#SociallyResponsibleHuman FightClimateChange ClimateChange EthicalConsumption ActOnClimateChange ClimateChangeIsReal

[manonlaliberte-blog]

Socially Responsible Human: Balls, Bags and Bites

Let’s start with a few things I’ve been flirting with lately as someone who’s exploring what it takes to become a Socially Responsible Human. Don’t worry, I’ll be true to the title.

Balls

I want to talk about ‘dryer balls’. I’ve recently discovered that you can reduce your drying time, and minimize wrinkles and static, by throwing 3-6 wool balls in your drying loads (this works by creating more air circulation between items of clothing, and absorbing moisture). They essentially eliminate the need for dryer sheets or fabric softener, and help the earth and your wallet (why not?). You can even add a few drops of essential oils to them before throwing them in.

Although ultimately, as mentioned by the David Suzuki Foundation, avoiding dryers altogether (and prioritizing drying racks) is always the better option, my fellow Canadians know that winter time brings its own challenges, and that certain articles (e.g. towels) are hard to air dry.   

To test these out myself I recently purchased 3 Moss Creek Wool Works dryer balls. I’m still figuring out how long to set my dryer timer for now that I throw the wool balls in, but hoping that I’ll get a hang of it soon. 

Curious to know who else uses these? Any suggestions to maximize their use?

Bags

Using reusable bags for our errands and groceries have become, for many of us, a given. I’m at the point where, even if I forgot to bring a bag with me, I will literally stack my items and carry them in my hands to the car... that’s called commitment! 

A good trick of course is to keep a few of those small foldable bags in your purse or jacket pocket. Super handy.

I’m particularly excited about Montreal’s new bylaw banning single-use plastic bags for all retailers. And super psyched that Gatineau is thinking about following suit. We’re so ready. 

But what about those thin plastic bags used to gather produce? I think that the first rule is that if you’re not going to eat the peel (e.g. like an orange, unless you’re zesting it!), you can just throw that bad boy directly into your basket and forget the produce bag. 

So, what to do if you’re going to eat the peel, and prefer not having it roll around in your cart and prodded by the cashier? You could stash it in one of your grocery bags or coat pocket, but I’m assuming you might be accused of shoplifting, especially if you forget to pay. So instead, here are two tricks:

1. You can use mesh bags made for your produce. I got a few on hand and love them. Amazon has a wide selection, so you’re sure to find something.

2. Wash your produce. There are many store-bought cleaners out there, but because I’ve never tried them, it’s hard for me to speak to their quality and effectiveness. A study conducted by the University of Maine covers produce cleaners, but doesn’t seem to yield to a final conclusion. The one thing the study mentions is that these products often contain chlorine. Instead, it’s suggested that distilled water or very clean cold tap water would be effective enough in removing contaminants. Not sure about what to do? There seem to be a variety of DIY natural recipes out there to explore. Let me know what you find.

Another quick shout out to a heart throb of mine, Dans le sac, a fabulous Montreal-based company that has created beautiful bread bags and other reusable treats to check out. 

Bites

Here’s the thing: I enjoy my fair share of takeout food. I have a little one at home, so after a long day of work, my boyfriend and I don’t always feel like jumping into a Ricardo cooking session. I’m sure we’re not alone.

However, I feel nauseous every time I pick up my to-go grub and see the amount of waste that I am bringing home in the form of disposable containers. 

First off, styrofoam is a good example of a material that should be banned from the food industry altogether. Other containers made out of non-recyclable material should also be phased out. 

The good news is that many restaurants are ahead of the game and finding ways to eliminate waste. A great Mtl Blog from a year ago, 9 "Zero Waste" Restaurants In Canada You Need To Try Before You Die, names a few places out there that are switching things up. I’m sure that many others are on track today. Hey, even A&W moved from foil burger bags over to compostable waxed paper bags.

I’ve heard that some takeout counters allow you to bring your own containers from home to package your eats before you take them away. I’m curious - know of any places that come to mind?

Given that various grocery stores are exploring this concept (NU Grocery in Ottawa is a great example, even Bulk Barn has jumped onboard), shouldn’t more restaurants consider it too? 

[manonlaliberte-blog]

Hey Online Shoppers, Here’s Something to Think About

Although I haven’t fully jumped onto the “online shopping” bandwagon, I’ve slowly been incorporating more of it into my life. 

As indicated in a previous post, as a society, we are increasingly attracted to “convenience” to help us become more efficient and effective. But at what cost?

Online shopping is definitely in line with this trend, and is becoming a personal preference of mine given that spending hours in a shopping centre or driving around town to find what I need is not my idea of a good time (not anymore at least... maybe when I was a teen?). But I’m uncomfortable with what this means for the environment, and am taking a deeper dive into some of the impacts so that I can tweak my actions accordingly.

John Platt recently published an article on behalf of MNN (Mother Nature Network) titled “Does the ease of free, one-click shipping outweigh the potential environmental costs?”. In his investigation, he connected with a number of online retailers and customers, to see what their thoughts were on the matter. Some things I highlighted from the article are the following:

Packaging Fever: One key to environmentally friendly shipping is keeping packaging to a minimum. For instance, although Amazon commits to reducing packaging waste and using environmentally friendly packaging, it seems that some retailers who are conscious about minimal packaging are faced with challenges when it comes to the “Fulfillment by Amazon Program”. One retailer highlighted that their already minimally packaged items are placed into an Amazon box for shipping purposes - which creates additional unneeded recycling or waste. 

Minimizing the Need to Travel: However, on the flip side, one-click shopping helps minimize the need to drive around and jump from one store to the next (which is, let’s face it, time consuming, not exactly eco-friendly and often a bit frustrating). The key however is to ensure that the shipping of your products is not creating a higher carbon footprint than the drive to the store. A good example that Justin Haver, GoVacuum vice-president of sales, mentioned is that Amazon has various warehouses throughout the US, which “helps reduce the travel distance for products, and thus emissions are less".

My understanding from this article is that the verdict isn’t out on whether online shopping is the right or wrong choice when looking to be a Socially Responsible Human. With the environmental pressures and the expectations that we are putting on companies to be more socially conscient, we can expect that the online shopping distribution channel is looking to becoming more eco-friendly and to be a clear choice for eco-conscious buyers. 

In my perspective, what we need to keep in mind as consumers is the following:

Is it possible for me to find an equivalent product made locally close to home? If so, why not consider choosing the alternative and contributing to the local economy while encouraging the minimal use of travel costs for product distribution?

Can I use other means of transportation to purchase my product in order to decrease my impact on the environment (e.g., walking, taking the bus, biking, carpooling, etc.)?

Can I combine multiple online purchases to reduce packaging and individual shipping of products?

Is the packaging for my online purchases minimal, and if not, is it at least fully biodegradable or recyclable? 

All it takes is a few minutes to step back and analyze the impact of our choices. This is just another area that we can look at in our goal of becoming a more Socially Responsible Human. I commit to keeping a close eye on this and to share emerging information with you as it comes my way.

I’d love to hear about your experiences with online shopping. Have you taken on this new trend or have you maintained the traditional way of getting your goods? Are there any distributors out there that you find are focused on minimizing environmental impacts of their services? Let me know!

Take care.

[manonlaliberte-blog]

Small Wins Towards Corporate Social Responsibility, and How We Can Help

‘Corporate Social Responsibility’, or ‘CSR’, has become somewhat of a buzzword over the years. The intensification of social media, the travel of news from around the world in quasi ‘real time’, and the increased need for accountability have brought many organizations to reflect on how to act in a socially responsible manner.

Seven years ago, as I was completing my MBA, I became passionate about CSR, and as a future business leader, would explore ways that corporations introduced it into their strategic priorities.

CSR comes in various shapes and forms, and examples would include companies striving to minimize operational impacts on the environment, increase board transparency and ethics, give back to the community, ensure workplace health and safety, undertake responsible investments, etc.

This is a broad topic, and we could spend ages dissecting and analyzing its complex components. I hope to continue to touch on some of these through this blog. Any ideas or suggestions that you may have are welcomed.

However, in this particular post, I want to focus on the smaller actions that can be seen as a “low hanging fruit” for corporations. The organization that we choose to work for says a lot about who we are, our values, our passion, etc. As such, we have a responsibility to hold our employers accountable for making socially responsible choices.

For one, I recently found out, in horror, that smaller businesses in Ontario are not required to have a “waste diversion program”. For instance, they are not obligated to recycle. Wait, what? Ontario, are you saying that smaller businesses can just throw out their aluminum cans, plastic containers, cardboard boxes? Are you serious? Come on!

The Recycling Council of Ontario says the following when it comes to legislation for businesses:

“Implementing a waste diversion program is mandatory for businesses that fall under the criteria of Regulation 102/94. Although this regulation is specific to larger sized businesses, the standards that it requires can and should be followed by smaller businesses as well. Regardless of size, introducing a comprehensive waste diversion program can assist businesses in reducing their wastes and costs.”

Is it just me or does this give a bit too much latitude to smaller businesses when it comes to deciding whether or not recycling needs to be implemented in the workplace? 

Don’t get me wrong - I know that there are costs associated with recycling programs. I also know that small businesses do not necessarily have the means to pay for such programs. I’m all about local businesses and do my best to support them regularly as part of my own personal social responsibility. This is why I do not feel that the financial burden associated with these types of programs should be solely borne by small businesses; the provincial government needs to strengthen their environmental regulations while funding recycling initiatives for these smaller organizations.

The good news is that in 2017, the Ontario government announced its Strategy for a Waste-Free Ontario: Building the Circular Economy. A Circular Economy strives to:

minimize the use of raw materials;

maximize the useful life of materials and other resources through resource recovery (reusing, recycling, reintegrating, regenerating, etc.); and

minimize waste generated at the end-of-life of products and packaging.

In its Strategy, the government commits to consulting various stakeholders, including large and small businesses. If you own a small business, this will be an amazing opportunity to raise your voice and request the support needed to become a key partner in the circular economy.

In the short-term, if you work for a small business, I have two favours to ask:

Please take five minutes next week to check with your employer to see whether or not recycling programs exist in your workplace, and if you’re comfortable enough, please give me the verdict (I don’t need company names.... just want to see data!). One thing to note: do not base your answer on whether or not blue or green bins are available in your office... these may not mean that a program is actually in place (yup, it’s possible that these bins are all for show and that products placed in them end up in the landfill... I know, I’m nauseous).

If your employer does not currently have a waste diversion program in place, please consider taking matters into your own hands. Bring your recyclables and compostable products (e.g. leftovers, fruit or veggie peels, etc.) home and divert the waste yourself.

My next challenge is going to be the exploration of the Quebec waste diversion programs - I look forward to seeing what my own province does (or plans to do).

Once I get a feel for what’s really going on here and how we, as employees, can contribute to the change, I’ll slide my boxing gloves on and jump into the ring - I hope you’ll join me. I think that this is a cause worth fighting for. A small action that can make a huge difference. 

In the meantime, don’t let inconvenience stop you from making socially responsible choices. Changes start with each and every one of us.

Cheers.

[manonlaliberte-blog]

The Beautiful Inconvenience of Being a Socially Responsible Human

Is it just me or is every day unfolding so quickly that at times it gets hard to remember what happened over the last 12 hours? It’s easy to get overwhelmed, dizzy, and maybe at times a bit nauseous. 

I want to focus on how the crazy speed our society operates at brings us to seek ways to be more efficient and effective. This is a huge factor that explains why convenience often outweighs waste.

Tell me if this rings a bell: 

Throwing out recyclable containers instead of rinsing them and placing them in the blue bin;

Not running back inside the house when you forgot your reusable coffee mug and instead getting a single use cup at the coffee shop;

Grabbing a plastic bag at the grocery store because you left your canvas bags in the car;

Getting takeout food (with its mountain of throwaway containers) instead of cooking a meal;

Using one-time-use cutlery for your lunch instead of using your employer’s cutlery or bringing your own, and washing it afterwards.

I’m definitely just scratching the surface here, and there are things that we do that have a much broader impact on the planet (like driving our car into work, without carpooling or instead of taking the bus). 

Sorry to tell you this, but life demands probably won’t slow down, and expectations on what we’re able to produce in a day will likely keep on growing over time. This being said, we, as humans, need to create more ways to soak in the present moment, slow things down, smell the sunshine! We need to step back and think about what’s really important, like how the smallest actions can have a significant effect. 

At the end of the day, we’re selfish when we choose our own personal advancement and success to the detriment of the world around us.

So pack your mug and your fork and just allocate a few freakin’ minutes a day to inconvenience. Once you’ve integrated some of these small changes into your daily routine, you’ll do these things naturally.

And then you can sell your car and exclusively take the bus. We can talk about this another time.