thredUP Airs Out Your Laundry

ThredUP is an online clothing resale service that takes in your used or new clothing and gives them a new life. They decide which clothes can resell and you decide whether or not you want to donate the rest. This initiative is important because fast fashion is one of the leading causes of pollution in the world. We have all given into buying something brand new because, well, capitalism, consumerism, or convenience… but have you ever thought about the consequences of this buying culture?

Throughout the life of a garment, it can generate several hundred pounds of both wastewater and carbon emissions. So thredUP created this Fashion Footprint Calculator to determine how your fashion habits are affecting the environment. It includes questions like how often you purchase or thrift, how many loads you wash a month, and how much you dry air or machine dry your laundry.

Check out this infographic thredUP provides upon completion of the calculator:

Source: thredUP Fashion Footprint Calculator

To be successful at eliminating textile waste, we need to take a look at our trash output. In New York City alone, textiles make up about 220,000 pounds of trash every year. We can attack this at the root by either finding eco-friendly alternatives (thrifting) or consuming less when possible (minimizing). That’s why you should use this calculator—to understand how your habits are affecting the natural world.

Sidenote: I always feel guilty about getting rid of clothes but there are a couple of things I consider that you can too. Become an intentional shopper moving forward. Be more conscious about what you purchase and you will eliminate creating unwanted items. Try to carry out a minimalist lifestyle so you’d want less items in the first place. Ultimately, resist the urge to buy unnecessary items.

Click here to use the Fashion Footprint Calculator and assess your fashion habits now.

Donation Connections in NYC

Today, it is easier than ever to make the connection between donor and recipient for food or textiles in New York City. The city’s Department of Sanitation is actively working with small businesses and non-profit organizations to make these connections possible and to create more just like it. These efforts are under their organization donateNYC.

DonateNYC had their first NYCxReuse Conference, Expo, and Community Fest event this past June where Stay Blooming was an attendee. The Conference (Q&A panels), Expo (tabling and workshops), and Community Fest (networking) showcased businesses and organizations as well as the work they are actively doing for the reuse community within NYC.

Common things like food/furniture donations and textile reuse were the highlighted topics during panelist Q&As. Both of which will be highlighted here as well since the donateNYC donating system is more efficient and can be used more readily.

Here are the same resources for you!

donateNYC Exchange—The exchange makes it possible for businesses and non-profit organizations to gain access to used items and “exchange” them if you will. The platform connects groups that have unwanted furniture, supplies, cabinets, books, etc. to groups that are looking for those items specifically. Thus maximizing the use out of items/materials before they are scrapped or considered trash.

Image source: donateNYC
Here are some currently available items at the donateNYC Exchange.
Note: These items are only available for businesses and non-profit organizations.

donateNYC Food Portal—This portal allows users to give away leftover edible food as well as gain access to donated food. This program reduces the amount of organic waste that accumulates in trash or landfills. Thus decreasing the overall amount of organic waste that decomposes and prevents some New Yorkers from going hungry.

Image source: donateNYC

DSNY Textile/Clothing Drop-Off—This website serves as a location tool for donating used clothing and textiles drop-off sites. This helps to repurpose the fabrics and scraps that are leftover from making brand new garments as well as reusing fabrics from garments that have lived their life. Thus keeping a good amount of textiles out of the waste stream. Their drop-off map is below.

Image source: Google Maps
All of the drop-off sites for clothing and textiles across the city.

We can definitely call this an attempt to encourage a circular economy in the big apple. What is a circular economy? It is a system that works towards reducing waste through reuse and maximizing resources. This type of system is great for the environment and can also involve repairing items, investing in eco-friendly infrastructure, improving recycling, upcycling items, reusing parts of an item, and more—all of which to achieve a waste-free way of living.

#MoveTheDate 2019

Earth Overshoot Day is on July 29th this year.

Earth Overshoot Day is an important environmental day to learn about. This day gives us an idea how much of the earth’s resources we are using annually. Or better yet, it predicts on what day we will have used all of the natural resources that earth can provide in a year’s time. In a perfect world Earth Overshoot Day would be as late in the year as possible because we are living sustainably. But that’s not the case. Humans use far more resources than the earth can replace/renew in a year. In other words, we are stealing natural resources from our future selves.

Every year, Earth Overshoot Day can land on a different day. That’s because the calculations that predict this day are based on how people in the world are currently living. So not only is it subject to change but it directly correlates to our lifestyle choices. Here are the factors considered when calculating Earth Overshoot Day:

  • The ecological footprint “measures how much demand human consumption places on the biosphere. It is measured in standard units called global hectares.”1 One hectare is approximately 107,639 square feet.
  • The biocapacity “is the area of productive land available to produce resources or absorb carbon dioxide waste, given current management practices. Biocapacity is measured in standard units called global hectares.”1
  • “An ecological deficit occurs when the Ecological Footprint of a population exceeds the biocapacity of the area available to that population. A national ecological deficit means that the nation is importing biocapacity through trade, liquidating national ecological assets or emitting carbon dioxide waste into the atmosphere.”1
  • “An ecological reserve exists when the biocapacity of a region exceeds its population’s Ecological Footprint.”1

The Global Footprint Network is responsible for the work behind calculating the Earth Overshoot Date. With all of these different factors, you can see why every country has a unique set of results. To view the data that they came up with this year, click here.

Image source: Past Earth Overshoot Days

Knowing the Earth Overshoot Day makes us accountable and aware of our behaviors. It turns something that is usually hard to visualize into something that is digestible and easier to understand. With the given data, we can set objectives of what we would like to do or prevent for the following year. After all, being able to project these kind of predictions should be utilized somehow.

Many people may not know about #MoveTheDate but it is an effort to change our lifestyle behaviors so that we are living more sustainably. As it is, earth will not be able to sustain life as we know it beyond 2050. It goes without saying that there will be many issues leading up to that point if we don’t act now. To learn more about moving the date back and how you can initiate change check out some Solutions here.

To get an idea of how your lifestyle affects the earth, calculate your ecological footprint here.

1 http://data.footprintnetwork.org/

Igloo’s “RECOOL” Box Opening

Igloo Coolers sent Stay Blooming their new RECOOL cooler to try out. This is the first biodegradable cooler on the market and is made entirely of molded pulp in the USA. The intention of this cooler is to replace the styrofoam coolers that have been commonly used to keep food and drinks cold. The RECOOL cooler is water resistant, can hold water for up to 5 days, and can retain ice for up to 12 hours. The company even claims it can carry up to 75 pounds without breaking. After use, let it dry out and reuse. It is that simple.

The best part about this cooler is that it will biodegrade if it is littered or left out in the environment for a long time. Styrofoam is already being banned in many places, so finding a replacement for those picnics and BBQs will now be easier than ever before. We are in no way condoning in the behavior of littering but this is a necessary alternative to styrofoam and plastic.

As shown in the video above, they also sent over a reusable tote bag (of decent size), reusable bamboo cutlery, reusable bamboo plates, and a bamboo USB flash drive (plastic-free!). The reusable cutlery and bamboo plates can also be composted which is something to embrace about bamboo products. This is not a paid ad. Stay Blooming is here to learn and teach about alternatives so that we can truly welcome sustainable living.

The reusable biodegradable RECOOL Igloo cooler filled with goodies.
Image courtesy of Igloo Coolers.

If you are looking for a way to keep your perishables cool during picnics, BBQs, and other warm weather outings, be sure to grab one of these. It is reliable and there is no plastic to feel guilty about later.

NYC Earth Day Cleanups

Are you getting ready for Earth Day weekend? Earth Day is on April 22nd, the weekend we speak of is April 20th to 21st. If you live in NYC (or are visiting) then here are 2 cleanup events that we are organizing or facilitating. These events will make you realize your power as a human and as a community. You will leave feeling like a steward for the environment.

This is Stay Blooming’s first ever cleanup event taking place at Ferry Point Park in Bronx, NY. It is in collaboration with Marjorie Velazquez of the borough. We put this event together to bring people into this lesser known park. It has a lot of visitors during the warmer months and is mostly used for its soccer fields and fourth of July views. Although there are plans for the MTA Ferry to service this part of the Bronx in 2021, the park can still use a lot of attention with its growing usage.

The second is a Veggie Mijas event that I am organizing and walking through. This even includes a mini recycling lesson and requires participants to RSVP beforehand. I organized the event to take place in Pelham Bay Park as it is a local park that I frequented growing up. It also features a bunch of back trails that are good for hiking and riding bike. Although this is a well known park and a well known area, the back trails do not get cleaned up like the BBQ sections and picnicking parts of the park.

The purpose of getting involved for Earth Day weekend is to learn how to treat out earth better. It is to raise awareness for issues like pollution, overconsumption, and climate change. When we are able to act out good deeds that promote a positive trajectory for our earth, then we are making that positive future more likely. Raising awareness can be teaching a workshop, a cleanup, community gardening, etc. The scale of the awareness does not matter, it only matters that it is happening. That

If you have any questions that cannot be answered with the above fliers and information, please email me at alyssa@stayblooming.com.

Artists Needed to Encourage Recycling

Image: DSNY

If you are a NYC artist this may be a great opportunity for you.

NYC’s Department of Sanitation is seeking to transform 5 of their garbage trucks. The zero-waste project is Trucks of Art and each truck would be painted by a different artist. The requirements are an idea that either represents the city’s strongest or one that encourages New Yorkers to recycle. So you know where this is going.

So it is in our opinion that these trucks should send a green message. Waste management in NYC is huge. When the city had a landfill of its own, everything was seemingly all good. But this is no longer the case. We do not have a landfill anymore. The last was Fresh Kills landfill. It saw its last dump of trash in 2001 and it is now a city park. As a result, since its closing, NYC sends its trash to landfills out of state. This is not fair.

Therefore, this is Stay Blooming reaching out to fellow environmentalists and artists. As a city known for its creativity, it makes sense to use art as communication. Residents need to be encouraged to actively participate in the recycling process. It needs to interest them. It needs to be personal. This way they are mindful of how they accumulate trash. As a result, this artistic opportunity is very important to prevent trash.

The best part is artists will use recycled paint.

There are only a few days left for submissions. The deadline is on March 31st. To get more information from Department of Sanitation, please click here. Act quickly if interested!

Environmentally Woke, Part I

Since introducing Blooming at QC Voices, StayBlooming.com‘s chief editor, Alyssa Perez, has had three articles published for the Queens College online periodical QC Voices. If you have not had the opportunity to read the column, called Environmentally Woke, then check out the links below to catch up.

plastic straw ban.jpgThe Plastic Straw Ban is Gaining Momentum

great pacific garbage patchThe Great Pacific Garbage Patch

combined sewer system of nycThe Combined Sewer System of NYC and its Overflow

There will be more published pieces coming soon, all through Spring 2019. Stay tuned for more. In the meantime, visit QC Voices to read more articles by other Queens College students.

Blooming at QC Voices

I am excited and honored to announce that I, Alyssa Perez, Chief Editor of StayBlooming.com, will be contributing to Queens College‘s online periodical QC Voices. I’m currently a student there and decided to complete my BA in Environmental Studies shortly after starting StayBlooming.com to build my credibility as a writer.

Writing is great because it gives me many avenues of expressing myself/my ideas and it comes with a flexibility like no other medium. I admit that journalism is still just an optional route. I write for StayBlooming.com truly as an act of love. A labor that I owe to earth because it not only gave me life but consciousness of it. It’s a mission of mine to put into written words what I intuitively understand to be a universal language. So, I’m merely just following my heart and living in my truth.

I applied to be a part of QC Voices because my confidence was just right. I have been publicly writing for some time now. I can comfortably discuss the topics I write on especially environmental views. I use my social media platforms to spread awareness and gained sisterhood through that like-mindedness. And I am ready to keep growing. After submitting writing samples and StayBlooming.com, I was invited to have my own column with QC Voices called Environmentally Woke.

As this is just an introduction of what’s to come, you can expect to see my QC Voices work on here too in the future. I hope this opportunity holds me accountable to my writing during the school term just as much as it expands my ability to write. In the meantime, check me out on the Team page along with the other student contributors!

Thank you for blooming with me.