Twenty (20) things you can do today, to save the planet!

I was recently on a Qatar flight to the middle east, and watched a movie produced in the USA, on board that highlighted threats to our environment and health and what we can easily do to try to reduce our human footprint. It had a big impact on me, and I wanted to share what we can do to save our lives and our planet.

Not only can we “reduce, renew, reuse, recycle” but we can make day to day decisions that will keep us healthier and reduce, among other things, plastics in our environment. Plastics found in meat and fish have now been found in human heart plaque, Microplastics and Nano plastics in Atheroma’s and Cardiovascular events. This can’t be good for us. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2309822 This can’t be good for us.

We can’t ignore these warning signs much longer. Lucky for us there are things we can do as individuals and as business people that can reduce our footprint and improve our health. Many of these things are old ideas that we can reengineer for modern day use.

In about 1969 Mr. Warner, my health and physical education teacher in junior high, had us research the causes of cancer in the human body, and graded us higher for the number of causes we found. This was made easy by the resources he made available to us (remember this was before the internet). I remember getting an A because I listed over 100 causes, and as a result I never smoked, because of what I learned and what I saw. We can do the same thing for our environment.

I have prepared a list below of things that we can do as individuals, as a society and as business and property owners to keep our earth and inhabitants healthy. Bear with me. It’s not an exhaustive list, but in an effort to keep implementation simple, it sets the stage. Use this short list to jump start your own efforts at staying healthy and helping the planet.

Let’s get started:

1. Work on reducing your reliance on plastic water bottles – and definitely don’t store them in your car. The nanoparticles end up in your drinking water as a result - use stainless steel or glass bottles, free from harmful chemicals like BPA and phthalates, like a hydro flask. This web site is a good resource: https://lifewithoutplastic.com/eat-and-drink/water-bottles/

2. Store leftovers in glass or metal containers rather than using plastic bags or plastic wrap. Food storage containers can be used over and over again after they are washed and some ideas can be found here https://lifewithoutplastic.com/eat-and-drink/food-storage-containers/ or here https://www.amazon.com/non-plastic-food-storage/s?k=non+plastic+food+storage.

You need to be careful with the Amazon site, because yes there are non-plastic options, but they also include silicone containers which could be considered food safe, but the jury is still out on how well it degrades. https://ecolunchboxes.com/pages/silicone-people-planet:

“Once cured, silicone cannot be simply re-melted (as vinyl can) but hardened leftovers and molds which are no longer needed can be put to good use. In short, if these can be granulated they can be added as a filler to newly-mixed silicone”. Nov 18, 2018” https://www.quora.com/Is-there-a-material-similar-to-silicone-rubber-but-it-doesnt-cure-and-can-be-melted-then-shaped-again

3. Don’t use plastic wrap. (It’s extremely difficult to recycle, can release harmful chemicals, and contributes to pollution, landfill, and plastic waste in the ocean). Some plastic wraps cannot be recycled because they are complex plastic made with chemicals that are difficult to remove during recycling. Https://recyclemore.com

4. Where possible replace foil with parchment paper to cook on, though foil can be recycled if food waste has been removed, depending on where you live.

5. Use cloth drying towels to dry dishes and cloth napkins, rather than paper towels and paper napkins that take a long time to degrade in the landfill. (see this article regarding paper towels https://tiny-waste.com/environmental-impact-of-paper-towels.html)

6. If your space allows, compost left over food. Many cities have begun implementing composting practices. There are also services (such as Java’s Compost) that will come and pick up your compost on a weekly basis. If you have a yard you can begin composting at home, or if you have chickens feed your food scraps to your chickens.

7. Continue to renew, reuse, recycle, don’t throw old things into the trash, recycle them. Take them to goodwill or donate to another organization that can give items a second or third life. One person’s junk is another person’s treasure.

8. Wash cans, bottles, and all plastics before recycling them to ensure they aren’t contaminating recycling. If you have single stream recycling separate for more effective recycling.

9. Recycle Batteries and printer toner, your local Office Depot will accept them from you.

10. Did you know you can recycle light bulbs? Compact fluorescent light bulbs (aka CFLs) can be recycled at many local home improvement stores, such as Lowe's, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, Menards, and IKEA, offer CFL recycling programs. CFLs can be dropped off at drop boxes inside these stores, or at any HHW event.

For LED bulbs: Many big-box home goods stores, such as Lowe's, Home Depot, and IKEA, may offer in-store recycling bins for LED light bulbs. However, each store has their own regulations. https://www.gelighting.com/inform/how-recycle-light-bulbs-and-3-reasons-why-you-should

11. Consider buying/leading a Hybrid or electric car – thereby easing the transition to using less hydrocarbon fuel.

12. Plant a garden and grow some of your own vegetables. They taste fresher and don’t have all the chemicals on them that are used to preserve the products and extend their lifespan in the trip to the grocery store.

13. If your time and space allow, meal-prep. This will help reduce food waste, spoilage, the reliance on take-out.

14. When repairing or remodeling your home or other buildings, take your used construction materials to REStore the habitat for humanity store that will clean the materials that are reusable and resell them to someone else that can use them. https://www.habitat.org/restores

15. Use Goodwill or other local community-based organizations to recycle products such as:

a. Clothes

b. Books

c. Kitchen supplies

d. Electronics such as computers

16. If you have children, consider sharing baby and kid products to get the most life out of them. Car seats can be used by multiple families as long as they aren’t expired or damaged, cribs have a very long lifespan, what about the books and toys your child may have received, pass them along to a new family.

17. Use your recycling to play – cardboard can be a Rocketship or a robot.

18. Join your local Buy Nothing or Community Gifting group (so many amazing things change hands in these community supported groups).

19. Join the library, both as a resource for books, community, and a safe, clean, free place to play during crummy days.

20. Work together as a family to recycle – set rewards for successful recycling https://plasticsmartcities.org/recycling-incentive-scheme/ https://www.serco.com/media/924/924.original.pdf/

Bonus: When assessing your purchasing options, utilize your purchasing power for good, try and buy from retailers who are also committed to the health and wellbeing of the world.

This list just scratches the surface. But if you can get them accomplished, say five items a quarter, in a year you will have made a significant dent in saving the world and more importantly set a roll model for others to follow.

Our adult children Ellen and Lily have been leading the way in this regard in our family. I seem to be a late adaptor, but I am adapting, you may be able to as well, and don’t be afraid of adding more items onto the list. If you are an owner of rental properties, encourage your property manager and your tenants to actively recycle and follow your lead, you might even save some money in addition to saving the world.

Clifford A. Hockley, CPM, CCIM, MBA

Cliff is a Certified Property Manager® (CPM) and a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM). Cliff joined Bluestone and Hockley Real Estate Services 1986 and successfully merged that company with Criteria Properties in 2021.

He has extensive experience representing property owners in the sale and purchase of warehouse, office, and retail properties, as well as mobile home parks and residential properties. Cliff’s clients include financial institutions, government agencies, private investors and nonprofit organizations. He is a Senior Advisor for SVN | Bluestone.

Cliff holds an MBA from Willamette University and a BS in Political Science from Claremont McKenna College. He is a frequent contributor to industry newsletters and served as adjunct professor at Portland State University, where he taught real estate-related topics. Cliff is the author of two books, 21 Fables and Successful Real Estate Investing; Invest Wisely Avoid Costly Mistakes and Make Money, books that helps investors navigate the rough shoals of real estate ownership. He is the managing member of a real estate consulting practice, Cliff Hockley Consulting, LLC., designed to help investors and commercial brokerage owners successfully navigate their businesses.  He can be reached at 503-267-1909 , Cliffhockley@gmail.com or Cliff.Hockley@SVN.com.