Share
And Dot gets steamed about “clean” natural gas
 ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

A Bluedot Living Newsletter

Welcome to The Hub, a Bluedot Living newsletter that gathers good news, good food, and good tips for living every day more sustainably.

If your friend sent you this, sign up here — check out our local newsletters covering Martha's Vineyard, San Diego, and Los Angeles and our Brooklyn newsletter here. And you won't want to miss our Marketplace newsletter featuring sustainable products for your home.

If this newsletter is cut short by your email program. View it in full here.

SIMPLE / SMART / SUSTAINABLE / STORIES

“On a snowy afternoon in early 2021, my dad and I passed a ‘For Sale By Owner’ sign at the mouth of an unplowed driveway,” writes Bea Copeland, in the first installment of her “Cabbage* Dispatch” series, which will follow her DIY efforts to renovate a cabin in the most planet-friendly ways. “We pulled in a car’s length, careful to not get stuck, and walked the rest of the way to the house, a dilapidated ranch with splintery cedar siding, smashed windows, and multiple code violation notifications taped to the rusted front door. It was both frightening and exciting! A walk around the house revealed an unobstructed view of the Appalachian Trail ridge line and a tall weeping willow off to the side that hinted, ‘There’s beauty here.’ My dad [that’s him in the photo with me] gave me a look — This is it.”


Bluedot Living will be posting a new episode each Tuesday (first one went live this week!). Follow Bea as she tackles the Cabbage’s challenges and creates a home. (*Cabbage = Cabin + Cottage). Subscribe to Bluedot Living's YouTube channel and follow Bluedot’s Instagram so you can see each new episode when we share it.

DISPATCHES FROM ALL OVER · SUSTAINABLE LIVING ADVICE · ECO-FRIENDLY RECIPES

“People often mistake pessimism for critical thought and optimism for Pollyannaism. In reality, progress is built by those who can look critically at a suite of solutions, discard the bad ones, and find and sharpen the gems that remain. Pessimists use criticism as a wall, while optimists use it as a guiding door.”

Hannah Ritchie writing for Vox, "We Need the Right Kind of Climate Optimism.” Hannah Ritchie is an editor for Our World in Data so, of course, spends her days making sense of data and building a narrative around it. Which is why she takes issue with the climate Chicken Littles among us who insist that humanity is doomed. While Ritchie doesn’t dispute the challenges ahead, she notes that many issues are trending in the right direction: “The prices of solar and wind power, as well as of batteries for storing low-carbon energy, have all plunged. Global deforestation peaked decades ago and has been slowly declining. Sales of new gas and diesel cars are now falling. Coal is starting to die in many countries. Government commitments are getting closer to limiting global warming to 2°C. Deaths from natural disasters — despite what news about climate change-related fires and hurricanes might appear to suggest — are a fraction of what they used to be.” The list, she says, goes on. But Ritchie makes another crucial point. If we assume that there is nothing we can do to prevent climate catastrophe, we will do nothing, thereby ensuring such an outcome. But if we continue to use the information we have to shape policy and innovation then, as Ritchie puts it, simply “the act of trying creates possibilities that no one knew about before.”

QUICK LINKS

Skip scrolling! Here's what you'll find in this edition of the Bluedot Newsletter:

Tea Lane Associates

DISPATCHES FROM ALL OVER

BIG IDEAS AND LOCAL CHANGEMAKERS

We love it when someone sees a problem and rolls up their sleeves to fix it, like Diane Daniel in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, who finds homes for the items short-term renters leave behind — Summer Rylander shares the story. Colette Kase brings us Alligators, Microplastics, and Mud, the tale of a researcher who examines the guts of gators in South Carolina swamps. And London, Canada, is prepped for precipitation with new rain gardens created by locals to respond to the flood-prone Thames River (yep, this London has one, too).

ECOS Paints - Paint you can feel good about
Shop King Arthur Baking for all your baking needs!

Read more to find out how to electrify your home and for guides to tax credits and rebates.

THE BLUEDOT KITCHEN

Prioritizing seasonal and local ingredients gives you sustainable eating at its very best. Sometimes, you just need to buy something in a box, though — like tempeh, the fermented staple and cousin to tofu made from boiled soy beans. Replacing your meat protein with a plant-based protein is always a good move. Food writer Catherine Walthers didn’t really like tempeh, until she found Tootie’s Tempeh. Now she can’t stop eating it.

Tempeh Tacos

Tempeh Vegetable Stir-Fry with Ginger Soy Sauce

Mr. Fix-it’s DIY Solar Power Generator

A backup generator can be a lifesaver when the power goes out. Mr. Fix-it wants us to consider a solar-powered version, either purchased — he tells us what to look for — or DIY! It’s easier to make than you’d think.

The Cabbage Dispatch: Bea Copeland Builds a Home

Follow Bea Copeland, millennial home enthusiast and DIYer, as she turns a decrepit, abandoned cabin into a cozy cottage. In our new eight-part article and video series we’re calling The Cabbage Dispatch (Cabin + Cottage = Cabbage), Bea makes decisions on sustainable building materials, shows us how to shop garage sales and thrift shops, and plans for life in her new home. Catch episode one here. Subscribe to Bluedot Living's YouTube channel and follow Bluedot’s Instagram so you can see each new episode when we share it.

Dear Dot: Is “Clean-Burning Natural Gas” a Thing?

Dear Dot,
Is there such a thing as “clean-burning natural gas”?
–Val

Dear Val,

Those with a stake in natural gas want us to cozy up to it as an alternative to coal and oil. It’s “natural,” they coo. It’s “clean burning.” And natural gas does, in fact, emit fewer greenhouse gasses when burned than other fossil fuels — about 50 percent less CO2 than coal

But, as Climate Reality Project points out, half of too many is far from zero, and carbon dioxide is not the only (or even the worst) greenhouse gas. Drilling and extraction of natural gas leaks a greenhouse gas that is particularly potent (from a heat-trapping point of view) — methane. And what do they mean by “leaks”? The Union of Concerned Scientists refer to them as “fugitive” methane emissions and peg them at 1–9 percent of nat gas’s total life cycle emissions, which includes any/all emissions from extraction, transportation, and, yes, burning.

And even if the industry was able to keep leakage below acceptable percentages, methane isn’t natural gas’s only issue of concern …

Curious to read Dot’s entire answer (and learn what not to wear at your own funeral)
And don’t miss more Dear Dot addressing your eco-quandaries!

BUY LESS/BUY BETTER

We Hub editors are both mothers and our kids are asking about Mother’s Day gift suggestions. So we did a bit of window shopping in the Bluedot Marketplace and came up with about 87 things we want. Here are three. Want more? See our marketplace here.

For more sustainable shopping recs,
check out our Marketplace and sign up for our new BuyBetter newsletter.

Lomi Composter

We love anything that makes composting easier, and less smelly (or … not smelly at all!). The Lomi is a small (dare we say chic?) electric composter that takes up a tiny bit of counter space and turns food scraps into fertilizer. And there’s a $50 discount with the code Bluedot! Read more.

BUY NOW.

Nisolo Shoes and Accessories

Every item from Nashville-based Nisolo has a Sustainability Facts Label, which is like a nutrition facts label for the planet. They’re best known for shoes, but we also covet hip bags like the Lori Tote, the Clara Crossbody, and the Carry-All Handwoven Tote. Read more.

BUY NOW.

The Boody White Tee

Can you top a perfect white tee? Our editors think this one is it. Certified B Corp Boody’s bamboo “boyfriend” tees are made using fair labor practices, sent in sustainable packaging, and just the thing to wear all summer. Read more.

BUY NOW.

The Social Hour

Good news around the world for, well, the world! Australia chooses the Great Barrier Reef over a coal mine, rainforests are thriving after deforestation is halted, and people demand #climatejustice on Earth Day at the White House. #Savingtheplanet one step at a time.

FOLLOW US

Bluedot's Guide to Getting Rid of Anything

We were totally going to take up running this spring and maybe register for a marathon but then we pulled out our shoes and there is no way those puppies are going to carry us across any finish line. However, that doesn’t mean they can’t be useful to someone else (or be remade into something else)! If you have some sneakers with a bit of tread left in them, donate them to any of the great organizations in Bluedot’s Guide to Getting Rid of (Almost) Anything who are dedicated to keeping folks footloose but not shoe-free.

What’s Behind the Name “Bluedot”?

“There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world,” astronomer Carl 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 forwarding this newsletter to your friends and family to share and inspire real-world eco-actions we can take at home and in our communities. 


Thanks for being part of our Bluedot community!


–Jamie Kageleiry and Leslie Garrett

Editors
Write us at editor@bluedotliving.com

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.

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.

SIMPLE / SMART / SUSTAINABLE / STORIES

Read past issues of The Hub here.

Bluedot Living® magazine and bluedotliving.com are published by Bluedot, Inc.

Find more simple, smart, sustainable stories at bluedotliving.com, our Martha's Vineyard website, our Brooklyn website, our San Diego website and our Los Angeles website. Subscribe to this newsletter here.

Write us at editor@bluedotliving.com if you’d like to see a Bluedot newsletter or magazine in your community.


Click here to unsubscribe | Sent to: _t.e.s.t_@example.com

Bluedot, Inc., 2945 Townsgate Road, Ste 200, Westlake Village, CA 91361, United States


Email Marketing by ActiveCampaign