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Welcome to Bluedot Living San Diego, a newsletter that gathers local good news, good food, and good tips for living every day more sustainably. |
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Welcome to Bluedot Living San Diego, a newsletter that gathers local good news, good food, and good tips for living every day more sustainably. |
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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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Now’s the perfect time for desert-loving San Diegans to venture east of the mountains into the Mojave. And while the Joshua tree is an iconic species of the southwest, there is concern that the towering yuccas are coming under increasing threat as the climate changes. Though they are currently plentiful, wildfire, changes to climate, habitat loss, and development (including for clean energy projects) all threaten Joshua trees, so the California Department of Fish and Wildlife is taking proactive steps to help ensure their long-term survival. |
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Quick Links |
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Skip scrolling! Here's what you'll find in today's Bluedot San Diego newsletter: |
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Who’s hungry? Food waste is a HUGE problem for the environment, but it also affects our pocketbooks, as the average American household wastes $3,000 in food annually. This figure comes from ReFED, a national organization working to end food waste that’s looking ahead to 2025. Also, most cookbooks don’t acknowledge the environmental impact of our food system. But Bluedot has identified a few that do, and they are among our favorite things. |
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– Illustration by Elissa Turnbull |
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Dear Dot,
Do chickens use less water, land, and create fewer carbon emissions than other animals that people eat? Could you break down how much carbon is produced by each type of animal: chicken, beef, pork, sheep, fish, etc?
– Marjorie
Dear Marjorie,
I passed your question along to our new intern, Holly, who, like so many young people, is a determined researcher and returned to Dot with some interesting findings. Holly turned, first, to Our World in Data, where the tireless data cruncher Hannah Ritchie works. (Ritchie produced Not the End of the World (on Amazon), a book focusing on what the numbers tell us about our path toward a sustainable planet. Bluedot editor Jim Miller wrote about the book.)
Ritchie and her fellow data nerds took a look at the carbon emissions, water consumption, and land use of our most popular meats: beef, lamb, pork, farmed fish, poultry, and tofu (obviously a meat substitute). And then Holly, apparently also a data nerd (this delights Dot. Holly and I are just getting to know each other), gave me her calculations based on her research, telling me that producing 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of beef creates 10 times more carbon dioxide than producing the same amount of poultry, consumes four times the water, and requires almost 27 times the land use. …
Read the rest of Dot’s answer.
Got a question for Dot? Write her at deardot@bluedotliving.com. |
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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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As snow blankets unexpected swaths of the country, we wanted to take some time to appreciate our friends up north, in Canada, who say things like: “You think that’s cold? Try -37!” (Thanks, Shauna, in Red Deer, Alberta!) While many of us cower at the thought of such weather, our Canadian friends manage to get things done, including building the great companies we’re sharing with you today. |
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Toronto-based Etee offers sustainable goods for home and body, including effective, just-add-water cleaning and skincare concentrates. The brand is always testing new products; if you sign up for their newsletter, you may receive an email asking if you’d like to try something out for free to provide your feedback! Save 10% with code BLUEDOTLIVING.
Shop today or read our review. |
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Goodee, a Black-owned B Corp in Montreal, specializes in hip decor, gardening tools, and other useful objets from around the world. The company’s three pillars are “good people, good design, and good impact.” We love the focus on what Goodee calls endangered and heritage crafts, which represent a third of the items sold. Shop today or read our review. |
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Mejuri’s “everyday fine jewelry” mixes and matches well with other pieces. The Toronto brand uses over 90% recycled gold and silver and helped found Regeneration, an organization that processes waste and restores the natural habitats around legacy mining sites. Shop today or read our review. |
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Here are even more Canadian brands we love. |
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Paid Advertisement with NativePath |
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The recent rampaging wildfires in L.A. have many Californians eager to escape to greener pastures. We could actually see the Border 2 fire (which thankfully caused no loss of life or property) from our neighborhood. Hawaii is a popular getaway for San Diegans, and Maui is especially popular. Maybe too popular. Not only has it dealt with devastating wildfires, but the island has been held up as an example of the downsides of overtourism. But Maui needs visitors, and in this story from last year, we explain how you can visit Maui in a sensitive way. |
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These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. |
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Keep Rover and Whiskers looking their best: Learn more about Bluedot’s favorite sustainable pet products.
For more Bluedot Climate Quick Tips, click here. |
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Food For Thought |
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“Veganuary” is a not-great word for a great idea: eating fewer animal products to eat greener. Even though it’s February, going meatless is important whether by the meal, day, week, or month. The terrible environmental impacts of our food system are an area where we can do something today to help the planet. You probably aren’t going to install solar panels or buy an EV today, but you can eat better and waste less food starting right now. And there’s so much great stuff happening: ReFED working on food waste on a national level, cookbooks that explicitly deal with the environment, great veggie soups, eating more thoughtfully, a SoCal company fighting produce spoilage, and a California farmer rescuing “ugly” fruit from the waste bin. You can be part of the solution today, right now. And it’s delicious.
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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