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We’ve partnered with Bluecorn Candles to give one lucky winner $500 worth of handcrafted candlelight — they’ll receive a candle and surprise gift delivered every month for an entire year. Made in Colorado using pure beeswax and nontoxic ingredients, these clean-burning candles are perfect for cozy winter evenings and beautifully lit moments year-round.

Enter between January 9 at 6:00 a.m. EST and January 18 at 11:59 p.m. EST. No purchase necessary to enter or win. Open to U.S. residents aged 13 and older.

See Official Rules for more details.

“Join with the Earth and each other, to bring new life to the land, to restore the waters, to refresh the air, to renew the forests, to care for the plants, to protect the creatures, to celebrate the seas, to rejoice in the sunlight, to sing the song of the stars, to recall our destiny, to renew our spirits, to reinvigorate our bodies, to recreate the human community, to promote justice and peace, to love our children and love one another, to join together as many and diverse expressions of one loving mystery, for the healing of the Earth and the renewal of all life.”

– Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Climate Quick Tip: Recycle Your Twinkle Lights

• Dear Dot: Is There Plastic in My Teabag?

• Fab, Flavorful Salt

• The Louisiana Hot-Sauce Heir Who Saved the Snowy Egret

• The Fight Against Fish Farms in Maine

• Making Bacon, But Sparing the Pig

• Imagine If, a New Podcast From Bluedot Living

• How Food Manufacturers Are Upcycling Scraps

• Recipe: Roasted Cauliflower Salad With Kale, Dates, and Pepitas

• Room for Change: The Workout

What if a film could leave us not only inspired, but ready to take action for the planet? This week, acclaimed producer Adam Leipzig — the former National Geographic Films president behind March of the Penguins and A Plastic Ocean — joins the new Bluedot Living podcast, Imagine If, to share how storytelling turns climate overwhelm into collective action. We talk urgency, optimism, and the small “micro actions” that spark real change.

Click now to listen on your favorite listening platform!

FEATURED STORIES

BIG IDEAS AND LOCAL CHANGEMAKERS

Bluedot Kitchen

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Dead Fish and Statehouse Battles:
Fighting Fish Farms in Maine

When American Aquaculture proposed building a massive salmon farm off the coast of Acadia National Park in Maine, fish farms were already a part of the state’s seafood industry. But the size of the project — a 30,000-ton pen producing 66 million pounds of salmon a year — caught the attention of Maine residents, and many started researching aquaculture for the first time. Reporter Jack Dodson explores what happened next as an organized group of environmentalists worked to stop one big fish farm from being built and ensure that reasonable limits would be enforced on any future aquaculture projects in the state. 

Dear Dot: Do My Teabags Contain Plastic?

Illustration by Elissa Turnbull

Dear Dot,

I read that some teabags have microplastic in them. How can I tell which brands are better?

– Julie Warshawsky

Dear Julie,

Dot loves a cuppa, as the Brits say. Did you know, Julie, that the British drink 60 billion cups of tea a year? That’s 900 cups of tea for every man, woman, and child on the Isle. And though I can only trace the Dot Family ancestry loosely to Britain (I hail predominantly from the Irish, lovers of Guinness more than Twinings), I adore selecting which tea I’m in the mood for, love the ritual of plugging in the kettle, delight in choosing a teacup. There’s a value to our rituals, we’re told. While a habit feels mindless, a ritual is its opposite — imbued with meaning, rich with intention. Zen and the art of tea.

Nowhere in our tea ritual, however, do we want the intrusion of microplastics. Alas, the choice is not (necessarily) our own, thanks to a system that increasingly relies on synthetic materials to contain, to package, to seal. A 2019 study performed by scientists at Montreal’s McGill University revealed that a single teabag can release more than 11 billion microplastic and 3 billion nanoplastic particles when steeped in boiling water. We know just how ubiquitous these particles are, thanks to reader Spencer K., who sought advice from Dot on how to keep microplastics out of our bodies (no easy task!). 

Must we abandon our daily tea, Julie? Not at all. Though there are some changes we might make to ensure that as few microplastics as possible make their way into our systems. What are those changes (and which tea, available in Bluedot’s Marketplace, gets Dot’s stamp of approval)? Keep reading. 

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What You Can Do

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is not a day off; it’s a day on. MLK Day of Service honors the late activist with events across the country that encourage us to give back to our community through environmental stewardship, food drives, and other volunteer opportunities. Step up for any of your local organizations. 

For every blanket purchased, one is donated to your local homeless shelter. And this colorful, timeless design — made from 95% recycled fibers — will warm up any cozy corner in your home. Find this and more sustainable products to keep you warm through the winter in the Bluedot Living Collection.

The Keep-This Handbook

If you’re like 25% of folks, you might have resolved to exercise more this year. In which case, let Bluedot Room for Change columnist (and yogi) Mollie Doyle help you green your fitness routine. 

Happy Veganuary

I was scrambling to come up with a solid resolution leading up to New Year’s Day 2021. Although sort of arbitrary, the fresh start of a new year is a good excuse to focus on setting new goals. Plus, I didn’t want to draw a blank (and risk seeming dull and ambitionless!) when I was inevitably asked about my resolution by every person I saw on New Year’s Eve. I’d heard about Veganuary, a 31-day challenge to eat vegan all of January, and as a vegetarian of two years, it felt like a natural next step. So it was settled. 

Veganuary’s site makes it easy to transition to a plant-based diet, even if you haven’t yet cut out meat: They offer recipes, meal plans, and guides to eating vegan at popular restaurants, and they work with businesses to drive up vegan options around the world. They make it so easy that five years later, I’m still vegan! At Bluedot, we have no shortage of delicious recipes, cookbook recommendations, plant-based swaps, and tips to help support plant-based eating year-round. Want even more food content? Subscribe to our Bluedot Living Kitchen magazine for six issues a year full of recipes, tips, and stories about good people and good food.

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

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

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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