It's time to save the planet, Seattle.
Here in the Pacific Northwest, we value the beautiful scenery and environment, and it's time to lend a helping hand to Mother Earth to keep it that way. We are on the hunt to find the best ways to reduce our carbon footprint, reduce plastic use, and help make the Seattle area a truly sustainable community. Below you can find helpful tips on how to do your part in helping Seattle be sustainable, along with businesses that are already making small steps to being more environmentally conscious.
Shop at a local farmer’s Market
Photo via Matt McDonald
We try to plan to visit a local farmer's market every week to get local produce and lower our carbon footprint. Buying your produce from a local farmers' market not only contributes to the local farmers in the area but enables you to have knowledge of where your food is coming from. We also try to base our meals around what's in season. Make sure to always bring a bag with you and if you get there early you get to choose from the best produce.
Support Seattle Made Businesses
Photo via Seattle Made
A thriving manufacturing and production sector is essential to a vibrant, diverse, and sustainable city. In 2015, Seattle Good Business Network worked with dozens of local manufacturers, the city of Seattle, and allied organizations to launch Seattle Made, an initiative to grow and support a diverse ecosystem of urban manufacturers and producers that expand opportunities for local ownership and meaningful employment, build our region’s long-term resiliency, and celebrate Seattle’s unique cultural identity. Nearly 550 members strong, Seattle Made is raising the visibility of the important role of urban manufacturing to the future of our place. Visit seattlemade.org to browse our manufacturer directory, view program services and events, and get involved.
Ride The Bus
Photo via Matt McDonald
Take the bus to work, or to a show using the Night Owl service, or plan your hiking adventure with Trailhead Direct. Keeping your car in the garage, as well as using the bus and/or light rail is a great way to decrease your carbon footprint and help relieve some of the Seattle traffic congestion. The fewer cars on the road, the fewer carbon gases we emit into the environment! We use the One Bus Away app to plan our daily trips and the King County Metro site for all the other information. If you do need to use your car, carpooling is a great option for having fewer cars on the road.
Shop at Second Use
Photo via Matt McDonald
A great way to be more sustainable is to limit purchases of new materials. If you are remodeling your home or condo in the Seattle area Second Use should be your first stop. They have been reclaiming building materials for reuse in the Puget Sound region since 1994. Whether you are planning a small remodel or total overhaul, Second Use can help you reduce your impact on the environment and maximize your impact on the local community by salvaging reusable materials from your job site.
Ride A Bike
Photo via Matt McDonald
Seattle keeps expanding bike lanes and we are putting them to use. We throughly enjoy the trail system around Seattle and always take advantage of Bicycle Sundays around Lake Washington. We do have fenders on our bike, so the rain doesn't stop us from pedaling to get somewhere. It has been known to rain here. We also use the rideshare bikes when we can and that little bit of electric motor push helps a lot with the hills.
Recycle Everything You Can And Make Sure You Are Doing it Right
Photo via Matt McDonald
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Our Mission To Reduce Waste
We have been trying to reduce the amount of packaging by buying locally, being better about our e-waste, and using products with natural ingredients. This one has been a real challenge and is an ongoing evolving process. We plan on building out more tips as we try them out and research their effectiveness. Here is a list of things we have started to do.
Use Laundry Sheets
“Mainstream” laundry contains plastics, dangerous chemicals & toxins and cone in big plastic bottles. With laundry sheets you can reduce plastic waste! Also, if you wash your clothing in cold water that will also save energy.
We Use Locally Made Soap
We switched from body wash in a plastic container to store-bought bar soap in hopes of reducing plastic use. The mainstream bar soap still is wrapped in plastic, had a box, and needs to be transported a vast distance to get to our local store. From there we started searching around and remembered we saw Estrella Soaps at Urban Craft Uprising. We ventured to their website and purchased a couple of bars featuring natural and plant-based ingredients. The soap is amazing and way better than what we used previously. You can request your soap to not be wrapped in plastic when you order online by requesting a paper soap label & no bag in the order notes. The added value of reducing waste along with supporting local businesses made it a real win for us.
Buy Clothing That Will Last
We try to make our clothing last longer than most and avoid the concept of “fast fashion” where clothing is cheap, low priced and will fall apart or not be used in a couple of months. To start this process we started buying clothing from Filson. The clothing is more expensive, but it is of a higher quality and there is a warranty on the life of the garment. We recently bought a t-shirt there, noticed the seam got torn, brought it back in, and go it all fixed up!
Bring Reusable Water bottles and cups Everywhere
This one is SO easy. We leave water bottles in our car, office, laptop bag, photo bag, and a few at home so one is always available. For nearly all events, you are allowed to bring in an empty water bottle to use within the venue. We prefer the Hydroflask since each is super durable and the stainless steel containers help retain temperature.
Use Rechargeable Batteries AND Recycle The Rest
We try to recycle batteries and use reusable ones as much as possible! Since we capture a lot of photos and our flashes need AA batteries, this was a big one. Some reusable batteries don’t last all that long and make it difficult for photoshoots. To get some high-quality reusable AA batteries for our photo gear, we ventured to Glazer's in Seattle and picked up a couple of sets. If you still have a bunch of single-use batteries don't just throw them away though. You can use, The Big Green Box, a nationwide program that offers companies, consumers, and other generators an easy, low-cost way to recycle their batteries and electronics. We have the smallest box in our office and it's great to know our batteries are going to the landfill.
We want to hear your tips on how you reduce waste, more about local businesses that are making progress and anything else you think is useful to creating a truly sustainable Seattle. Send your tips and ideas to [email protected]
