1. Walk or bike when you can

This might not be possible at all times, but be conscious of the proximity of the places you regularly need to visit. Put a basket on your bike handle or rack, throw your stuff in there, and tread along to reduce that CO2 footprint. :-)

3. Pick up plastic on the beach

A very easy way to reduce micro waste is to pick up any piece of plastic you come by, especially on or near beaches or other bodies of water. This is obviously important to do everywhere, but especially important near the ocean because of plastic’s detrimental effect on marine life. Plastic harms and kills many animals, but marine organisms ingest micro plastics which then ends up in us as well.

Tip: Arrange a beach day with your friends and family! First collect all the trash you see on the beach, and then for the rest of the day you can all enjoy the clean beach! 

5. have a natural garden

If you have a vegetable garden you are already doing a lot of good for the environment, but it’s important to keep it in the most natural way possible. Use organic fertilizers, natural and sustainable mulch, and as little water as possible.

For those without a vegetable or flower garden: make sure to use organic weed killers, tick spray, mosquito spray etc.

6. minimize shipping for orders

When you get to the point where you have weeded out a couple different types of plastics in your house and you need substitutes, take a look at our sustainable products. From that page, we highly encourage that you research which are manufactured the closest to you, in order to buy locally. We understand that not everything sustainable is produced everywhere, so when you order online PEASY recommends that you always try to minimize shipping emissions by:

1. Ordering from as few different sites as possible to get as many products in one shipping as you can.

2. Buying in bulk so that shipping from the factory to your house happens less often.

3. Buying products that are produced and manufactured as close to you as possible.

4. If you want to have something online that is not available in your country or state, try to search for it in a country where you have a close friend, because then you can ask them if they will bring it to you next time they see you and vice versa ;-)

7. BUY LOCAl

Look up local farmer’s markets in your area- you’d be surprised at the options that they have. By buying from local vendors, you make sure that you’re eating the freshest in-season produce and cutting down on transportation emissions for your food. Try going to a local butcher’s shop, fish market, or deli instead of big stores. It may be a little out of your way, but the time and energy you spend to go to those shops is much less than what is needed to transport meats and produce longer distances.

9. Eat at farm-to-table restaurants

By supporting farm-to-table restaurants, we can all reduce emissions and energy spent on transporting foods that may not be in season where we live or may not be in our geographic location. Also, foods that aren’t in season or aren’t local generally don’t taste as good as foods that are. Click this link to find some of PEASY’s favorites or go here and type in your location to find more.

2. Micro textile waste

Micro-waste from clothing is a relatively unknown issue, but has one of the largest impacts on the environment because it is so hard to get rid of. Microwaste comes from synthetic fibers such as polyester, elastane, and others. Textiles like these shed little microfibers when they go in the washing machine, which then go down the drain and in many cases end up in the oceans due to lack of proper filtration. This micro waste is essentially tiny plastic particles. PEASY recommends GUPPYFRIEND bags, as they will collect the microwaste for you. Any microwaste that would wash out of your synthetic fiber-based clothing will collect by the zipper of the GUPPYFRIEND bag for your own disposal, and stay out of the local watershed. :)

4. know where you get your fish from

Wild-caught fish: Sustainable open water fisheries are a must when buying wild-caught fish. Most open water fisheries are currently not sustainable. 

Farmed: Its common thought that if oceans are overfished then farmed fish is the better option; however, many fish farms use chemicals and antibiotics. These substances are not only long-lasting in our bodies and in the earth, but often runoff into the ocean. This direct runoff into the ocean may also contain eggs, which have different genes than those living in the wild. A runoff with fish eggs has the potential to change the gene pool of the wild populations. 

Shrimp: Be wary of any Asian shrimp farms. Shrimp farms in Asia are created by cutting down mangroves, increasing erosion and causing storms and floods to have much larger impact on the local community. Asian farms also use antibiotics which leak into the local water systems.

idealfish.com is one of the few truly sustainable fish farms, click the link to learn more about them

If you want to eat at restaurants that are 100% ocean friendly find them at this link and click on the tab that reads “Find an OFR near you”.

Make sure the fish you’re buying has one of these certifications:

8. Change your diet wisely

Meat vs. veggies?… It’s a highly debated question because there are so many different stakeholders in this debate, but one thing that simply can’t be discussed is that beef contributes an immense amount of methane to the atmosphere compared to basically all other foods. Methane is a gas that has 25 times the heating potential over the next 100 years compared to Carbon dioxide, which is why it is so important to reduce. (page 212, IPCC report, 2007)

You’re probably wondering why we haven’t suggested choosing organic in this section yet. That is because choosing organic might not be the best solution always. Read why on our FAQ page.