Wake-Up Wednesday Wins!

Hello dear readers and Happy New Decade! In honour of fresh starts, I’m offering up a new treat on my blog called Wake-Up Wednesday Wins. This will be a weekly series where-in I share some good-news highlights, curated by me, from around the web. After all, that’s what the whole point of this blog is!

Information Overload

Let’s face it: we are so freaking inundated with content these days. If I don’t write down where I found something on the Internet, I forget. The click-through curse is a real thing and it makes my brain feel like mush. Not to mention, we’re also inundated with a lot of insane content: wildfires destroying continents, plastic engulfing the ocean, factory farms ruining the world. It’s enough to make even the most strong-willed of us not want to get out of bed in the AM. Hence Wake-Up Wednesday Wins!

Instead of saving all the good news for a Friday or weekend “rollup,” why not enjoy a mid-week dose of awesome over your morning cuppa (sustainable, fair-trade, cruelty-free, vegan, free-range, no-whip) joe? So without further ado…let’s dig in.

Companies Listening to Our Pleas

It turns out, there are companies out there who actually listen to us and make better products as a result (crazy, right?). Kooshoo, a Canadian-based small business crafting plastic-free hair ties (they are the best*), just launched plastic-free scrunchies and holy mama, they look incredible.

“In the past year, scrunchies sold eight times faster than the overall category of hair accessories and styling products, according to Goody, one of the oldest scrunchie brands. “

Alina Selyukh, NPR

Why am I yammering on about scrunchies? Well a) apparently they’re back and b) because they’re back, they’re taking over the world and with anything that takes over the world, it’s important to consider the impact that has on people + planet. Kooshoo is making a statement with its plastic-free offerings, showing us all that good business doesn’t have to come at the expense of our environment. #winning

*(Not an ad! I just love ’em!)

No Wine-ing: Bags Be Gone at BC Liquor Stores

Pop the bubbly: BC Liquor Stores will be phasing out single-use plastic bags beginning in March 2020.

For those who live outside of Canada (or for those who live here, because I was confused too), BC Liquor Stores are a chain of boozy retail outlets across, well, British Columbia. The funny thing about this chain is that it’s actually owned by the government. So whatever the government decrees, they must abide by. No bag for you!

Getting Roped Into Jenga

Your favourite, thrilling party game just got a little more sustainable: Jenga and Bureo have teamed up to create a version crafted not out of wood, but fishing nets from their Net Positiva recycling program! Over 25 square feet of nets, to be specific.

Quick refresher: Bureo is a company who saw the problem of derelict fishing gear (aka DFGs, aka ghost gear) in the ocean and said f*ck that, there has to be a better way. Check out the video below for more about how they make this whole thing happen. It is RAD.

Brainpower Beats Plastic

It is amazing to witness people coming together to tackle the problems of our day: call it a confluence of awesome. Last week, I saw a post roll past my eyeballs on Instagram from a farm account I follow. For reference, this farm was the place I received a delightful, delectable veggie CSA for the years I lived in midcoast Maine. The post featured two other incredible groups of people: Rising Tide Co-op, a shining example of successful cooperative grocery stores (and my favourite grocery store of all time); and Upstream Solutions, a global advocacy platform helping communities tackle plastic pollution.

Why were they gathered? Just your average planet-saving mission: rid their community of single-use plastics. What is neat about this collaboration is that it brings together a variety of sectors: food, retail/business, and education/communication. Very important as we find solutions to our single-use pollution! In their words…

“Grateful to be part of a community invested in positive change and creating new systems to replace broken ones…even when there are no easy answers.”

Morning Dew Farm, Maine

And that’s a wrap on your Wake-Up Wednesday Wins! If you have more good-news that needs sharing, please let me know in the comments! And if you enjoyed this dose of win, share it with your friends. The more the merrier!