Eco- Friendly Ways to De-Ice the roads and sidewalks !

shoveling snow off of icy sidewalkWith snow and ice piling up, you may be tempted to turn to harsh road salt and other chemicals to combat slippery surfaces.You’re not alone—but before you head to the hardware store, consider these green alternatives (the Earth and your pets will thank you).Driveways and walkways
Sand: While not the best at melting the snow, sand provides increased traction on surfaces, and can help your card from getting stuck in a snow pile.Sugar beet juice: The juice from sugar beets is an even better ice-melter than salt, and is much easier on plants and metal surfaces.
Coffee grounds: Like sand, the grainy texture of coffee grounds works wonders at providing increased traction on surfaces. It also is slightly better at melting snow and ice because of its dark color (which attracts more sunlight).Pickle brine: It might seem like this isn’t a very salt-free alternative, and you’re right. But when mixed with water, pickle juice has a similar effect as sugar beet juice, only with less staining power, and is still safe for plants and animals (and won’t corrode sensitive surfaces).Windows and delicate surfacesVinegar-water: Combine three parts white vinegar with one part water, and you have yourself the ultimate window de-icer. Spray on car windows if you’re in a hurry to defrost. 
A popular and relatively safe DIY de-icer uses dish soap and rubbing alcohol diluted in water.If you must use a commercial de-icer, magnesium chloride and calcium chloride are slightly less harmful to plants (and work at much lower temps) than rock salt (sodium chloride). Urea can work as a de-icer, too. Used sparingly, urea can be beneficial as a fertilizer. But it can also lead to eutrophication in downstream waters and burn plants at higher concentrations.The EPA maintains a list of de-icers that meet their Safer Choice Standards. These Safer Choice standards do not guarantee absolute safety to humans, pets, and the environment. But they do exclude the most harmful ingredients while assuring comparable product performance.Before reaching for de-icer, consider materials like sandbox sand or kitty litter that won’t melt ice but can provide traction. Fireplace ash is another choice; depending on your soil type, this could be beneficial to your plants. Alfalfa meal is another material that may serve as a fertilizer while also providing traction.Be the Good Neighbor!
Elderly or physically limited neighbors can’t apply your new de-icing knowledge without risking injury. About 100 Americans die shoveling snow every year. If you can make the time, offer to help clear a neighbor’s sidewalk to help prevent falls or worse. It’s a great way to establish a new relationship and make your community a better place.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and there a plenty of people finding a way to remove snow and ice inventively without the use of harsh chemicals. 
Wishing you a happy and healthy New Year !!!May the 2022 bless you with health, wealth, and happiness!!! 

Eco-Friendly Holidays- Sustainable Travel Tips!

There’s no place like home for the holidays, and for many of us, celebrating with family and friends means traveling. Whether that calls for hopping in a car, getting on a plane, or choosing another mode of transportation, each holiday travel method has an impact on the environment.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected the modes by which people travel—and how frequently, too. According to Deloitte’s 2021 Holiday Travel Survey, 42% of Americans plan to travel between Thanksgiving and mid-January, taking an average of at least two trips.  

Across the board, the holiday season is known for its traffic. This holds true if you’re on the street in a car, bus, ride-share, or braving the crowds before taking to the skies. 2021 is projected to be a rebound from the quieter 2020 holiday season that most people had. 

In general, transportation generates harmful emissions, degrades air quality and water resources, and also exacerbates the effects of climate change. Globally, transportation makes up between 15-20% of annual emissions

Choosing how to get home for the holidays generally depends on your personal preference and what’s easiest for you. No matter which method you choose—be it by car, plane, or train!—there are plenty of simple steps you can take to better the planet while you’re on the road

We cannot control the carbon emissions of the planes we fly in, the chemicals used by the hotels in which we stay, or the plastics used in the souvenirs sold in the destinations we visit. But we can choose more eco-friendly transportation, hotels, tour operators, and shopping tactics that do less damage to the environment, and create more benefits for local people.

If you’re buying new luggage, consider options from sustainable brands. As you’re packing, avoid single-use products whenever possible, like travel-size plastic toiletries. You can also bring a reusable water bottle and cutlery along, reducing waste during your trip. Even the smallest steps can make an impact this holiday season. 

SO, HOW CAN WE TRAVEL SUSTAINABLY?

Including our usual sustainable habits like turning the lights off, not wasting food, avoiding creating trash, there’s a ton you can do to reduce your impact and do good whilst on tour.

 HERE IS SOME QUICK LINKS FOR SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL TIPS AND IDEAS

Take your own travel mug / flask / water bottle

Support the local economy

Support eco-friendly, local tour companies

Hotel hacks

Mode of transport

Carbon offset programs

No more airline earphones

Renewable biofuels

Multi-purpose plug

Sustainability certifications

 Have a Happy and safe Holidays !!

How to reduce food waste this Holiday Season

(Image found at https://www.biocycle.net/what-is-waste-food)

Food is the highlight of many of our holiday traditions and memories. We can all think of a holiday dish that makes us smile and our mouths water instantly. Yet, about 40 percent of all food produced in the U.S. never gets eaten. In fact, between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, Americans waste 25 percent more than during the rest of the year. During the holidays, millions of pounds of uneaten turkey, gravy, green beans, mashed potatoes and other seasonal trimmings unfortunately end up in landfills.

Food is the single largest material disposed of in U.S. landfills today, amounting to each person tossing an average of 20 pounds of food per month into the trash at a cost of approximately $1,500 per year, per family. This wasted food also wastes money, time, labor, transportation, water and land used in food production. Aside from this waste, food decomposes anaerobically (without oxygen) in landfills releasing methane gas, a driver of global climate change that is up to 86 times more potent in trapping heat than carbon dioxide.

Here is some great tips to reduce food waste : 

For most holiday hosts, the fear there won’t be enough food is inevitable. But making too much — like cooking for an army in a mess hall instead of family and friends in your dining room — is a surefire way to end up with a food waste fiasco. An online party planning calculator, known as a the “Guest-imator,” can help.

Buy less food. It’s easy to get carried away buying all the yummy foods and treats grocery stores showcase during the holidays. But in reality, we often buy more food that we can cook and eat. 

Here are the “10 Best Foods to Buy in Bulk & Reduce Waste.”

Before you even head to the store, shop in your own kitchen. Chances are you don’t need a new bottle of vanilla extract or Worcestershire sauce, or yet another head of garlic. They’re all likely hiding in the back of your fridge. 

Try to use every part of the fruit or vegetable. Broccoli, kale and Swiss chard stems are more than just edible, they’re yummy. Don’t throw away lemons after squeezing out just a tablespoon. Slice and use them in water pitchers or zest their fragrant skins for sauces, pies and cocktails.

Healthy alternatives = less waste — Coincidentally healthier foods are the ones without as much packaging, for example homemade bread, fresh produce, meats from the deli rather than prepackaged on foam trays. Avoid processed foods in non-recyclable packaging.

Keep track of leftovers. Store leftovers in serving-size containers that you label with the contents and the date. It helps to put the most perishable foods in the front of the refrigerator so we can keep an eye on them. Plan to eat leftovers in the same week in which they were cooked. Otherwise, store them in the freezer.  Keep a list on your freezer door to remind you what’s inside.

Donate unopened excess boxes or cans of food to a food pantry. Donating leftovers can be hard because many food pantries will not accept cooked items for food safety reasons.

You can help fight hunger by wasting less food and turning your savings from that positive practice into lifesaving food for those who need it. 

Have a safe and Happy Holidays! 

Looking for more sustainability?  Check out the newly redesigned EvCC Sustainability web pages!

Eco-Friendly Holidays

Christmas gifts and wrapping supplies (Image found on https://www.happiness.com/magazine/art-culture-leisure/green-christmas-sustainable/)

Each holiday season, there is so much money spent on presents, food, gift wrap, decorations, and lighting up our homes. Whether in-store or online shopping, it is so important for us to keep in mind that many of the trappings of the season end up in the trash and ultimately in landfill. While it’s a season to celebrate with our loved ones, let’s also try to focus on making this holiday season a more sustainable one. 

Here are some really easy ways that everyone can join the “happy sustainable holidays” movement: 

Try alternatives to gift wraps– Gift wrapping paper found in stores is cheap and convenient. But colorful and shiny foils are not recyclable. Even if you have a shredder, most wrapping paper contains dyes, glitter, and laminates and is often too thin to be recycled effectively. Try an alternative like a colorful section of the newspaper, or opt for the recycled, recyclable kraft paper and a beautiful, reusable ribbon.

Use LED Lights– Conventional holiday mini lights use a lot more energy than LED lights. LED lights not only help to save on energy but they last much longer – and they will help to reduce your carbon footprint. Even better, string some pom poms together for a chic, zero-energy solution.

DIY gifts– Gifting your friends and family something that you made yourself is thoughtful and touching. It could be handmade soap, candles, or a beautiful photo frame with your family picture in it! 

Eco-friendly gifting– Try choosing gifts that are sustainable and recyclable and that also come with recyclable packing. You could gift reusable items like water bottles, bamboo products, organic soaps, or wallets and accessories made from rescued off cuts of leather, recycled or sustainable materials. 

Use a container-grown Christmas tree– Though it seems like buying a plastic Christmas tree is more sustainable, but consider that when you decide to replace it after a few years, it will just end up as landfill. Instead, use a container-grown Christmas tree that you can plant in your yard during the spring. You could also use a potted tree and then opt for a recycling program if there is one in your city. 

Practicing sustainability may not always be easy, but it is a conscious effort that will reap rewards for us and for future generations. Let’s all use this holiday season to spread this message by example.

Happy Sustainable Holidays!!! 

🎁 🌲 💡 

America Recycles Day

America Recycles Day is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and buy recycled products.  It is celebrated each year on November 15.  

Why is recycling so important?

Recycling helps extend the life and usefulness of something that has already served its initial purpose by returning it to its raw materials and then using those materials to produce something that is useable. It’s part of the three golden rules of sustainability (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) and has a lot of benefits both to us humans and to the environment. Virtually all the planet is impacted by how much we recycle.

Set New Green Goals on America Recycles Day

Even though America Recycles Day is just a day, think of it as a day to start new recycling goals for the upcoming year. Here are some ideas to consider for America Recycles Day.

  1. Find out if carton recycling is available in your area.  If it’s not, talk to the local recycling center about recycling cartons. The Carton Council has some great resources.
  2. Stop throwing away clothing and household textiles. Find a local clothing recycler or contact Secondary Materials and Recycled Textiles Association (SMART) to find out where to donate.
  3. Avoid plastic bags by bringing your own bag, or simply declining the bag when you can.  When you have excess plastic bags, dry cleaner bags, or newspaper bags, bring them to your local retailer to recycle.
  4. Talk to your kids about recycling.  Beyond the typical paper, plastic, and aluminum, how can they recycle their clothes, toys, or electronics? How can they use recycled items into art projects or gifts?
  5. Get familiar with what you CAN and CAN’T recycle.  Here is a great refrigerator list, and a few more items you probably forgot.  Recyclable items can also vary by where you live, so check with your local recycling center too.
  6. Buy recycled when you can! When you purchase items that are made from recycled materials, you help eliminate the need for virgin materials. Buying art made of recycled materials can be even more meaningful. 

Find out what you can do to help make a difference in our environment every day. Whether you’re at home, on the go, in the office or at school, there are many opportunities to go green by reducing, reusing and recycling. Visit the links below to see how, and check out our Think Green Before You Shop poster for questions you can ask yourself before shopping to reduce, reuse and recycle more. 

Images of Plastics, metals, glass, and papers that can be recycled. Also images of what can not be recycled
Recycle More Poster (https://www.waynegov.com/404/Recycling)

Looking for more sustainability?  Check out the newly redesigned EvCC Sustainability web pages!

Recycling for Sustainability – Recycling Fall Leaves 🍁

Pile of Leaves with Rake (https://greenacreslandscapeinc.com/leaf-clean-up-how-to-best-handle-the-falling-autumn-leaves/)

The autumn season often brings many changes like going back to school, drops in temperatures, and even different vegetable sprouting from the ground. But one of the biggest and most noticeable changes year after year is leaves turning colorful shades of red and orange, eventually making their way to the ground, scattered across your yard.

But instead of immediately throwing leaves away after you remove them from the yard, consider recycling them for different uses and projects. Here are a few ways we can recycle leaves. All of which save room in the trash can and keep our yard in its best shape.

Garden Compost

Leaves make a great addition to homemade compost whether we’re composting with a bin or yard pile. Combined with kitchen scraps, grass clippings and other compostable materials, leaves decompose and create nutrient-rich compost for our garden. 

Winter Mulch

As winter approaches, we can eliminate the expense and hassle of purchasing mulch by recycling leaves into our own DIY mulch.  We can use freshly fallen leaves, dried leaves or a combination of both. Simply rake the leaves into a pile and redistribute them over garden plants or trees that need extra winter protection. The natural leaf mulch will decompose over time so there is no need to remove it after the winter season is over.

Craft Projects

Most craft projects will not use the large amount of leaves accumulated throughout the fall. However, drying and preserving a few to use in craft projects is a great way to recycle leaves and provides free, natural material for our projects. To preserve leaves for use as art, clean and dry them before laying flat between two sheets of wax paper. Stack them in between two heavy blocks of wood until they dry or use a homemade botanical press.

You can make holiday yard decorations using large amounts of leaves and heavy-duty trash bags. Fill the bags with leaves and shape them into pumpkins, scarecrows, snowmen and other yard decorations. Paint the bags and place them throughout your yard. Make a string garland, display them in a bowl or just scatter them on the table for a pop of fall color.

Using colorful leaves is simply the easiest and most festive way to celebrate the turn in the weather, and what’s more, they are free! 

Click Here for the Best Leaf Craft Ideas! 

For more sustainability, check out EvCC Sustainability web pages!

Sustainable Immune System: Eco Friendly and Sustainable Exercise

Image of side of mountain with green Evergreen trees surrounded by bushes with bright yellow and red fall leaves.

When we are thinking about how to keep healthy where do we turn? Whether we are looking to keep a strong and healthy body through exercise, eating well, or practicing good hygiene, the question remains – how to keep our body stronger for longer? Hiking is the answer! Hiking improves our health by boosting the immune system, not just in the moment, but for an extended time afterward. Some of this effect is easily attributed to the generic influence of exercise, but there are multiple unknowns in the study of immunology that lead us to believe that hiking is uniquely helpful in boosting the immune system and leaving us happy and strong.

Multiple studies have supported the conclusion that exercise boosts your white blood cell count, leaving your body significantly better equipped to fight bacteria and viruses. This effect is an interesting one because intense short interval exercise often leaves your body exhausted and slightly weaker in the immediate term but builds your immune response after recovering from the exercise. Sustained moderate exercise, however, causes your body to produce anti-inflammatory cytokines which reduce stress and improve your immune response through the reduction of inflammation. Long term sustained exercise, like the kind you get from a relaxing hiking trek, boosts your immune defence in a more significant way, with benefits that are statistically visible not for days but months after you exercise!

Fall — the best hiking season! Larches glowing gold in the high country, maples and alder blazing orange and yellow, and crisp blue skies. 

The very nature of hiking makes it a very ecological-friendly activity already. You use your own legs to propel yourself, no gas or harmful emissions. Hiking teaches us to live on less, make do with whatever we packed, appreciate water and natural resources.

Click on the links below to find out more about Top Hiking Trails Near me : 

https://www.traillink.com/activity/hiking-trails/

https://seattle.curbed.com/maps/fall-foliage-autumn-leaves-trails-seattle

https://www.wta.org/go-outside/seasonal-hikes/summer-destinations/ada-accessible-hikes

Looking for more sustainability?  Check out the newly redesigned EvCC Sustainability web pages!

Does an Immune-Boosting Diet Exist?

Eating enough nutrients as part of a varied diet is required for the health and function of all cells, including immune cells. Each stage of the body’s immune response relies on the presence of many micronutrients. Examples of nutrients that have been identified as critical for the growth and function of immune cells include Vitamin C, Vitamin D, zinc, selenium and Vitamin E.  You can get these nutrients from eating whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables. 

9 Helpful Tips For A Healthy and Sustainable Diet
9 Helpful Tips For A Healthy and Sustainable Diet

What’s great about Fall is that it’s root and squash season, which means you can make lots of delicious sheet pan meals or hearty soups. Another wonderful thing are the farmer markets, making it one of the best times to get food right from your local area. When buying regional produce, you help the farmers and economy around, as well as cut down on waste. Farmers tend to not wrap everything in plastic, and the food doesn’t have to travel as far, meaning you’ve aided in cutting down on carbon emissions. If you’re trying to find your closest farmers market, check your city’s chamber of commerce or find an app that serves your area or click here.

Buying your food seasonally is another way to be more sustainable. When you purchase food that is growing and ripe during its natural season, it is more nutritious, and doesn’t have to be flown in from a faraway land (which makes it more expensive too). Overall it cuts down on use of fossil fuels and is healthier for you.

Do you want more sustainability?  Check out the the newly redesigned EvCC Sustainability web pages!

Sustainability in the Time of COVID-19

We are in a period of uncertainty, anxiety, and confusion. How do we come together to support each other, stay productive, and stay safe?

How do we continue to advance our values of environmental and social justice?

How do we make good decisions and not let fear drive us apart from our care for the earth and each other? 

Physical distancing, not social distancing

One of the things that make societies resilient is our social infrastructure. Our network of friends and family help us in difficult times so reach out, connect, but do it in a safe manner.

Get outdoors

Just because we have to reduce exposure, doesn’t mean we need to be trapped inside. If you are feeling well and the weather allows, go for a walk, run, or bike ride.

Practice self-care

· Wash your hands 

· Avoid close contact (if you are in public keep your distance from others)

· Stay home if you’re sick (follow this guidance if you don’t feel well)

· Cover coughs and sneezes

· Clean and disinfect

Do what you can to stay healthy. Get plenty of sleep. Drink lots of water. Eat healthy and get exercise. A healthy body is better prepared to fight off the virus should you be exposed.

For those using online and phone to get your school or  work done, you are already reducing your footprint! Tele-commuting can cut down on transportation miles and often the technology provider is powered by clean energy . 

 To protect the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff, everyone on campus needs to wear a mask, regardless of vaccination status. Before you come to campus, please fill out the Trojan Safety Check-In form. You only need to submit the form once per day.  

Do you want more sustainability?  Check out the newly redesigned EvCC Sustainability web pages!  

Sustainable Transportation To Campus

Welcome to to the 2021-2022 school year. EvCC encourages and supports staff and students to engage in sustainable practices. Now that folks are coming back to campus, here is a friendly reminder of the sustainable options available to get to campus.

Bus

EvCC offers ORCA bus passes at discounted rates so you can save money by taking the bus to school. Several different buses come to the College Station. To find out how to get to campus by bus, check out the Trip Planner – Bus Service | Community Transit.

Bicycle

If you are able, and the weather permits, to ride a bike to campus, EvCC has a free bike fixing station outside of Grey Wolf Hall and bike lockers to keep your bike safe while you are in class. The bike locker keys require a $25 refundable deposit.

Carpool

To encourage people to find alternative means of transportation outside of driving solo, carpool parking passes are at a discounted rate. Save $35 compared to buying a regular parking pass! Do your part to reduce carbon emissions!

For more information on transportation options, check out Parking and Transportation | Everett Community College (everettcc.edu)