about how we can help make bigger changes in policies
Agreed. Usually talking about changing systems makes me feel small and useless, but for some reason this video and the composting ones got me energized.
Don’t know why but I guess shelbi just has a more realistic and down to earth way of presenting it.
Same here!
This!! I feel like city/ county level things are definitely something we can influence. I didn't even know that city wide composting was a thing! It makes so much sense. We are and can be active members of our community so I feel like it's more achievable then mailing our state representatives or corporations (which is important, but sometimes I feel like they go unread)
Groceries stores following a “bring your package containers” can make a huge difference in reducing plastic waste.
I’d like to see more locally sourced products! Not just have the bottle packaged in my home country but the ingredients sourced from here too
In my town, a few coffee shops started offering take back to-go cups. You pay a small deposit when you take the cup that is returned when you bring it back. They are light cups, similar to the regular to-go cups, but are reusable and you don't have to carry a silicon or metal tumbler with you all day.
I'm living in CA in an apartment. Our complex got a compost bin about two months ago and it seems like a decent portion of people are actually using it appropriately. It's massive and emptied on a weekly basis but is always at least half full and it just makes me smile. Not perfect, but a nice first step!
That’s awesome! Any chance you can share details on your property manager? I’m about to ask my apartment complex to install one and it might help if they can call another landlord who will say “yea we do it. It’s not a hassle at all really!”
More public transportation, including in rural areas
My city recently implemented a ban on plastic bag. It’s definitely doable and drives positive change, so I would love to see it become more and more popular.
I love hearing about both individual things we can do and the bigger picture things we can be thinking about and advocate for.
You should team up with Ask A Mortician and talk about funerals being eco-friendly
We need a more circular economy in general. Nutrients (compost to fertilizer), a 2nd hand market for all goods, and right to repair for appliances.
People have been dumbed down so much they really don't know how much they can do themselves. Education of the young and adults should be more hands on, how to repair, make, build or grow simple stuff.
Sewing, cooking, woodworking, gardening should return to school curriculums.
Instead of watching TV all night adults can learn more in a functional community, elderly people shouldn't be regarded as useless eaters, they have much to teach to the younger generations.
I agree completely!
A system that needs to change when we talk about eco-friendly that I have not heard talked about much is the pet care industry. As someone with dogs, a previous cat owner, worked in the veterinary field and is currently volunteering in animal shelters, the system in it's entirety needs more ways to be eco friendly. Like the argument made over what to feed domestic pets, what's a more eco-alternative to a litter box, the responsibility the community has over their pet's waste, the amount of waste generated from toys that will be broken, trashed, and then replaced. This all ties back to how, as you pointed out, how disconnected we have all gotten from where stuff comes from and where it goes to when we are done with it. Anyway it's just a suggestion, good luck with the series.
One thing to be careful about with e charging stations: Many chunks of the country still generate electricity from those finite resources. So we also need to put a collective effort towards changing our electrical infrastructures to being more renewable.
And solar panels and wind turbines need to be repurposed or recyclable...they still have lifecycle issues.
I would love for you to talk about the negative impact of mining for the resources needed for batteries, which at this time are needed for solar/electric cars. And how sustainable that is in the long run.
Me too 👍
YES!!
Ugh, you've just made me want to contact everyone to address all these issues.
I want to grow my own food (especially after reading "Silent Spring") so bad but don't have the resources to. Community/rooftop gardens would be so beneficial , mentally and physically, for everyone.
What is silent spring about? Maybe you can start with something small like herbs! I was thinking I wanted to grow food too but also I have commitment issues so I was thinking herbs.
You may be able to grow something after all. You can grow herbs, sprouts, micro greens, cut & come again salad greens, etc in a window, on the counter, on a balcony, in window boxes, etc. There's even tomatoes & peppers that are dwarf plants that can grow in 6"-8" pots indoors. Lots of online info & TH-cam videos on small space indoor gardening & lots of ideas for reusing stuff that would otherwise be trashed to grow stuff in.
@@gawahamster7608 Silent Spring is about the harmful consequences on the environment and species from pesticides and other chemicals that were used to get rid of the "undesirables" (ie weeds and insects). Rachel Carson wrote it in the 1960s.
Yeah, I thought about herbs, since they have those indoor ones.
@@future.homesteader Awesome, thanks! I'm actually trying to grow lettuce in water right now. It's probably best to start small anyway to get used to gardening. Having indoor plants would also be wonderful for the atmosphere of my home.
@@maggiekudrick4616 Lots of food plants make cool looking house plants. Malabar spinach is a fast growing vine with nice leaves, red or rainbow chard has colored stems with green leaves and you can harvest the outside leaves while it continues to grow, you can grow wheatgrass on a coffee table like people grow regular grass as decor, etc.
I really appreciate your systemic viewpoint. Part of the issue is that people don't see that their energy and time would be much better utilized to advocate for systemic changes that making their own cleaning products, etc.
Ok, between the last video and this one you got me all energized. I’m gonna do some research on composting and rooftop gardens and then send a proposal to my landlord of what could be implemented.
They’ll probably say no way, but there’s always that chance that they’ll do it 🤞
OMG that makes me so so happy to hear!
The ultimate renewable energy source. People power! By that I mean, generators made to covert human exercise into energy. Stationary bikes, treadmills, ellipticals. You could have a power plant that looks like a gym or even have these in homes and apartments. It's a wonderful incentive to get some exercise in. It's a wonderful accompaniment to solar energy as well.
Yes. Would love for there to be more of a shift in schools towards sustainability. The amount of disposables in schools is astonishing tbh. I do understand with covid a lot of parents are scared but we could start with small things.
My college composts and recycles paper based products like paper towels and paper disposable containers, they also have reusable lunch boxes and set up stations for water bottles that are less germs scary than water fountains
Reusable containers seem like a good option for small business restaurants. I order from my favorite couple of restaurants pretty frequently (I keep and reuse their current plastic containers right now) it seems like a great option to get people to have another incentive to become a returning customer if they have a reason to give back the reusable container. There might even be incentive for several businesses to share the same containers so that people in the community could go to ALL their local restaurants and keep reusing the containers. I'm sure there's a lot more that goes into it, but it seems like that's a really cool idea
I love the educational videos that give realistic ideas of expectations we can put on municipalities. Sure, bamboo toilet brushes are neat, but products are just…more things. Thank you for doing what you do!
GREEN UP DAYS! Vermont is the only state I know that designates one day a year to clean up the state - it’s practically a VT holiday. They supply green bags, you fill them up with trash along the roads/waterways and bring them back! Such a great idea, so easy to clean up the state when everyone’s helping out! Great way to get outside, help the earth and feel a sense of community 😊
Hi ! I wanted to share that in Switzerland we have a curbside composting system and I believe most people compost here ! It's easy and avoids the trash to rot and stink :)
Sadly this depends on the canton/city. Where I live (Fribourg) it's only a thing if you sign up and pay for it. As a renter, I'm not allowed to sign up my apartment building. This definitely annoys me, because where I grew up (small village in canton Bern) it was free and everyone could use the service.
I like both types of videos, but this content is what we need more of! Keep educating us girl!
We need more cover crops and farmer-led watershed councils. Wisconsin has some cool movements in those categories and its already making a difference on soil loss and nutrient run off to surface water!
What we need more of:
1) Social / societal acceptance of showering less.
2) Social / societal acceptance of not wearing deodorant and just getting a little stinky. (It's really ok.)
3) Social / societal acceptance of not shaving (especially women).
4) More teleworking! (Saves on emissions as more people work from home and less people commute.)
5) More cool products made from recycled / upcycled materials. And more places to send donated items to. For example, what am I going to do with bras that no longer fit? It's SO much work to find a place to take them. I just saw an Instagram page for wood products made of recycled (old) skateboards. How cool!
I need Shelby to have a Netflix show!
Yes that would be amazing!
As an older person, Ive learned how I can make changes myself to help the environment from your channel. I love it! But of course the larger picture and circular systems are very important. Keep up the good work of educating us. Thank you!
There are SO many videos and resources to find sustainable products. It’s definitely more difficult to find videos on how to make large scale changes (in my opinion). I’d love a video of just following along in a day where you write to companies, political figures, etc then post templates for those emails and links to where to find your local politicians, etc in the resources.
One thing that I just recently learned about is how this one company collects oil with hair! This is something every city and every country needs!!! Cars loose oil, we have big problems in the oceans and there is this super simple eco friendly solution!!!! Instead of throwing away the hair, hairdressers can donate it to places that turn it into those mats.
The rooftop gardens are so cool! My community collage had a teeny tiny little one and I was always fascinated by it.
Honestly more options for android phone cases, specifically targeting Pela. I know Pelacase is a great start for sustainability, however, it's not fair how there is a VAST AMOUNT OF variety IPhone cases, but there's 3-8 choices for Android. To me that's really bull. I totally understand iphone/apple products are the main users, but it needs to be fair if they want more people to be aware and start their eco friendly journey.
I am an avid Android user and it was really hard to get a case because they didn't have the specific case at the time I got my phone. I had to wait a bit before doing so. I'm not consistent at emailing them and @ them but I do message them when I can and check every now and then to see if they added more variety of Android cases.
This is just my individual gripe only because it's been frustrating for 1-2 years now. However! I also so agree with majority of what you said about city composting and community garden.
Edit: I did check their website again and they added a couple more of android options than when I last saw a few months years ago....but compare the instant fast options for Apple products it's not compared.
Compleatly agree with the phone issue I also use android exclusively
Personally I only use the wallet cases so I’m very disappointed they only have the back covering cases.
Totally agree! I only use an android. I really wanted the case that Shelbi created with them.
I'm in both camps. I firmly believe that individual change would be easier and possible for most people if we had these larger systemic changes. If there were still subsidies for solar panels, we'd be able to afford them and do it. If there were more community gardens and ways to compost, we'd participate in those. If companies would listen and offer more plastic-free options, I'd buy them.
We need more green corridors in urban areas and across streets etc to connect wildlife populations and protect our biodiversity 🙏🐢
And personnaly I´m here for the broader sense of sustainable living because I think they have the bigger impact in the long run and are more important than companies coming up with new products.... In so many ways, we already have the solutions to being more sustainable as a society, now we "just" need to get them implemented.
Thanks to your ongoing information and encouragement, I have learned so much. I'm doing my very first ECO chat at a local meeting this week! I was asked to speak about my zero-waste lifestyle by the organizers, who have admired and been inspired by MY journey.... as I'm inspired by YOURS... so THANK YOU. We are making ripples!!!
One thing the study on reusable takeout containers in colleges forgot to account for was labor in washing the items. The additional labor needed would drastically reduce the annual savings of switching to reusables. And what happens if some of your dishwashers break and you can't keep up with the influx of dirty dishes before they get fixed? That being said, I think it's a great idea and even if there was no financial benefit it would be a valuable switch.
You hire students to hand wash them. Some students will work at the college as part of their grant. It lowers student debt and allows them to earn extra money.
@@AutumnMoonlight95 not always possible. My hometown has such a severe labor shortage because people who have been moving here has been rich people who have mommy and daddy paying for everything. Many businesses have closed due to lack of workers. And the university services have been the same.
It really shouldn't be that much different or more difficult than how restaurants manage washing dishes.
My school had something similar - each student was responsible for their own school-issued to-go box. it was our responsibility to have it when we needed it, clean it between uses, store it, etc. There were no spares, no single use - idk but if you wanted a new one you probably had to pay to replace it.
I mean even if they were paying wages for dishwashers you could pay 7 or 8 workers in that time frame. They would still be below what they are spending for those throw away containers. It would also be generating income and creating jobs.
More community fridges should be available … some parts of Brooklyn have them… fridges and pantry areas on busy streets for people to leave and take food items that people may have dropped off so food doesn’t go to waste and into hands of people who may really benefit from that food.
Yes to the compost! We pay about $20 a month for our weekly pick up
Every EV charging station I’ve ever seen has been open air, but I think it’d be cool to have it setup like a typical gas station with an overhead cover, but with solar panels on top! Of course the amount of energy able to be captured isn’t going to offset much, but it will make a small difference and a lot of small difference can create a big impact! (Plus it’ll protect drivers from rain). I have also seen that something that discourages people from choosing EV’s is that it takes so much time to stop and recharge on road trips or even just long drives (thanks TX, for being so big…). I think one way to ease that fear would be if we built our roadways and EV’s to incorporate wireless charging! I did some read watch in college about making wireless charging of devices more accessible by increasing the distance at which charging could be achieved with the goal of being able to walk into a geographic area and your devices would begin charging, and we saw results across 1 meter. If we implemented this into our infrastructure and EV’s, and paid for the energy by creating a purchasable pass (similar to toll tag), you can literally charge your vehicle as you drive. It would level the playing field more in favor of EV’s I think.
I live in Switzerland and used to work in a place that tried the takeback-container and we had to replace them so often, they started smelling, people brought them back moldy, it was a hustle to check if all the regulations for food-safety are met, we were not allowed to put all kinds of food into the container because of allergens and so many people just never brought them back. Now you can grab a container, you pay a small depot and if you return your container clean and useable, you get your money back.
I know a lot of local breweries around here are switching to 32oz cans instead of the large growler bottles because people do such a poor job cleaning the bottles and staff ends up having to spend time sanitizing them or often tossing out because they can't be cleaned
I would like a general 'how to' video about contacting your local council/representative to suggest these kinds of changes, preferably international friendly since I'm Aussie. As well as a sort of template to nicely bully companies into doing the write thing as I see and hear a lot of people wanting to write to politicians and companies but lack the time or confidence to do so.
Thanks!
i think we need both. not because we need more stuff, but because those are stepping stones for personal problems towards a more sustainable life. and we need larger structural changes, we need to talk about the IPCC reports and what can do in our communities to make our worlds more sustainable. and we also need to talk about how that effects our politics and social lives. that is not a divorced conversation, we will need to go there to dive deeper into humanities relationship with the natural world/the planet.
I'm attending a colloquium on "Advancing Natural Building" by OUR Ecovillage right now. One of the insightful presentations was on how water capture retention and use actually had many positive downstream effects and that the effects were most pronounced by individual home initiatives to capture water as opposed to large scale projects.
Capturing rainwater lessens the peak load impact on the storm water systems collecting water, the treatment systems, the downstream effects of post treatment so the streams are not flooded, using rainwater you collect leaves more in the dams for everyone else when drought hits.
The effects of multiple individuals are actually much higher then say... the city paying millions to put in a large project that could handle higher and higher peak loads.
Love these! Thank you for thinking broadly we cannot consume our way to being eco friendly. 1) New legislation around strict energy efficiency standards for buildings, housing, vehicles 2) institute a jet fuel tax (did you all know that plane fuel is tax free everywhere in the world 🤯) 3) Municipalities could provide financial incentives for households that produce little to no waste. In my city the smaller your garbage bin, the less the bill 👍 4) Strict and simple legislation on non renewable packaging - as long as companies have no financial incentive or they are not forced to - they will stick to plastics.
Yes to community gardens and community composting. Small changes are important but so are big changes that we can accomplish by working together.
Great video. I don’t know that I fully agree with the move to electric vehicles though. There are so many ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles already in existence that finding a way to make those more efficient and repair them vs moving to electric feels more sustainable. Would love to see a video about why new electric is more environmentally friendly in your opinion. I have personally driven an electric vehicle but after issues with the battery I returned to a used ICE vehicle.
I would love this video too!
The switch to electric vehicles requires massive lithium mining, as well, so I would like to see how the extrapolation of these resources out weighs everyone switching to electric cars? Would electric cars last nearly as long as gasoline? Is the electric we’re using to charge these batteries also renewable energy? I think switching to electric cars is too short-minded of an idea and needs to be explored and studied more.
I don’t think we have a perfect solution or alternative yet, so far the best option I know of is cars running on biogas. In my area there is a biogas plant that collects organic compostable waste from all the households and farmers in my municipality and uses it to create the biogas which people can fill up into their cars. The leftover ”compost” is then sold to farmers who use it as fertilizer on their crops, that will feed their livestock or grow other food, making it a fully circular option once that food is thrown into the bio waste bin.
I think it’s the most sustainable because you can make a regular gasoline car into a gas car, the switch costs around 4000€ IIRC and will be much cheaper for the driver. And the fact that we don’t need to make new cars but could just modify our cars that we have I’d say it’s the best option we have, even if it involves biogas. I can barely tell a tractor from a tricycle though, so I can’t at all say what the parts/engines are or if they’re sustainable as products but I think it’s definitely something that not only solves food waste but allows for more jobs and a circular economy type of situation.
My friend has problems with her hybrid so often and so did my mom that I don't trust them
Communal compost is so important. Weather just the neighborhood or municipalities. Thank you as always for speaking on these things. I love your videos and your ideas.
Structural changes are more measurable/meaningful and create the largest impact, so this is important to incorporate. Individual changes are important also (we all want to feel like we are making a meaningful contribution to sustainable practices), but ultimately this is far less of an impact than at the larger structural level. I vote for balance, please continue to include both!!
Agreed. Both are definitely important.
i’m here for the sustainable systems content! i’m so interested in green rooves and urban greening. we have a balcony planting box which never gets any water, i started using waste water (from cooking or pre-shower heating) to water it and there is so much growing now! things that are classed as “weeds” but are actually really pretty and hardy wildflowers. i love inviting nature back into our sub/urban lives.
Bike lanes
And community that helps its people, I should not be expected to have all the things I might possibly need at any given moment. We need more trust in boring and renting things.
One thing I would like to see more are “sustainable” funds with low expense ratio that are accessible and high performant. To me that’s one of the most powerful way to “vote with your money”. There’s literally an ETF (ticker name VOTE) that invests in the big companies to become active stakeholders and through that ownership hold companies accountable to create social values. The small, individuals investors like us should not have to compromise our financial health for our values.
Completely agree with your point about making composting more accessible. I live in a 1b-1b apartment in the city with my husband, with no balcony and very limited access to composting. My friend has a lot in a community garden nearby so we just freeze the food scraps and dump every 2 weeks, but it’s not possible to do that in the winter since my friend can’t do anything with his garden when it’s cold. I purchased a Lomi and have loved it so so much! I know it’s not ideal since it still consumes electricity and resource, but it has made composting so much easier and more convenient for me. I make sure to save enough scraps for the most optimal batch, chop my scraps as finely as possible, and defrost them until room temperature before starting a cycle to hopefully reduce the amount of energy required for a cycle.
YASS to community gardens and green roofs!! Really yes to all the things. One additional one is creating community awareness (something that you mentioned in passing with some of your things) across all age groups. My Dad is super into "eco-friendly, tree-hugger, hippie" stuff but he reuses single use sandwich bags, so for Father's Day we're getting him some reusable silicon ones.
Green roofs are great in cold climates. My electricity usage nearly triples every winter here in Finland due to heating, so if I had the ability to create a green roof I would do so in a heartbeat! I’ve also seen brick, cement or stone houses where they’ve planted moss onto the walls, it’s supposed to be a great insulation against both heat and cold and obviously needs little to no care.
I'd really like a template for what to say when writing to companies to ask them to change their methods, their packaging, etc. I figure you've come up with the language for it but I would struggle with how to word it. I don't know the lingo of businesses. If you could create templates for different types of asks I would do my best to do what you've suggested in previous videos in terms of taking time once a month to write to companies. I just don't know what to say! I know for various political causes I've seen websites with a pre-written letter you can copy and edit as needed to send to your own representative. I'm thinking something like that.
I have started leaning more into systems changes these days. I feel like I've gone as far as I can reasonably go with personal changes, so I want to start learning more about what I should be looking for from my local communities and governments.
I'm interested mainly in creating structural changes, but also in creating consumer demand for change. I'm here for all of it.
I'm in the UK but separate cycle paths- close the roads to cars in city centers or like London have a congestion charge those going in (but not just in London, all cities).
Better more reliable public transport
Access to packaging free products at all large supermarkets. That's all that is available in some areas
And make it the law to state the carbon emissions on products so you can see the fruit from across the globe is worse than the local one
Hey Shelbi!
Here's a great idea for fast food and convenience restaurants (such as McDonald's, Starbucks, In-and-Out, etc ...)
For customers who dine in at those places the food workers use reusable mugs and dishes to make food, and customers return the dishes when they are done.
Simple transition.
Saves a lot of money for the chain restaurants.
Drastically reduces waste.
I agree with you on public composting services and rooftop gardens! My grandpa has a rooftop garden, and it’s super cool. I don’t have one, but I regrow food scraps at home.
I would definitely like to see more sustainable fuel options. Yes, electric is good, but it’s inconvenient to have to charge your car (since that takes time) and there’s the question of where the electricity comes from.
Don’t get me wrong I love learning about products and individual changes, but I would love to see you and other people talking more about the bigger, systemic changes.
i am very happy to see you talk about more structural changes, i find the more consumer-based conversations around sustainability are kind of missing the mark a bit. this is a crisis that needs big societal changes, in some ways fundamental overhauls of the systems in place and only talking about what different products to buy feels, at times, borderline inappropriate to me. so very happy to hear you talk more along these lines!
I think people start out with making personal lifestyle changes. I started with wanting to limit chemicals and fragrances in my household products and it just snowballed into a low waste lifestyle and now I am more interested in the bigger picture stuff outside of my household habits. Keep doing what you’re doing, it gives variety to your content and helps a lot of people throughout the different stages of their journey.
Yes I'm always trying to persuade my clients to have a green roof. But I often struggle to persuade them... (I'm an eco home architect and mainly work with homeowners who want to extend their home. I also try to persuade them to build less or not at all, which sometimes works, sometimes not...)
Even a lot of the restaurants themselves don’t reuse the containers. Theyre used for a lot of prep and once it’s emptied it’s thrown out. I’ve worked at many different food and bev establishments and only one of them cleaned and saved plastic containers.
I would LOVE for you talk more about sustainable systematic change. I appreciate eco-friendly hacks vids as much as the next person, but you are right, let’s not encourage businesses to make more stuff at the risk of ignoring the bigger picture.
I love this video so much cause all these things are things that are completely doable have such a large positive impact when implemented properly. We just need to do them!!!
I’d love to hear more about system change. That would be really cool if that was a larger portion of the conversation on this channel 😊 but I also like hearing about individual change topics 😊
Agreed. We need to talk about both since they’re both needed in order to create a bright future.
Yes on the more structural changes. There are a lot of other TH-camrs focusing on the "little" things.
I think both social structure things and independent things we can do are important and helpful to have videos on.
Independent things, as it can help people find changes they can make at what ever place they are at in their environmentally conscious journey.
Social structure things help with giving people a direction to look or encourage or start up in their area if they happen to be in a place that they can.
I am 1000% here for the broad solutions/ideas and the smaller/individual changes.
Also, I definitely fall into the category of wanting to hear more about broad structural changes that we need more of! I've loved all the products that you recommend, but I feel like hearing more about ways that I can I helping other than consumables is where I think more people (like myself) need more help with so I can write to my representatives and encourage my friends to do so to! Thank you again for the quality content queen!
I like to hear about both products and large structural stuff! I think large structural issues are the biggest issues we face and we need to talk about them. I also feel that when we talk about products or smaller actions and ways of consuming it feels like something we have a bit more control over.
In my country it is mandatory to compost food waste. You either do it yourself in your garden or have a container that is pick up by the city.
Municipal collection of food waste is a standard where I live, it seems wild that not everywhere does it. That said, in my municipality it doesn't actually get composted - it's used for biofuel and biogas production, and the waste heat from the process goes into the district heating system. The biggest problem is getting people to sort their food waste; a lot of it still ends up in regular trash, unfortunately.
Also another cool thing is Lomi from Pela. It is a tabletop composter which turns food scraps directly into soil without having to deal with an outdoor composter. Definitely worth checking out.
I'm a big fan of the system changes because those tend to have a larger impact than individual-scale changes. One thing I've been trying to learn more about is sustainable/ESG investing because I don't want the money I'm saving to be invested in any part of the fossil fuel industry. I would actually like to use my retirement fund someday, and so many managers invest in the oil and gas industry, or other industries that I don't feel comfortable supporting, so it ends up being difficult to find sustainable investing options
I think there’s more than enough out there about sustainable products, but not enough out there about the big stuff. Maybe some people will feel better making a product swap but there is a bigger picture at play.
Literally everything you can share with us that can help live more sustainably helps. I've made so many changes personally based on your videos and I still have a long way to go. The focus not being on just products or just actions is why I'm here, every aspect of sustainability matters
We need both conversations. I'm glad you're saying stuff I've been writing to my politicians about
We need more of both! Individual products and actions as well as collective efforts. Love your channel and keep up the good work.
I think the divide in views is about control. It’s like I don’t feel like I have the power and control to influence a big company but I do have it over my own actions.
In Germany there is a system for resuable take away containers. Any buisness can register for the service and you as a costumer just leave a deposit when you take a cup or a bowl and get the deposit back at any other store that is part of the system. It is called Recup. And a lot of Coffe shopa and restaurants in my area partizipacte :)
I personally love that you give us a MIX of broad structural changes that need to be made as well as smaller things that we can do to minimize our individual footprints! It spreads awareness that its not all on us as individuals but there is so much that we can do and advocate for!
SO glad you said community gardens. That was the first thing that popped into my mind at the start of the video and I'm glad you mentioned them!
I'm interested in hearing about both - broad, structural changes but also changes we can make as individuals. There are a lot of entry points at which people join in on the movement - those small individual steps are what helped me start to understand the bigger pieces.
Such a thought provoking video! It really is great to see bigger picture options, something that we can all work towards!
I’m not buying more product… there’s already videos about any product you could want. Obviously new brands pop up here and there and brands change but I would much rather watch something like this rather than product. Thank you Shelby!
One thing I'd love to see is better international rail infrastructure. I live in Europe so it's pretty good but could be better/more accessible to a wider group of people!
Also I have to say while governments and corporations are responsible for the vast majority of emissions it definitely makes sense to discuss structural changes!
zero waste stores that are reasonably priced!! the zero waste store near me is too much of a boutique and costs 2-3x more than stuff at regular grocery stores which makes it very inaccessible for me as a college student :(
in north america in particular, having cities that arent so built around cars because currently biking/walking can be quite dangerous, not to mention all the space wasted on parkings. overall people in charge not being so old and focused on the now rather than the people the decisions are actually going to impact
I think individual products are what came to mind for me when I saw your question on Instagram but I think all the things you mentioned in this video are what we should be focusing on. My brain just want thinking about the right ideas!
I save my compost material then take it to the community garden for them to compost!! I live in an apartment so I don’t really have the space to compost on my own and this works out great
I’d love to hear community driven solutions! Like community gardens, no buy groups on Facebook, etc.
After moving out into an apartment with my boyfriend we noticed we were throwing away so much food. We started using meal kit services and since then have not wasted any food, however I wonder if it’s actually better for the environment since it comes in a big box with 1-3 ice packs and a disposable insulated layer, and some of the produce comes in plastic. We don’t have access to very good composting here and our recycling definitely goes to landfill because no one puts their trash in the right receptacle at our apartment complex. It’s hard not knowing what the best options really is 😭
Absolutely yes to more public compost services!