Zero Waste Pointers to Keep Your Summer Green
Sunny summer days are Nature’s way of luring you out of the house. With more time outdoors, it’s important to remain extra vigilant about your personal waste. Making summer more sustainable might not do much to stop a perfect tan from fading, but it will help ensure that the memories you make this season are the only things to last forever when it’s done. But don’t worry; being environmentally responsible doesn’t bring an end to summer fun. Even with a full schedule of outdoor activities, you can still fit sustainability into your summer agenda, all season long.
A Clean Camper Is A Happy Camper
If you like spending the dog days in the great outdoors, summer doesn’t officially start into you pitch the first tent of the season. By following the cardinal rule of camping, Leave No Trace, you are helping to preserve the natural beauty of the wilderness around you. Here are some ways to make your next summer camping trip a sustainable one.
- Camp Closer to Home – You don’t have to travel far to find adventure. By exploring campsites closer to home, not only will you reduce your camping trip carbon footprint; you may discover new opportunities in your home state that you never knew about.
- Rent Your Gear – The cost for new camping equipment can be expensive. Save money, and waste less, by borrowing whatever gear you need from a friend, or by renting it from a camping store.
- Know Your Firewood – It’s best to get our wood at the campground store, or nearest camp store within 50 miles of the camping area, to keep local plants and wildlife safe from invasive species and disease.
- Dispose with Care – You’re likely to accumulate at least a little garbage while camping, no matter how diligent you are. Make sure to separate your waste into recycling, compost, and trash.
- Handle Fire with Caution – Wildfires are a big concern during the summer. Don’t break camp without properly extinguishing your fire with a bucket of water, and a shovel to stir the ashes with until it is completely put out.
- Don’t Forget Your Swaps – You can’t have a zero-waste camping trip without reusable & sustainable alternatives to help keep the wilderness clean, green, and free of polyethylene!
Garden This Summer with a Green Thumb
You can’t be much closer to nature than getting on your hands and knees, putting your fingers in the dirt, and creating life with Mother Earth herself. Enjoy the serenity of summer gardening, and enjoy its succulent rewards, by adding these sustainable practices to your growing methods.
- Catch the Rain – A rainwater recovery system, which can be easily installed on your gutter downspout, is an inexpensive way to harness and control rainwater for your backyard garden.
- Mulch with What You Have – Save money by mulching with what you have laying around your yard. Leaves, pine needles, or wood chips hold moisture in the ground, keep weeds down, and enriches the soil.
- Intermix with Ornamentals – Interspersing ornamental plants, among your edibles, helps to reduce pest and disease damage. These companion plants assist your organic garden by repelling harmful bugs, while also attracting pollinators and helpful predatory insects.
- Compost Your Scraps – Avoid synthetic fertilizers, which disrupt the natural balance of your soil. By composting your kitchen scraps, like with a Subpod In-Garden Compost System, you can turn organic waste into a nutrient rich supplement that your garden plants will thrive on.
Go Take a Hike–Sustainably!
Trekking up a mountain, down a canyon, or through the woods has an amazing way of putting life, and your problems, into perspective. The fresh air clears your mind, the exercise strengthens your body, and being alone in pristine nature is food for the soul. Here are some eco-friendly hiking swaps that help to keep our nature trails free of litter.
Green Summers Are a Beach
A sustainable day at the shore actually starts before your toes ever touch the sand. Go from beach-goer to beach-lover with eco-friendly swaps that keep clear our waterways and heal the ocean blues.
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