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Welcome to Bluedot Living Los Angeles, 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 Los Angeles, 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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Even though they’re not native, our local parrots (and parakeets) are generally welcome settlers who may be the salvation of their species. The red-crowned amazon, for instance, is endangered and faces many challenges in its native Mexico — but it’s one of the most common species of parrots in California and seems to be thriving here. Reporter Ian Timberg explains how the 13 parrot and parakeet species that have established breeding populations in Southern California got here and what their existence in our state could mean for their future.
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Paid Advertisement with Lysted |
Got Season Tickets? Let Them Make You Money! |
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Season tickets are the best, right? Front-row seats, exclusive access, and the ultimate fan experience. But let's be real—life happens, and you can’t make it to every game. Why let those tickets go to waste when you could be making extra cash? With Lysted, you can effortlessly sell your unused tickets on all the top platforms like StubHub, Ticketmaster, and SeatGeek. It's fast, easy, and puts money in your pocket without any hassle. |
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Quick Links |
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Skip scrolling! Here’s what you’ll find in today’s Bluedot Los Angeles newsletter: |
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Paid Advertisement with Money |
Don’t let a broken heater break the bank |
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Home repair costs have surged in recent years due to inflation and supply chain issues, making unexpected breakdowns a financial burden for homeowners. Fortunately, a home warranty could help cover the repair and replacement of your home appliances and systems for a reasonable monthly fee. Check out Money’s list of the Best Home Warranties and start protecting your essential appliances. |
| VIEW LIST |
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–Illustration by Elissa Turnbull |
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Dear Dot,
I’ve heard all the stuff about how hamburgers are harming the planet, and I want to shift to a vegetarian or vegan diet. But the idea of giving up meat entirely stresses me out (especially when my boyfriend is a dedicated carnivore). How can I do this and not lose my mind, my appetite, or my paramour?
– Maddy
Dear Maddy,
Bluedot Santa Barbara’s Notes from the Home Front columnist Lizzy Fallows’s family of six eats exclusively plant-based meals, so Dot invited her to share her best advice for plant-based eating. Lizzy worries that people think plant-based eating is more complicated or overwhelming than it needs to be. “I think people don't start because they think it has to be all or nothing,” she told me. She recommends that readers/eaters “take it one meal at a time.” Once one meat-free meal feels easy, move to two meals. “Take something you love to eat and swap the animal product out to make it plant-based,” she says. “This means tuna salad becomes chickpea salad, chicken curry becomes tofu curry, spaghetti bolognese becomes spaghetti with lentil bolognese.”
She also urges the plant-curious to shift the focus. Instead of focusing on eating less meat, Lizzy says, focus on eating more plants. “Anytime someone is eating more plants, they are doing something positive/healthy for their body, the earth, and the animals. It's a radical act! A meaningful act.” …
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 Tovala |
Ditch the Dinner Drama |
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Enjoy the perfect Ponzu Salmon with a side of… let’s watch another episode. Or Filet Mignon with a side of… just booked a weekend getaway. Or delicious pineapple salsa tacos with a side of… solved the wordle in 3!!
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Try Tovala risk-free for 100 days and turn your mealtime into me time. Get the Tovala Smart Oven now for just $69 (originally $299) today. |
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Though most people who use Facebook are part of the 40-plus crowd, more twentysomethings have recently joined the platform for one reason: Facebook Marketplace. It’s a treasure trove of used items, from vintage furniture to brand-new sneakers, allowing users to find new homes for things they no longer want and shoppers to get good deals on items they need. Sophie Kelly, one half of Bluedot’s Secondhand Sisters duo, set out to find a new pair of jeans on the site and reported back with the pros and cons. |
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Learn about third-party certifications and what they mean. Bluedot’s Guide to Clean Beauty offers more tips. Or visit Bluedot’s Marketplace for tried and true products.
For more Bluedot Climate Quick Tips, click here.
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You’ve probably seen it while hiking in the woods, or even just walking through a tree-lined neighborhood: two close-growing trees that have become large enough to fuse together, so much so that they are essentially sharing bark. The science-y word for this is inosculation, and it goes much deeper than just bark: It’s “a fusing so complete that the organisms don’t exist separately any longer, but become a sort of hybrid new organism.” Bluedot editorial director Leslie Garrett describes the phenomenon in this edition of our In a Word series. |
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Robin Jones is a Southern California native who served as an editor at Westways magazine for more than a decade. She currently lives in Long Beach and teaches journalism at Cal State Long Beach, where she advises the award-winning student magazine, DIG MAG. She loves road-tripping across California, especially when the itinerary includes stops in Arcata and Trinidad. |
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