Hello + happy Tuesday, I’m excited to announce a year long blog project that starts today – Sustainable Swaps 2020.
I’m teaming up with my friends Mel + Andrea (both West Michigan ladies) to start a year of monthly sustainability challenges. I thought of the idea back in the fall, and am so glad they were both ready + willing to join me.
Sustainability has become a hot topic, and you often hear the word thrown around in relation to “sustainable practices” or “sustainable brands.” To start, let’s get a dictionary definition of sustainability…
- the ability to be maintained at a certain rate or level.
“the sustainability of economic growth” - avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance
“the pursuit of global environmental sustainability”
Now let’s relate that to you, or us. What’s my personal goal with this? To make better choices daily and create more earth friendly habits. I love this planet, and I want to stop consuming as much as I do and being wasteful. Small changes CAN make a big impact, and by choosing to make a good decision one day, you can create a snowball effect. For example, bringing a reusable coffee cup is a small, simple choice. Bringing a reusable coffee cup every day for a year is the culmination of that simple choice. And that results in 365 (or 366 this year) single use cups saved. Now imagine you get 9 friends to join you on bringing a reusable coffee cup for a year- that number just jumped to 3,650 single use cups saved.
It’s easy to get overwhelmed with where to start and how to become a more sustainable human, which is why we decided to work with monthly challenges. The goal is to focus on that one challenge for an entire month, then slowly keep building on each challenge throughout the year. By the end of 2020 we will have ideally switched out some negative habits for positive ones, and switched single use items for reusable ones.
Don’t underestimate the impact you can make.
The plan is to announce each challenge at the beginning of the month and then recap at the end of the month. (yes, we’re a tad behind in January – life happens) We would love for you to join us, tag us on Instagram, and use the hashtag #sustainableswaps2020.
We would love to feature people who are joining us at the end of the month recaps, so definitely DM your experiences or photos of your swaps to any of us on Instagram.
Mel on Instagram // Andrea on Instagram // Me on Instagram
So, without further ado, the first month’s challenge is….
Ditching single use drinkware (this includes straws).
We’re challenging you (and us!) to bring a reusable coffee cup with you if you’re taking coffee to go, a reusable water bottle if you’re out and about, or a shaker cup to the gym.
No one is perfect, so our motto is “progress not perfection.”
I’d love to know if you’ll be joining us – comment below if you are. Now, let’s get this challenge started!
Xo,
Maddy
PS. If you’re in the market for a new reusable bottle or cup – I ADORE MY YETI. I received it as a Christmas gift a few years ago and it goes everywhere with me.
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