The term “recycling” is a dangerous thing because of how it inaccurately shapes our perceptions around the plastic lifecycle. Most plastic put in the recycle bin doesn’t get recycled, but even the industrial process of “chemical recycling” doesn’t necessarily create a closed-loop plastic system. Instead, it can often fuel increased health risks for those living nearby, increasing global temperatures, and demand for additional plastic.
July has come once again, and with it a renewed commitment to limit single-use plastics through Plastic-Free July. The oil and gas industry has a renewed commitment to plastic as well, pushing harder for increased consumption of their product. With less than 10% of our plastic ever getting recycled, it becomes more apparent that plastic recycling was only ever a false promise and will not solve our problem.
I’ve always loved bats. They’re adorable and beneficial but often get a bad rap. With populations in rapid decline, there are few actions we can take, and one of them is adding a bat box… in certain situations. Following proper guidelines on size and placement can ensure a safe, comfortable place for bats to spend the summer (that doesn’t include your attic).
No Mow May is a new trend sweeping the yards of mindful (or lazy – I don’t judge) homeowners. Whether you decide to forgo mowing your lawn for the entire month of May, mow less often than usual, or sow seeds for grass alternatives in your lawn, there are valuable steps you can take to support biodiversity and feed pollinators in your yard.
Whether you’re new to craft beer or have been around for years, there is always more to learn about new styles, new breweries, and new initiatives to ensure that everyone can enjoy themselves. Heading into American Craft Beer Week, we’ll look at what we as individuals can do to promote a more equitable and transparent brewing industry and have more fun while doing it.
White men have long dominated the brewing industry, making women, people of color, and LGBTQ individuals feel unseen at best and unsafe at worst. The recent reckonings around sexism and racism in our society have impacted many aspects of our lives, including what we drink. This post sheds a light on efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the industry.
Learn from history or be doomed to repeat it, we are warned. The battle between small, independent brewers and large, consolidated production is only in its latest incarnation. There are meaningful arguments about the pros and cons of each side, but the full picture – with all the impacts of our decisions – isn’t always visible. Equity is continuously at stake when we vote with our dollars.
Brewing is a long-beloved hobby of mine, and as a female medievalist, I know there is a rich history of women in brewing across the centuries and throughout the world. How did an activity that was so fundamentally tied to women’s role in the house become dominated by men? And what factors are at play to shift the industry back to something more equitable?
There are plenty of debates right now about energy independence and what that means, especially in light of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting boycotts of Russian fossil fuels. There’s not much I can do as an individual, but these events prompted my switch to a third-party electricity supplier, particularly one that focuses on utility-scale wind and solar projects here in Pennsylvania.
The second and third posts on this blog were about third-party electricity suppliers in Pennsylvania and my impending switch to support one of them. Three years later, spurred by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, I finally got around to making a choice and making it happen. This two-part series is my renewed argument for an easy shift away from fossil fuel-based electricity generation.