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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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Looking back over 2024, we want to share our most popular stories, and writer Kelli Schry takes the top spot with her story on no-waste shopping. The roundup includes food at Origins Grocer, where owner Maria Herrera says, “Zero-waste can be an intimidating term, but it doesn’t have to be. One of my goals with the store is to make sustainable shopping the new standard of grocery shopping.” Household supplies, beauty products, clothes … buy green and save — money and the environment! |
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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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Paid Advertisement with 1440 Media |
Join the 4 million readers who start their day with 1440. |
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I don’t watch traditional news channels and haven’t in years. They don’t report the news but create it. I was tired of not being in the know and then I found 1440. Finally, an unbiased news source! All your news. None of the bias. Our daily email newsletter is edited to be as unbiased as humanly possible and is triple-checked (by hand!). You'll get news on politics, business, sports, science, and beyond. |
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– Illustration by Elissa Turnbull |
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Dear Dot,
I’m a renter, so I have little control over carbon emissions from my living situation. But are there things I can do?
– Libby
Dear Libby,
Luckily for you, and the other 44 million rental households in the U.S., there are plenty of things we can do, even if landlords aren't particularly keen on green upgrades.
How we heat and cool our homes is the biggest energy drain, and that holds true also for rentals, so let’s start there. You have likely heard some buzz about heat pumps, which double as a heating and cooling system and replace carbon-intensive systems. Those of us in rentals can climb aboard the heat pump craze with micro heat pumps — easy-to-install portable systems that plug into 120V outlets and cost between $500 and $700. While a typical heat pump requires about 240V and may put too much strain on older wiring systems, a micro heat pump should be just fine to heat a small studio apartment. If your rental is a larger apartment or home, you may need to purchase more than one. But remember: These are portable. When you go, you can take them with you. …
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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Still need to tick some people off your gift list? We’ve got great suggestions for experiential gifts, which are easy to acquire at the last-minute and inherently eco-friendly. Just write up a sweet note and stick a bow on it! |
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The Gift of Doing It Yourself: Some of the best items on Etsy aren’t objects, but tutorials and guides. Gorgeous knitting and crochet patterns are among the most popular and would make a great gift, especially when combined with a trip to a local yarn shop.
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The Gift of Travel: What’s more exciting than going on vacation? Going on vacation and having someone else take care of the details. Booking.com is an easy-to-use platform that includes an astounding array of accommodations across the globe.
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The Gift of Knowledge: Masterclass subject-matter experts teach classes on a wide range of topics such as entrepreneurship, portrait photography, interior design, chess, conservation, French pastry, and so much more.
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The Gift of Chill: If you know someone who might benefit from unplugging, one nice way to help could be a subscription to a meditation app. Headspace is designed to help the terminally online find a little inner quiet.
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The Gift of a New Skill: Brooklyn-based Uncommon Goods curates attractive and quirky yet useful items. Their online classes include Pet Portrait Painting, Historical Cocktails, How to Read Tarot, Flower Arranging, and more.
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The Gift of Music: Bruce Springsteen, Oasis, Beyoncé, Metallica, The Pixies, Dua Lipa, Wynton Marsalis, and about a million more artists will take the stage in 2025. (No, we don’t love Ticketmaster. But we do love concert tickets.)
For even more experiential gift ideas, click here. |
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Everyone loves trees, so another top-10 story was Ilene Klein’s tale of saving an endangered Torrey Pine tree from a clueless HOA. As Ilene notes, “These pines are the rarest in North America and among the rarest in the world. Their native habitat is a small, protected area in San Diego and a spot on Santa Rosa Island off the Santa Barbara coast. Because of their limited range, lack of genetic diversity, and dwindling populations, they are on the brink of extinction, hence their critically endangered status.” |
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The garden is also a great place for kids!
For more Bluedot Climate Quick Tips, click here. |
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Looking Back, Looking Forward |
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It’s fun to review all the positive and inspiring stories in San Diego and beyond that we had the chance to report on in 2024 and see which stories clicked with our readers. Other stories not mentioned above that had a lot of views were about otters in Monterey Bay, a fight to unlock a pocket beach in La Jolla, and a story (from December 2023) about a couple of plucky seaweed farmers.
In 2025, we will continue to bring you forward-focused stories and action-oriented info to help us all move toward the future we want and deserve. We hope you’ll join us and give us a boost by contributing to our journalism, subscribing to our newsletters, and forwarding this email to your like-minded friends.
Happy holidays! 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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