There is still so much political turmoil in the world, whether it be in Turkey, Hong Kong, the UK or here on our doorstep in the good ole USA. Looking at the bigger picture, particularly regarding climate change, just makes all of this political chaos seem silly and insignificant. Why can’t we all just get along and be on the same side?
Many believe we only have 11 years to stop catastrophic climate change and are hurrying to try and rectify some of the damage we have already inflicted on Mother Earth. Others think it is already too late and some people think it is a load of old codswallop. I suggest we all stop arguing over if and when it is going to happen. Let’s hedge our bets and do what we can to make the planet a better place for future generations.
I’m no expert on this but I think small changes will surely make a big difference if we all get on board. I have been talking to lots of you about this recently and collecting any handy tips along the way. I’ve listed a few obvious ones below but please send us your recommendations too.
•Change your energy-sucking light bulbs to LED.
•If you frequent Peet’s, Starbucks etc bring your own mug.
•Walk when you can, rather than driving (especially if you are going to the gym to work out, burn extra calories and arrive warmed up!)
•Going out for drinks? Take advantage of the hop-on hop-off free buses /trolleys around town. In my neighbourhood (WeHo and Hollywood) we have a couple including The Pick Up (wehopickup.com) and the Sunset Trip (wehosunsettrip.com)
• Skip the tumble dryer and use a washing line (double bonus as the sun is good at bleaching out lingering laundry stains)
• Remember your reusable shopping bags (Whole Foods gives a 10 cent discount for each bag you bring)
• Put a sweater on rather than turning up the thermostat.
• Invest in a water filter and several reusable bottles rather than buying and tossing plastic bottles
• Plant a tree! – recently Craig purchased one through The Tree People ( www.treepeople.org) and dedicated it to the memory of my brother who died earlier this year, but why not do one anyway, it starts at $25. It is a great gift ideas well as benefiting the environment.
• Unplug all of those chargers when not in use. Easy to forget but not that hard to remember either
• Have a meat free day – check out www.meatfreemondays.com for ideas and motivation
• Buy local and organic produce when you can – it’s actually more nutritious too! If we all make small changes it has to make a big impact right? Extremists in any field can be off -utting and will always make us feel we aren’t doing enough to make a difference. But I think as long as we make sure we’re doing our absolute best, nobody can fault us for that
Preserving our planet should be top of the list right now, so please email us at info@britsin.la with tips and ideas on how we can all do better, or comment on our social media pages @BritsinLA. We also want to share some local events that are coming up and are aiming to benefit our local community. First up is the Second Annual Benefit Fundraiser for BrownBagLady.org on October 16th in Santa Monica. Tickets sales go towards funding the lunches they provide each month for the people living on and around Skid Row.
Our friends at the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation are participating in AidsWalkLA on October 20th. If you want to walk as part of their group or would rather just donate some cash visit the link AidsWalkLA.org/ETAF or drop us a line and we will put you in touch.
Zakk from ETAF should be at our weekly a Breakfast Club next Tuesday so come along and say hi.
You can visit www.britsin.la for full details.
Look forward to seeing some of you soon…
Cheers!
Eileen
