Wake-Up Wednesday Wins, Round VIII!
Hello friends and welcome to another round of Wake-Up Wednesday Wins. We’re back on track and posting on Wednesday this time. Because I got a bit of a late start last week, this week’s wins are a little longer than usual. A lot has happened this week in the realm of sustainability, ocean health, collaboration, and and and. But can there really ever be such a thing as too much good news? 😉
The theme this week is collaboration. Collaboration in the name of a better, cleaner planet, collaborative friendships, and collaborative ideas! After reading, I guarantee you’ll want to go join a group, sign up for something, or raise your hand in class. Or at least, that is my hope! So get ready, get set and…enjoy!
Compostable Collaboration
This is a really, really neat local story! Pela Case – makers of the world’s only compostable smartphone case, just moved their Canadian manufacturing headquarters to Kelowna, BC (where I live). Recently, they teamed up with Okanagan Lifestyle, another local biz promoting local goodness (who I’ve written about previously) to create an awesome little “behind the scenes” video showing how they actually make the cases. The ones in this video are a specific collaborative design they’ve worked with Okanagan Lifestyle to bring to life.
Why is this cool? We all know petroleum-based plastics are a h-u-g-e problem for our oceans and environment, and there are a lot of conventionally-produced, petroleum-filled smartphone cases out there. Pela is flipping the script on this product and choosing to be part of the solution. Better still, part of their manufacturing process now incorporates your used and outdated smartphone cases into their feedstock!! The fact they are also partnering with a local lifestyle company to further the message of “protect where you play” is just icing on the proverbial cake. Closin’ that loop, bringing community together. Love. IT.
Refill Revolution Expands
I wrote about zero waste refilleries hitting the tropics a few posts ago and I’m happy to report that Kelowna is about to see its own addition to the zero-waste scene! Chickpeace Planet Forward will be this city’s newest zero-waste refillery and a social enterprise to boot. Allisha, the badass entrepreneuer working to make it happen, is curating what will surely be a beautiful space full of planet-foward goods. Everyone is excited to have more local, package-free options in the valley. Bravo, Allisha!! Is it May yet?!
Sail Away, Sail Away, Sail Away…
On Sunday (International Women’s Day) I found out about two Kelowna-based gals who are sailing around the world. Yup, you heard that right. They are friends who decided “Hey, let’s sail around the world!”, went for it, and are sharing the journey with their friends and followers.
Why is this a win? To me, it’s because the ocean is this big, still relatively unknown place and by choosing to go adventure around each ocean basin, these women are helping us landlubbers see it in new ways. The more we know, the more we care, and the more we care, the more we’re compelled to protect what we love. Right?
It’s also a win because the ocean is a big, wild place; in order to make it across in one piece, you have to be awake, aware, and humble. As someone who has sailed across half of the world’s biggest ocean, I can personally attest to the fact that you learn things out there at sea: about the sea itself, and about yourself. Jocelyn and Michelle are showing us what it’s like to personally transform with the ocean as your guide. They’re sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly.
As we grapple with all of the complex problems facing our planet in this time, one of the biggest hurdles we’re going to have to overcome is ourselves. Personal growth and transformation (as woo woo as that sounds) will be required in order to shift into new ways of being. These two are proving that that is possible. Way to rock the boat, ladies.
Close the Curtain on Waste
Who else often feels like they’re shouting into a vacuum on the Internet? It’s a big place (like the ocean!) filled with lots of noise and dissonance. This is sometimes how I feel when I talk about going plastic-free, or why we should all care about the ocean. However, in some cases, it’s all resonance and harmony: this story is one of those examples.
A few days ago I received a message from a friend of mine about a waste-win he and his wife had while cleaning. They had a shower curtain that needed some love and rather than chuck it and start over, they actually took the time to figure out how to clean it…and it worked! Money saved, waste saved, and a win for the planet.
Friends, I cannot tell you how much I love hearing these kinds of stories. It literally makes my day! To me, it means that we’re not all operating in our own bubbles, that people do care and they are aware. And in most cases, the stories are of mutual benefit: I hadn’t tried the technique Adam shared with me so after he told me about it, I went and tried it myself. Lo and behold, it worked!
A reminder: not everything that is dirty is destined for the garbage…there are often really easy solutions out there just waiting to be discovered. What’s the secret to cleaner shower curtains? Vinegar. Toss your shower curtain in the washing machine, set it to a “warm” wash, and add a cup of white vinegar in during the rinse cycle. Voila! Mildew gone. If you try it and it works, go let Adam know. 🙂
Stop, Collaborate and Listen
You’ve heard of being carbon neutral, right? Well how about being plastic neutral? One company is doing it, with an added commitment to be plastic-free by 2025. Grove Collaborative is a subscription-ish-based company, bringing its customers a variety of non-toxic, planet-friendly cleaning products and other home essentials, right to their front door.
I’ll be honest: when subscription-style services started popping up left, right, and center, I got decidedly nervous. Were we creating a generation of lazy, ignorant people by allowing them to order things online without having to leave the comfort of their couch? Not to mention all the waste associated with these boxes of…stuff. It was a scary time.
Well, it still is but thanks to companies like Grove, we may not be doomed after all. Grove sells products for household, personal care, babies and children, and pets – if they are committing to going plastic-neutral and plastic-free, can’t other companies?! In fact, they’re already pushing their industry partners to do so!
We’re working with our industry partners to find new solutions where they don’t yet exist. This means collaborating with our third party brands, other retailers, and packaging innovators to remove plastic from everything we sell at Grove.
Grove Collaborative
Frankly, we need companies like Grove to make these kind of statements and follow through with them, because it would appear that subscription services are not going away any time soon. Time to #quitplastic.
Greeny Green Book Club
Last but certainly not least, a small win from me, your blogger friend. One thing you may not know about me is that I love to read – and lately, non-fiction is my bag! I’m especially fond of reading non-fiction that tackles some kind of societal problem, with a focus on sustainability. Here’s the rub:
- We’re all to busy to meet to talk about books.
- In some cases, we’re too busy to read or if we do have time to read, we don’t have time to do anything with what we’ve read.
- We read and we digest but then we don’t act on what we read or don’t know how to apply it in our daily lives/communities.
I’m attempting to solve all three of those problems by starting a virtual book club. The goal? It will be simply to read books that provide us with resources to tackle our global, sustainability challenges. Then, the task will be to implement, and share with others what we’ve done (or what we’re already doing!). If you’re a reader of non-fiction and love authors like Malcolm Gladwell, Joel Solomon, Tzeporah Berman, and Jon Steinman, you’ll want to join in the fun. You can sign up here and join the Facebook group here.
The club officially kicks off on Saturday, March 15. Hope to see you in the stacks!
And that’s your Wednesday Wins for the week! Cheers to collaboration, innovation, partnership, and friendship. As always, if you hear of a story you think might be a good fit for this weekly digest, drop me a line. I would love to share the good news!
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