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Your support allows us to provide our solutions-focused climate stories without charging for them. If you’d like to contribute, click here.
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SIMPLE / SMART / SUSTAINABLE / STORIES
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SIMPLE / SMART / SUSTAINABLE / STORIES
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Friday, April 12, 2024
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Meet Shawn Bath, who’s determined to save marine life in Newfoundland by removing trash from the ocean floor. “Shawn Bath didn’t set out to be an ocean warrior,” writes Bluedot contributor Darcy Rhyno. “As a kid in the ‘70s, he and his friends in Twillingate, Newfoundland, thought of the Atlantic as a playground, building and floating on rafts around the harbor.” By 2018, Bath, a diver, began to notice fish and seabirds tangled in traps,
ropes, and nets, and decided to start hauling up the “ghost gear.” He pulled up 15,000 pounds of it that year, and launched Clean Harbours Initiative. Read more about his work here.
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DISPATCHES FROM ALL OVER
SUSTAINABLE LIVING ADVICE
ECO-FRIENDLY RECIPES
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DISPATCHES FROM ALL OVER · SUSTAINABLE LIVING ADVICE · ECO-FRIENDLY RECIPES
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“It is a magnificent thing to be alive in a moment that matters so much.”
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– Dr. Katharine Wilkinson, writer, climate change activist, executive director and co-founder of The All We Can Save Project, a climate leadership organization; co-host of the podcast A Matter of Degrees with Leah Stokes.
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It has been fifty-four years since that first Earth Day when twenty-million Americans — ten percent of the population — declared that something must be done to preserve and protect our planet from climate disruption. Earth Day was born of an oil spill off the coast of California and inspired by a politician who refused to let that moment in Santa Barbara pass without pushing for a response equal to the crisis. (Bluedot Santa Barbara shares many stories of climate action from that Earth Day ground zero community.) In that slightly more than half-century, much has been done. And far too much has not. So it remains our task, in this moment that
matters so much, as Dr. Wilkinson puts it, to do everything we can. A magnificent thing to be alive in this moment, for sure, but also a particularly pressing one.
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QUICK LINKS
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Skip scrolling! Here's what you'll find in this edition of the Bluedot Newsletter:
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The U.S. consumes more tequila per capita annually than any other country in the world (even Mexico!), and Americans spend almost $3 billion a year on margaritas. Some might say a fair portion of that happens around May 5 — Cinco de Mayo. If you’re preparing a shopping list for that day, consider finding a sustainably produced tequila. Our Good Libations columnist Julia Cooper has the skinny on the best brands (and some really interesting info on how tequila is produced).
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– Illustration by Elissa Turnbull
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Dear Dot,
I recently bought a new Hyundai hybrid vehicle. I heard that Detroit (one of my favorite cities) is installing new roads that will recharge electric car engines. Will they also charge my hybrid electric?
–Karen
Dear Karen,
A few years ago, Dot took in a breathtaking performance of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
at Detroit’s incredible Beaux Arts Opera House preceded by dinner at one of the city’s trendy new restaurants.
Like you, Karen, I’m a fan of the Motor City, a moniker the city earned in the early 20th century thanks, in part, for being where the problematic but brilliant Henry Ford tested his first automobile on June 4, 1896. Detroit is also home to the first mile of concrete road in the nation and the country’s first three-way traffic signal. (Though perhaps Cleveland boasts the first traffic signal?)
Detroit’s charging road was just a twinkle in some engineer’s eye when I was there, but if I were to return today, would this innovation charge my plug-in hybrid vehicle? Or your Hyundai hybrid? (A primer for those of you not yet too familiar with eco-friendly auto options: A hybrid is a combination gas/electric that uses the electric battery (charged by driving) to supplement the gas engine, thereby burning less fuel. A plug-in hybrid goes short distances on full electric before switching to the gas engine. And a full electric is … fully electric.)
But before I answer your question, Karen, let’s consider how these roads work. …
Read on — you’ll get a charge out of what Dot
discovered.
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BUY LESS/BUY BETTER:
Organic Cotton Underthings We Love
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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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If you’d like to make some more space in your top drawer, refresh your wardrobe for spring, or just need new underwear, we’ve got ideas for you this week. The one we’re most excited about: Subset’s pioneering recycling program, which will basically pay you to send in your old underpants, socks, pantyhose, and bras. Once they receive your package (you provide the envelope, they pay the shipping), they’ll email you a $25 credit to spend on their great organic
cotton underwear. Your old underthings will live on as furniture batting, insulation, and more. How cool is that?
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The Social Hour
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Remember, there is no Plan B for our beautiful Earth! Let's celebrate Earth Day by taking action to protect our planet every single day. How are you helping the planet this Earth Day? 🌿💚🌍
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FOLLOW US
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Thoughts on Earth Day
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We’re really more “every day is Earth Day” people here at Bluedot, but there’s no doubt that the annual celebration of Mother Nature helps bring visibility to environmental issues, especially in a world so distracted by other things, both important (war in Ukraine) and trivial (what is the best age gap in celebrity relationships?). A CNN poll late last year showed that about three-quarters of Americans want more action on climate change, but only 2% said it was the most important issue for them. There’s always been a consistent gap between the way people feel about the environment, and the way they act (and vote). That’s where Bluedot
Living comes in. We educate, enlighten, and inspire readers without bumming them out. And we give them easy-to-implement solutions for a complex world. And if you haven’t already, we hope you’re inspired to support our
solutions-focused journalism at Bluedot.
Enjoy the weekend, and we’ll see you in two weeks.
– Jamie Kageleiry and Leslie Garrett
Editors
Write us at editor@bluedotliving.com
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Jamie Kageleiry, a longtime magazine and newspaper editor from Martha's Vineyard, says her favorite spot on earth is out on a kayak there, looking at birds.
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Leslie Garrett has been covering climate stories for close to two decades. She divides her time between London, Ontario, and Massachusetts. She’s still figuring out her favorite spot but it’s definitely near the
water.
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SIMPLE / SMART / SUSTAINABLE / STORIES
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SIMPLE / SMART / SUSTAINABLE / STORIES
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Read past issues of The Hub here.
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Bluedot Living® magazine and bluedotliving.com are published by Bluedot, Inc.
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