At Home On Earth

SIMPLE / SMART / SUSTAINABLE / STORIES

Sam Moore recently set sail on the Clearwater (that's a member of the crew, above), the sloop folk singer Pete Seeger had built in the 1960s to call attention to the need to clean up the Hudson River. “It was a lifeblood river,” Sam writes of the Hudson’s history, “home to billions of spawning fish, and all the wild animal and bird life that followed. Sturgeon were so plentiful they were known as ‘Albany beef.’” Seeger, Sam says, “saw potential in the river, and he saw potential in this idea of his, an idea that he admitted from the get-go was a pipe dream.” A decade after Seeger’s death, passengers on the Clearwater are still helping clean up the Hudson. Read more, and check out our playlist (because … Seeger, Johnny Cash, Cripple Creek …)

Our New Store Is Here!

We’re making it easier for our readers to shop sustainably with our new online store, Bluedot Living Collection. From home essentials to clean beauty, and wardrobe staples to low-waste swaps, you can find planet-friendly products all in one place. We've already partnered with a curated array of brands we believe in, and we’re just getting started. As we continue to vet new products, you’ll see even more options added, each one selected for quality, responsibility, and real-world functionality.

“Creation is crying out in floods, droughts, storms, and relentless heat. One in three people live in great vulnerability because of these climate changes. To them, climate change is not a distant threat, and to ignore these people is to deny our shared humanity.”

– Pope Leo, speaking to leaders at COP30

• Dear Dot: How Can I Stop the World from Burning?

• Faith Fills in for FEMA in Storm-Damaged Louisiana

• Pete Seeger’s Clearwater Still Sails to Clean Up the Hudson

• How Do You Eco-Travel? Check Out This Peru Story

• Check Out the Deals on Our Shopify Store!

• Loving Thy Neighbor With Sun and Soil in Pennsylvania

• How to Get Rid of All Those Books You’re Already Read

• My Secret Garden: Santa Barbara’s La Casa de Maria

• Bluedot Kitchen: Veggie-Packed Baked Eggs

Make sustainable living simple with the Bluedot Living’s Green Home Deluxe Kit — a $170+ value collection of our editors’ favorite Earth-friendly products, free with your membership. You’ll also enjoy exclusive member savings, inspiring community connections, and more planet-positive perks.

FEATURED STORIES

BIG IDEAS AND LOCAL CHANGEMAKERS

Does your cast-iron pan need a little extra TLC after this year’s Thanksgiving feast? Check out this tip to get your skillet ready for reseasoning.

Veggie-Packed Baked Eggs

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Tapping Tourists to Help Save the Amazon

Bluedot contributor Diane Selkirk just won a Travel Media Association of Canada award for this story. The judges said “Wow — this article is a breathtaking journey into the heart of the Amazon! With stunning photography and an engaging, deeply researched narrative, it reveals the region’s incredible diversity and the powerful role regenerative tourism can play in protecting nature, supporting science, and celebrating Indigenous culture. A shining example of how travel can truly make a difference.”

Dear Dot: How Can I Stop the World From Burning?

Illustration by Elissa Turnbull

Dear Dot,

The climate change crisis is mounting to a terrifying extent. What can everyday people do to make Big Oil stop drilling and burning this Earth? Especially when government leaders don’t seem concerned about the issue. 

– Tessa

Dear Tessa,

Big Oil sure is rearing its crude head as this current U.S. administration rolls back progress on a renewable energy transition. From the Treasury Department limiting tax credits for wind and solar while granting fossil fuel companies $18 billion in tax incentives to the current administration planning to open oil drilling leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and on offshore sites previously off-limits, setbacks abound. Unfortunately, we’re seeing a rollback around the world, where some governments (not all, thankfully) are taking their cues from the U.S. and hedging on the climate commitments made in the Paris Agreement in 2015. One of the most important things we ordinary folks can do is hold our government accountable. 

There’s more! Keep reading.

BUY LESS/BUY BETTER

If you make a purchase through our links, including from Amazon, we may earn a small commission.

Holiday giving presents a special opportunity to bring real joy to friends and family, but finding special gifts that also tread lightly on the planet is often tough. This year, we’ve done everything we can to make it easy, and we’re so excited with what we have to offer you: Seven new gift guides, all featuring items sold in our new store, The Bluedot Living Collection. 

You’ll find great holiday discounts, including: 

• Up to 20% off Northern Forge’s Wisconsin-made garden decor 

• Up to 30% off luxe CleanBamboo bedding from ettitude 

• Up to 75% off seed-packet gift tags and more from Modern Sprout

• 10% off luxe bath and body gifts from Juniper Ridge

• Up to 25% off bundles from Zero Waste Store

• 25% off puffer blankets and towels from Nomadix

Enter code HOLIDAY10 at checkout to save an extra 10% off all items.

Bluedot’s elves have been working hard to create a store with wonderful things, including lots of exciting, truly covetable items. We’re not talking about reusable straws and bike-tube bracelets. We mean joy-sparking, grin-inducing gifts, many of them made here in the U.S. by family-owned companies whose wares you’re unlikely to find anywhere else. With prices ranging from under $1.50 to $429, we’ve truly got something for everyone.

Explore all of our favorite gifts here.

• Gifts Under $15 (tea, seed pops, lip balm, tiny trees, incense!) 

• Gifts Under $25 (wool ornaments, body oil, socks, cooking tools!) 

• Gifts Under $50 (candles, garden decor, totes, awesome hats!)  

• Gifts for Men (sling bags, hoodies, soap sets, tinned fish, cologne!) 

• Gifts for Women (paper flowers, throws, customizable jewelry!) 

• Gifts for Teens (water bottles, skincare, sleep masks, belt bags!)

• Gifts for Plant Lovers (glam watering cans, smart growframes, trellises!)

What You Can Do:
Join a Faith-Based Climate Group

Bill McKibben’s Third Act lists a half-dozen climate action groups, organized by faith. Find one that speaks to you. In Canada, check out Faith and Climate Action.

The Keep-This Handbook

Ready to grant release to the many books on your bookshelves? Send them to those incarcerated via the Appalachian Prison Book Project. Click here to find out more. And check out Bluedot’s Guide to Getting Rid of (Almost) Anything for more information on what to do with your books.

On the Convergence of Faith and Climate

Friday noon, you’ll typically find me at a soup kitchen in the basement of a downtown cathedral where we serve a hot lunch to roughly 110 guests. There’s a coat rack with donated clothing that guests can select from. The food we serve comes via an organization that acts as a clearinghouse for otherwise wasted food — donated by grocery stores when it’s past its “sell by” date, or by caterers who overestimated people’s appetites, or by farmers with a bumper harvest. 

It’s part of the cathedral’s commitment to “radical hospitality,” a notion emerging from the gospel of Matthew calling us to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, welcome the stranger. Feeding, clothing, welcoming doesn’t really seem “radical” at all, but rather what makes us human, wherever or to whatever we might worship (or not worship, as the case may be). 

The gospel, of course, also calls on us to be stewards of creation, something Pope Francis took to heart, issuing Laudato Si’, his letter making clear that we have a duty to respond to climate change, to care particularly for those most affected by it. His successor, Pope Leo, has been picking up where Pope Francis left off, stating clearly that our shared humanity demands that we address the impacts of a warming world and urging leaders to take “concrete actions” at COP30. It’s a message shared by the Dalai Lama, who claims there’s a universal responsibility for Earth and humanity. The Islamic Declaration on Climate Change similarly asks followers to reject greed for natural resources, respect nature’s equilibrium, and recognize a moral obligation to conservation.

Surely we can all believe in that.

Enjoy the weekend, and we’ll see you next week.

–Leslie Garrett (and Emily Cain, Robin Jones, and Jamie Kageleiry)

Editors

Write us at editor@bluedotliving.com

Leslie Garrett has been covering climate stories for close to two decades.  She makes her home in Canada, west of Toronto. She’s still figuring out her favorite spot but it’s definitely near the water.

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.

Robin Jones is a Southern California native who served as an editor at Westways magazine for more than a decade. She lives in Long Beach and teaches journalism at Cal State Long Beach.

Emily Cain is a recent graduate of Cal State Long Beach, where she wrote and edited for the university’s award-winning magazine, DIG.

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