Our Sustainability Promise & Commitment

We’ve known for a while how critical sustainability efforts are to our future, but our recent trip to Alaska REALLY made us realize how important it is. We were surrounded by fresh clean air and beautiful nature that stunned us. We know it isn’t by luck that the air is cleaner and the nature is more pronounced than our home in Los Angeles, California. The Alaskan people are dedicated to preserving the environment and have many sustainability habits built into their every day routine. They take great effort to protect the environment and it shows!

We saw first hand how lack of sustainability efforts can negatively impact the environment when we hiked Exit Glacier in Seward, Alaska. Most of the hike used to be all glacier, however, global warming has caused the glacier to recede over the years. As we hiked, we came across signs with years listed. Each year indicated how far out the glacier was that year. It was so sad to see how much the glacier receded as the years went on and it was clear that we can’t take for granted how long nature will be around for.

We generally are *relatively* conscious of our actions and their effect on the environment; however, we leave a lot of room for improvement. {And when we say a lot, we mean a LOT!} While at the Alaska Sealife Center we played a game to see what kind of friend we are to the ocean based on our sustainability efforts. Unfortunately, we found out we aren’t as great of a friend as we’d like to be. Since we love the ocean and all of nature so much, we realized we really need to step up our efforts, especially if we want all that we love to be around for generations of adventurers to come.

Look at this! Students at Kodiak High School in Alaska collected trash from the beaches in Kodiak. They created Ophelia the Octopus from all the trash they found. What a sad sight to see what types of materials are floating around our oceans!

So here’s our promise and commitment. Each week we will add a sustainability habit to our routine. Many of them won’t be big changes, but every little bit helps. By taking on small, doable, and specific goals, we will be able to achieve them. As we master those goals, we will add more on. We want to create a lifestyle change that we will be able to stick to. That’s why it’s especially important for these goals to be attainable.

We will share our goals and progress here weekly so you can help keep us accountable!

Goals and Progress:

9.12.16, Goal 1:

Use reusable bags for at least 80% of grocery purchases this week

{Why the margin for error? We want to make sure our goals are attainable and this is one we have typically struggled with. Although we have lots of reusable bags, we often forget to take them to the store with us}

Plan of action:

Since we normally do our giant grocery shopping together, we will keep our GIANT reusable bag in Bassam’s car + a few small ones. Lena usually does the little stops over the week, so we will keep a few smaller bags in her car.

Did we meet our goal?

Goal date: 9.18.16: 3/4 trips, 75%! So close! We will keep working on it!

Did we maintain this habit?:

Check in date: 10.18.16 *Stay tuned*

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9.18.16, Goal 2:

Forgo produce bags when grocery shopping for 100% of opportunities

Plan of action:

We don’t really *need* to put our produce in produce bags. We just take them out and throw out the bags when we get home anyway. We bought some fruit and veggie wash so we don’t have to worry about the produce getting dirty without those bags.

Did we meet our goal?

Goal date: 9.25.16: Yes we did! Yay!

Did we maintain this habit?:

Check in date: 10.25.16 *Stay tuned*

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9.30.16, Goal 3:

Avoid plastic water bottles in 80% of opportunities.

Plan of action:

We have hyrdoflasks which we love and have been using pretty consistently! Also, when we run out of water, we’ve been asking coffee shops and restaurants to fill us up and they always kindly do! What gets us is when we are visiting at someone’s home and they offer plastic water bottles. If it’s not rude, we will either decline and say we have water or ask for a glass. We left some room for error in case it feels too awkward!

Did we meet our goal?

Goal date: 10.7.16, *Stay tuned*

Did we maintain this habit?:

Check in date: 11.7.16 *Stay tuned*

What do you think? Any ideas of goals you’d like us to add? What habits have you made a part of your routine? Talk to us in the comments!