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Welcome to The Weekly, a Bluedot Living newsletter that gathers good news, good food, and good tips for living every day more sustainably. |
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Welcome to The Weekly, a Bluedot Living newsletter that gathers good news, good food, and good tips for living every day more sustainably. |
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SIMPLE / SMART / SUSTAINABLE / STORIES |
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Most kids get out of school for the summer this week, so we thought this quote from Emily Cain’s interview with aquatic artist Nick Mayer fit: “[It] was a pretty cool childhood. It was in the days before parents really worried about their kids’ safety as much as they do now, maybe. All the neighborhood kids would go to this muddy pond and catch turtles every day. It was kind of cool to just spend time like that — exploring, looking around, and focusing on catching turtles every day. We were all just fascinated by them. Me and my closest buddies, we’d catch these big snapping turtles, too, and just check them out, then put them back in the water.”
Read more about Nick’s evolution from tiny turtle wrangler to marine artist to conservationist. (That painting is “Albie.”)
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Join a community living more sustainably every day and making an impact for the planet.
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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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“Let us use culture to remember that we are part of nature; that the survival of the Earth cannot be separated from the health of the society; and that to love each other is to love our planet.”
Yo-Yo Ma, Our Common Nature
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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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FEATURED STORIES |
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BIG IDEAS AND LOCAL CHANGEMAKERS |
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School’s out, but learning is always in. Get kids outside or into a good book to keep them engaged in learning about our planet all summer long.
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If you have school supplies you won’t need next year, offer them up to others through a Buy Nothing group. |
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Making your own nuggets is faster and simpler than you think it would be and gives you total control over what goes into them — no hidden ingredients, no chemicals, and no preservatives. These can also be frozen and reheated for a quick lunch in between summer adventures, but they are so easy to make you’ll want to serve them fresh every time (with a side of delicious homemade ranch!).
Get the recipe.
Want more easy, planet-friendly recipes? Sign up for our Kitchen newsletter here. |
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Our intrepid California colleagues Jim and Nicki Miller set out to explore Lassen Volcanic National Park, in the far north of the state. “The hike was easy,” Jim wrote about their visit, “even at 7,000 feet, and featured beautiful alpine scenery and stunning vistas in the golden light of the late afternoon. But then we entered hell. An almost literal hell, with the smell of sulfur, steaming vents roaring and hissing the miseries of the underworld, and bubbling pots of acidic muck.”
Read more about this pocket-sized glimpse of America’s wild geologic side — that also offers a painful lesson about wildfires. |
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Illustration by Elissa Turnbull |
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Dear Reader,
A 2023 study of Canadian young people indicated that more than half of them felt anxious and powerless about climate change (and 78% say it’s affecting their mental health). People such as University of British Columbia professor and climate scientist Simon Donner are working to help youth find genuine hope.
Young people are scared and anxious. And that’s a legitimate response to this moment in history. But, he says, that’s just half the story. What young people (and the rest of us!) also need to be hearing about are all those stepping up to address the crisis — the incredible solutions that are being implemented in myriad ways around the world, all the time. …
Read on.
Get Dot’s musings straight to your inbox! Subscribe to the Daily Dot newsletter here. |
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Our advice columnist, Dot, “loves the smell of laundry warmed by the sun.” With summer just around the corner, now’s the perfect time to start hanging your laundry to dry outdoors. Pennsylvania Woodworks’ American-made laundry racks can be set up anywhere for delightfully sun-scented laundry.
A pro tip: Add a half-cup of lemon juice to loads of whites before hanging the clothes to dry outside. The sun reacts with the lemon juice to naturally brighten whites! Buy now. |
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Get more of Bluedot Living delivered directly to your inbox. From the Daily Dot advice column and The Weekly news hub to Bluedot Living Kitchen and the biweekly Buy Better Marketplace, and more, we offer a range of newsletters tailored to your interests and wherever you are on your sustainable living journey. |
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What You Can Do: Volunteer |
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Got extra time on your hands this summer? Donate your time to your community through environmental stewardship, food drives, and other volunteer opportunities. Step up for any of your local organizations. |
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The Keep-This Handbook |
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You might be done with your old laptop, but it can still be of use to someone. The nonprofit Computers with Causes accepts old tech items and donates them to students, foster children, shelters, disabled U.S. veterans, and a number of other causes. World Computer Exchange is another nonprofit that will donate your unwanted tech items to people in need. Check out our full Guide to Getting Rid of (Almost) Anything.
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School’s Out Forever |
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The moment I finally walked the stage with my bachelor’s degree in hand, I believed two things to be true. One: I am no longer a student. Two: Summer will never be the same. Back at my seat, as I turned the tassel, I could suddenly see the ugly details of those two facts in vivid color — though they were quickly snuffed by congratulatory leis, then drowned with champagne for good measure.
And although those things did turn out to be true, it wasn’t in the scary ways I expected. I no longer sit in the classroom, but I’m always learning — sometimes through trivia nights or lectures in bars, and sometimes through guided nature walks or experiments in the garden. And while I can’t spend an entire day at the beach during the week when it’s almost empty or take a spontaneous trip anymore, there’s still an unmistakable shift in the air when summer comes and the warm sun lingers in the sky, and I steal any moment I can to be outside. There are so many opportunities to keep learning about and experiencing our world — we just have to look for them.
– Emily Cain (and Jamie Kageleiry, Leslie Garrett, and Robin Jones)
Editors
Write us at editor@bluedotliving.com |
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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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