In honor of Earth Day, I spent my morning hiking in the beautiful foothills of Colorado followed by a solo neighborhood block trash clean up. We live in an area that has a lot of foot traffic and it's not uncommon to see trash littered across sidewalks and grassy medians. I took an hour out of my day to do a little clean up and was surprised how much trash was found in just a block and a half.  We live by a school, so it came of no surprise when the most common found were: 

• Candy & gum wrappers
• Pencils/pens
• Snack wrappers
• Bottle caps 
• Single use juice/soda/water containers 

After my clean up, I took another hour to do a plastic container/packaging audit of products I use on a daily basis. This exercise was an eye opener, to say the least. I care about the environment and feel like I'm relatively aware of my plastic consumption, but this exercise really shed light on the amount of plastic that consumes my life. The photo below shows products I use on a daily basis that come in plastic containers/packaging. Some of these products, are going to be more difficult to find replacements for, so I'm starting with the "quick wins." 
Simple Shifts: 

• Single use coffee mugs > Morning mantra: "Don't forget your reusable coffee mug!"
• Styrofoam/plastic to-go containers > Get in the habit of bringing my own take out containers and/or cut back on eating out or delivery. I also plan to encourage my regular to-go spots to make the shift to compostable to-go containers--this includes work! 
• Honey and Spices > Make the shift from buying honey and spices in plastic to purchasing brands that comes in glass containers that can easily be recycled or reused. When I can, I plan to go a step further and buy spices and honey in bulk where I can bring my own containers.  
• Condiments > Make the shift from buying condiments that come in plastic containers to those in glass. 
• Plastic reusable water bottles & spray bottles > I've decided my next round of reusable water bottles & spray bottles will be glass or stainless steel. 
• Plastic Snack bags > Make an effort to buy snacks in bulk using my own bags. 
• Plastic bottle hand soap > Buy bar soap 

I anticipate the more difficult changes to make and alternatives to find will be beauty & bathroom products like make up, hair and skin care products, sunscreen, vitamins, frozen foods, dental care products, and food items like protein powder and frozen foods. 

Ultimately, this audit helped bring awareness to the amount of plastic that is used to package products. Moving forward, I plan to make a conscious effort to purchase products in glass or paper instead of plastic.

Why is glass better? On top of not leaking chemicals into your food and water, glass does not lose its quality during the recycling process meaning that it can be recycled endlessly. Plastic on the other hand, can not be recycled infinitely. Each time plastic is recycled, the fibers shorten, therefore plastic can really only be recycled 7-9 times. Another thing to consider with plastic is that even though it is recycled, it cannot be made into the same item again, so water bottles are not being recycled into more water bottles. Plastic has to be recycled down, so most likely, that plastic is being turned into clothing or park benches. At that point, the recycling process is over because you cannot throw those items into your recycling bin when they are no longer of use. 

Comment below and let me know how you plan to cut back on plastic consumption in 2018!  

Spring is in the air and if you're anything like me, you're itching to get out in the warm sun and get your hands dirty! It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of spring planting to forget that this seemingly environmentally friendly hobby can actually produce a lot of waste. Check out these tips for low-impact gardening! 

1. Buy paper seed packets that you can recycle 
2. Reuse plastic seedling holders from years past for sowing new seeds 
3. Use egg cartons or old yogurt or sour cream containers to sow new seedlings 
4. Consider investing in compost/soil delivery to avoid buying multiple bags of potting soil. 
5. Go to Goodwill to find second hand pots and tools. It's amazing what you can find there! 
6. Always bring reusable bags when heading to the nursery or home improvement store.
   
7. Compost! When weeding and prepping the garden, be sure to throw your yard waste into your compost bin and next year you'll have a head start on nutrient rich compost to add to your soil! New to composting? Check out this post! 

Have other tips? Comment below with other tips to reduce waste in the garden. 

I've been following yogi Chelsea Korus for a while now and on top of her contagious laugh and positive attitude, I love her commitment to making improvements to our environment through awareness and advocacy. She recently teamed up with Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii during Wanderlust Hawaii to do a beach clean up, and they are back at it this week with the #awakeafearthchallenge. This is a great an opportunity to shed light on how much plastic each of us uses on a daily basis and take ownership by finding ways to eliminate or reduce plastic consumption where possible. I'm participating in this challenge and will be sharing my results and solutions to reduce plastic use on the blog and on Instagram @aconsciousremedy. Follow along and join in! 

The Challenge: 

Tuesday and Wednesday:
Make no changes to your existing lifestyle. Keep track of all your plastic use and try to keep any plastic waste that you create. Be honest with yourself to allow for major improvements. If you keep your plastic, hold it on the side so we can compare on Saturday. 

Thursday and Friday:
We make changes by eliminating or reducing our uses of plastic where possible while still tracking the plastic we use and keeping the plastic waste created if possible. 

Saturday:
We compare and share the results!! Then try to figure out what else we can do. 

Sunday:
We do community service for Earth Day. I'll be cleaning up trash around our neighborhood around Platt Park and Pearl Street! 

Welcome to A Conscious Remedy! This has been my brain child for years now and I'm thrilled to be able to share my journey towards a low-impact, sustainable lifestyle with all of you. I hope to spread awareness of environmental issues and inspire you to make adjustments to your daily routine, however big or small, that helps reduce waste and contributes to the health of the natural world around us.

My intention is not to not overwhelm you by saying, "change everything!" Rather, I hope to provide inspiration to start small, and set reasonable, achievable goals. There are so many small shifts we can make in our lives that when combined, opens up the possibility to make a big impact!