Welcome to Bluedot San Diego! Every other Sunday, we share stories about local changemakers, sustainable homes and yards, and the nature all around us, along with planet-friendly recipes and advice from Dear
Dot. Together, we can make a difference for the blue dot we call home.
– Nicki and Jim Miller
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If you purchase anything via one of our links, including from Amazon, we may earn a small commission.
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SIMPLE / SMART / SUSTAINABLE / STORIES
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SIMPLE / SMART / SUSTAINABLE / STORIES
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“When I became a mom for the first time in 2006, I realized that climate change will be the biggest threat my children will face. As a family, we began to work on reducing our own carbon footprint, one step at the time, until 2015 when we decided to challenge ourselves to be zero waste,” says Fredrika Syren, who lives in the Talmadge area of San Diego and started The Zero Waste Family. If she and her family can’t compost or recycle it, they don’t buy it. In this Q&A, Fredrika discusses how her family embraces eco-consciousness, navigates challenges, and has discovered the beauty of living with zero waste. Plus, she shared recipes for cookies and homemade soft scrub.
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Quick Links |
Skip scrolling! Here's what you'll find in today's Bluedot San Diego Newsletter:
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Paid Advertisement with getgorgie.com
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Meet GORGIE, an energy drink that’s actually good for you.
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Try GORGIE today. Order your variety pack (and save 20% by setting up recurring orders with Amazon Subscribe & Save).
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– Illustration by Elissa Turnbull
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Dear Dot,
My wife and I are looking to buy a newly built home and are talking to builders. Here in southeast PA (we’re formerly from Brooklyn), there is no discussion about environmentally sensitive building or efficient heating/cooling issues. We get blank stares when we mention these issues.
Is there a handy checklist you can recommend for us to ask a builder to include in a home in this area? Or things we should look for?
– Joe
Dear Joe,
In the mid aughts, when Mr. Dot and I were renovating our leaky, mansard-roofed, two-story 1960s house, we sought out expertise on installing solar panels. We also considered geothermal heating. But the Dots were a bit ahead of the curve, and we were, like you, Joe, mostly greeted with blank stares. So I understand your frustration. Except. Except it's roughly two decades later, and solar panels are as common as dandelions, heat pumps are having a moment, and who in their right mind would even consider an appliance that wasn't energy-efficient? What's more, Pennsylvania, while admittedly not Brooklyn, isn't exactly a backwater. So … what gives? Alas, it seems your fate to be something of a Pennsylvania pioneer, pushing forward with environmental consciousness into new
territory and urging those around you to travel alongside you.
If you want a sustainable home, Izumi Tanaka (green realtor, home advisor, and host of the podcast Home Green Homes) says the first thing to look for is that it’s all-electric. And she means modern all-electric, not outdated wires from the ’50s. If you have to prioritize one thing, prioritize this.
While most of us immediately think of solar panels, Izumi says that this actually might not be the best strategy to prioritize. “Solar panels are the last thing to put on,” she says, “because unless your home is energy efficient, you’d be generating all that power and wasting it.” …
Read the rest of Dot’s answer.
Got a question for Dot? Write her at deardot@bluedotliving.com.
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Paid Advertisement
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If you make a purchase through our links, including from Amazon, we may earn a small commission.
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It’s officially summer, and you may have noticed, it’s hot out! The ocean — or lake, river, pool, or cold spring — beckons! If you’re looking
for thoughtfully made swimwear, start here. For more, check out our list of Bluedot-Approved Picks for the Beach.
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Men's Swim
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Champion surfer Kelly Slater’s brand Outerknown makes great-looking clothes, but it’s no surprise that their swim trunks stand out. Each pair is made with a minimum of 85% recycled materials.
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Shop today or
read our review.
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Women's Swim
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We can’t get enough of Reformation’s new swimwear line, which uses innovative recycled and bio-based materials, and features a wide range of cuts, including modest yet totally sexy one-pieces.
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Shop today or
read our review.
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Soy-Based Sandals
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Materials innovations never cease to amaze us. Case in point: the super-comfy sandals made — in the USA — with American-grown soy. The recyclable flip-flops come with a two-year guarantee.
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Shop on Amazon or
read our review.
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As a region moves from extractive industries, like logging and mining, to tourism, locals can feel left out of the lucrative opportunities of the shift. In the Gambia, a small country on West Africa’s coast
(with a fondness for articles), Omar Saho’s Eco Travel Gambia “promotes ecotourism initiatives in the seaside community of Ganjur that allow locals both to preserve their environment and to benefit from it economically,” writes Taiwan-based environmental researcher and writer Melchior Antoine in a dispatch from Bluedot Living’s Hub site. Guests can even help release sea turtle hatchlings into the ocean!
Do you have a special San Diego nature photo or story to share? Email sdeditor@bluedotliving.com.
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Sometimes, a smoothie is the only thing that sounds appetizing — particularly on hot days like the ones we’ve been sweating through lately. Cookbook author and recipe developer Vanessa Seder offers two recipes for thirst-quenching smoothies that, unlike many store-brand varieties, are made with all natural ingredients and little added sugar.
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Unless you’re in a zoo, seeing an endangered species up close is kind of tricky. Except on Santa Cruz island in Channel Islands National Park. There, the island fox, the islands’
apex predators, putter around the campground like curious dogs, sniffing for dinner and ignoring passersby. Their millennia on the islands has shrunk them to about the size of a house cat, which has only increased their charm and charisma. Read about the island fox’s amazing trip back from the brink of extinction, thanks to quick and decisive action.
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Dear Dot offers more tips on greening your ride.
For more Bluedot Climate Quick Tips, click here.
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What’s Behind the Name “Bluedot”? |
Our name is inspired by the humbling words of astronomer Carl Sagan, who marveled at the comparative size of our world, a “pale blue dot” in the vastness of space:
“There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world,” Sagan wrote in 1994’s Pale Blue Dot. “To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”
Sagan’s humbling words inspire us to deliver stories to you that reflect his and so many others’ work to cherish this blue dot. Please consider contributing to Bluedot, so that we can keep bringing you these solutions-focused stories.
We’ll see you in two weeks.
– Nicki and Jim Miller
Editors, Bluedot Living San Diego
sdeditor@bluedotliving.com
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We live in San Diego and love the opportunity to be on the water and in the mountains in one day. Nicki, a writer and editor, and Jim, a writer and environmental economist, are excited
to combine skills as the editors of Bluedot Living San Diego. Since we’re avid cyclists, you may see us riding along the Silver Strand or hitting the trails in Cuyamaca (probably not on the same day). Thank you for joining us on this Bluedot ride!
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