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The Daily Difference Newsletter
Join the Daily Difference, a newsletter to help everyone around the world in taking action and making a significant positive impact. It’s not too late. The earth needs passionate people like you to spread the word and create meaningful change.
Taking action to heal the planet doesn’t need to be overwhelming. It doesn’t need to be perfect. It just needs to happen. Take a moment today and be a difference […]
The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species is a report on the health of the world’s biodiversity. It is a comprehensive source of information […]
Negative climate stories in the United States often make the headlines – cancelling wind farm construction, accelerating oil and gas drilling, rolling back regulations on greenhouse gas emissions and air […]
In Canada, and in many other countries around the world, it is often Indigenous people leading the way in sustainability and stewardship of nature. The Heiltsuk Nation, on British Columbia, […]
In the United Kingdom, companies who make packaging are now having to pay as the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) has started its enforcement stage. What is EPR? It is based […]
Mihir Rao, an 18-year-old from Alberta, Canada, is helping other young people to learn how to influence decision-makers. Rao, who is also a winner of the 2025 I-SEA Youth Climate […]
This is from the Story of Stuff. I hope you will give it some thought and make thoughtful purchases for the holidays and all year. “This time of year, the pressure to buy more — and waste more — is everywhere. Black Friday doorbusters, holiday flash sales, limited-time offers: overconsumption during the holidays isn’t an accident. It’s by design.
And the consequences are massive. Americans generate 25% more waste between Thanksgiving and New Year’s — an extra one million tons of trash every week. From impulse purchases tossed by January, to mountains of packaging, the holiday season has become a pipeline of extraction, production, shipping, and disposal.
What we rarely see are the impacts hidden upstream. Most of a product’s environmental footprint happens long before it reaches your door — through rapid mining of raw materials, energy-intensive manufacturing, and global shipping emissions that fuel the climate crisis.
Fast fashion hauls and holiday overbuying only accelerate the damage. Every second, a garbage truck’s worth of clothing is landfilled or burned. Electronics, toys, gadgets, and seasonal “stuff” flood into toxic e-waste dumps around the world.” Story of Stuff
Trying to be more climate friendly with gift giving this year? This holiday gifting guide will help you get in the spirit while saving you money and deepening the meaningfulness of your holiday season.
Tempted to buy extra stuff today? The pressure is on, the ads are running, and it’s hard to avoid all of the sales. Here are a few ideas to manage the shopping frenzy:
Buy nothing.
Step outside and get some fresh air.
Visit your favorite green space.
Call or visit a loved one.
Spend time with yourself or a pet, with your favorite seasonal drink.
Really need an item? Consider buying just essential items that need to be purchased anyway.
Support a local and sustainable small business, instead of big-boxed stores.
Instead of purchasing something new, see if you can buy it second-hand, borrow it from a friend, or rent it.
Feel free to take the pressure off today (if you can), and buy nothing.
Yes, we all can make a difference. Small changes can lead to big changes.
A great thought for the day. How can we have more control? The world can be a discouraging place. Especially when we have elected officials that are taking us in the wrong direction and wasting taxpayer dollars. The only thing we have control of is our own behavior, and instead of being angry we can use that energy to make a positive difference. Below are some ways you can make a positive impact without much effort. Good Luck. Below is from the Carbon Almanac:
When countries and companies lessen their commitment to targets and activities for climate change, it can be disheartening as systemic change is critical for big impact. If you feel powerless to influence systemic change, you can start where you are.
Some ideas of how to start:
Start by having a conversation with friends
Start by taking one less trip in a combustion engine vehicle
Start by shopping at a thrift store
Start by buying produce that is not wrapped in plastic
Start by bringing a reusable mug to your favourite cafe
Start by finding a local environmental group
And my list to get you started:
*Always carry reusable shopping bags
*Never idle the engine of your car
*Write letters to elected officials and newspapers expressing your opinion (positive and negative)
*Plant a native plant or a native tree
*Listen, smile and be kind
The key is to start (or keep) taking action. One action can lead to another and then another. And by sharing what you are doing, you can inspire others to join.
I wanted to share an invite to Zero Waste Fest on Saturday, October 11 at Burroughs Community School in Minneapolis. It’s a free, all-day community event with panels, food, music, kid’s activities, and lots of hands-on ways to get involved in building a future without waste. Zero Waste Fest — MN Zero Waste Coalition
The day runs from 10am to 4pm and includes:
Inspiring panels on:
Building a Zero Waste Future in Minnesota
Plastic is a Justice Issue: Fighting Pollution from Production to Disposal
From Throwaway to Reuse: Reclaiming Culture, Creating Systems
Tabling from organizations around MN supporting zero waste
Clothing swaps and mending
Food, art, and music!
It’s free and open to everyone. I’d love for you to join us and help spread the word!
Every year the countries of the world produce more plastic, and there is no end in sight. Production. of plastic keeps growing.
The list below is composed by the Plastic Pollution Coalition. Let’s work every day to reduce our consumption of plastic. Never use plastic utensils, plastic bags or straws
Plastic never goes away. It doesn’t break down; it only breaks up into smaller and smaller pieces. These microplastics and nanoplastics are harmful and are everywhere now, including in our bodies.
Plastic pollutes the environment, wildlife, and people.
Plastic is not safe. Plastic leaches toxic chemicals and sheds plastic particles at all stages of its existence.
Plastic especially harms communities living near petrochemical and plastic infrastructure.
The more plastic companies make and we use, the more we contribute to pollution and climate change.
Plastic was not designed to be recycled, and most plastic does not get recycled in the way we’ve been led by industry to believe.
To solve the plastic pollution crisis, industries must stop producing so much plastic. Instead of single-use plastics, we need to use nontoxic reuse and refill systems and regenerative materials.
Taking action on an individual level, using less plastic, and demanding policy action to hold producers accountable can help support the systemic changes to shift away from society’s reliance on plastics.
On July 24, we had used all the resources that the Earth can generate in a year. We are using more resources than we can replace, or living on borrowed time. The day we want to reach is December 31.
How can we use ;ess resources
From the Carbon Almanac. On July 24 we hit Earth Overshoot Day for 2025. Earth Overshoot Day is noted every year and the date is announced on World Environment Day. It marks the day when “humanity’s demand for ecological resources and services … exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year”. Global Footprint Network, a research organization focused on the operation of the human economy within the Earth’s ecological limits, hosts and calculates when Earth Overshoot Day will occur, with this year showing that humanity is using the planet’s resources 80% faster than ecosystems can regenerate. July 24 is the earliest in the year that Earth Overshoot Day has fallen, with past dates going back to 1971. In those 54 years, humanity reached its overshoot day on December 31 once, in 1972.
Calculations for overshoot day are based on the National Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts, and this year’s calculations revealed that due to the ocean’s reduced capacity to store carbon, an increase in per capita Footprint and a reduced per capita biocapacity, Earth Overshoot Day fell eight days earlier than it did in 2024. In addition to Earth Overshoot Day, Country Overshoot Days are also calculated each year, seen here. These dates represent when the planet’s ecological resource budget would be used up if every place on Earth consumed at the same level as residents in that particular country.
A campaign working to reduce the strain on the Earth’s resources and bring humanity’s consumption into better balance is #MoveTheDate. The goal is to move the date of Earth Overshoot Day to December 31 or later every year, ensuring that the resources taken from the planet can be sustainability regenerated by the ecosystems. Solutions range across five major areas: planet, cities, energy, food and population. This solutions map tracks solutions being implemented across the world. Check it out to see if there are any near you.
Visit the Earth Overshoot Day website to learn more about how it is calculated, as well as the economic and ecological implications of humanity’s continued overuse of resources.
My Five things you can do:
Strive for zero waste–Reuse, Reuse, Reuse and Refuse!
Drive Less
Reduce your plastic footprint–No single use plastic!
Plant native plants and raingardens without chemicals!
My yard is at peak. Unfortunately, it is also in a drought. Some places are challenged with flooding, but it is dry in my neighborhood. Native plants don’t need chemicals, and they adapt to wet and dry weather extremes
I don’t water, and hope for rain.
Native plants attract the bees’ birds and butterflies. The monarch butterflies and the hummingbirds are thrilled with these native flowers in my yard
Yay, It’s Plastic Free July. Join millions of people working to reduce their plastic use
Start refusing plastic today!
We have a plastic problem. Plastic pollutes our earth from it’s extraction to it’s end of life.It pollutes our water air and land. Plastic is made of fossil fuels and contains harmful chemicals are needed to make it plastic. It breaks down into tiny fibers called microplastics. These tiny microplastics have been found in our brains, blood and in every organ in or body. Do you want plastic in your brain? Plastic permeates our lives, and we would all be healthier by reducing our plastic use.
Plastic may feel convenient, but the long-term costs are serious:• Only 9% of all plastic ever made has been recycled• The rest ends up in landfills, waterways, or breaks down into microplastics. Some of these microplastics end up in fish, plants, animals and human beings. Reducing your plastic exposure is not easy, but it is important.
We all see plastic litter that is harmful to our waterways and our environment, but we are just be learning that plastic contains harmful chemicals and that it breaks down into microfibers. We can’t see these chemicals or the microfibers that can harm our bodies.
Plastic contains thousands of harmful chemicals that are especially harmful to children. These chemicals leach from plastic containers into our food and bodies. Plastic chemicals contain serious hormone disrupters that can cause obesity, diabetes, cancers and birth defects.
Water from plastic bottles has about double the microplastic level of tap water on average, according to a 2018 study published in the journal Frontiers in Chemistry. So unless your tap water is contaminated with unsafe elements, such as lead, it’s probably best to drink tap. Fill up a metal reusable bottle for when you go out. You can always filter your tap water. Depending on the filter, that may further reduce microplastic levels. (Check CR’s ratings of water filters.)
Do: Heat food in or on the stove, or by microwaving in glass. Don’t: Microwave in plastic.
Some heated plastics have long been known to leach chemicals into food. So if you’re warming up food, use a pan in the oven or on the stove, or if you’re microwaving, use a glass container. Also, avoid putting plastics in the dishwasher because of the high heat involved in cleaning.
Do: Buy and store food in glass, silicone, or foil. Don’t: Store food in plastic, especially plastic that may contain harmful chemicals.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has said that plastic food containers with the recycling codes 3, 6, and 7 may contain potentially harmful chemicals, unless they’re labeled “biobased” or “greenware.” Don’t store food in these types of containers. Instead, use containers made of glass or silicone, or wrap your food in aluminum foil. If you’re storing food in or eating food out of plastic containers, know that plastics with recycling codes 1 and 2 are more likely to be recyclable—though they are usually recycled into lower-quality plastics. And there still may be harmful or unknown chemicals in any type of plastic.
Do: Eat fresh food as much as possible. Don’t: Rely on processed food wrapped in plastic.
The more processed or packaged a food is, the higher the risk that it contains worrisome chemicals. Food cans are often lined with bisphenol A (or similar compounds). Buy fresh food from the supermarket, and—as much as possible—try to use refillable containers if your market allows. (Of course, with shopping made difficult by the coronavirus pandemic, prioritize your health and shop however is most feasible and safest.) Certain markets let you fill up cardboard or reusable containers with bulk items and weigh them, or you can use your own mesh bags for produce. Raw meat and fish need to be kept separate for safety reasons, but ask the store fishmonger or butcher to wrap these foods in wax paper instead of plastic. Take cloth—not plastic—reusable bags to the store to take your groceries home.
Do: Vacuum regularly. Don’t: Allow household surfaces to get dusty.
The dust in your house could be loaded with microplastics and chemicals that are found in plastic, such as phthalates. Cleaning up dust may help reduce the amount of plastics you inhale, especially if you are stuck inside for long periods of time during a period of social distancing. CR recommends vacuuming regularly with a HEPA filter, which is best for trapping dust. (Check CR’s ratings of vacuums.)
Do: Work with your community. Don’t: Assume your impact is limited to what you do in your personal life.
Legislation to limit the use of single-use plastics and plastic production may pull the biggest levers, but joining forces with community-level recycling groups can truly make a difference. Look for so-called zero-waste groups, which can offer guidelines for how to recycle or compost all your garbage—and which lobby for local rules that can restrict throwaway items. When possible, shop at markets that source goods locally, so they don’t require as much packaging and shipping. Seek out groups such as Upstream, a nonprofit working to create reusable takeout packaging for restaurants. And when possible, educate yourself about and support any city, county, and state legislation limiting single-use plastics.
My list to reduce your plasticfootprint:
Always carry a reusable glass or metal water bottle, and reusable shopping bags with you.
Learn to refuse single-use plastics, such as plastic water bottles and coffee cups, straws, plastic bags and plastic utensils.
Purchase fruit and produce in the bulk section, and don’t place items in plastic bags.
Always search out products in glass jars instead of plastic containers.
When you must buy plastic products, choose ones that you can recycle rather than ones you must put in the trash.
Bring your own containers and shop the bulk section of your local food coop.
Health4earth 