Green Search Engines

Are you a cat that is stuck mousing around with the same, carbon draining search engine? Did you know there are “green” search engines out there? These alternative search engines are mostly powered by the big guys, but part of the ad revenue goes to charity or protecting the environment instead of profits. Some cool cat search alternatives to look into include:

Ecosia.org - Powered mostly by Bing, they use their proceeds to plant trees in order to offset all of the carbon used to power the search engine.

EcoSearch.org - Powered by Google, but donates 100% of their proceeds to other environmental charities.

GoodShop.com - This isn’t a typical search engine. It is powered by Yahoo! and searches the web for the best deals as you shop for items. They then donate a portion of your purchase price to a charity of your choosing (at no extra cost to you).

If you want to stay with the tried and true, Google is working on their environmental impact. They are carbon neutral, but partly through purchasing carbon offsets. You can read their 2017 report here (it’s actually interesting, I swear!).

Every little bit adds up!

Will the Honeybees Make It Out Alive?

This may or may not be a honeybee…And it may or may not have made it out alive.

Honeybees are important pollinators and are dying off at an alarming rate.  You can help by keeping hives or creating habitat for pollinators. Whack Fact: if you steal all of the honey from the hive, the bees will die over the winter because you just stole all of their food!!!

Plant local, bee-friendly plants such as CATNIP, lavender, sage, and rosemary (even a small area can help), add a tiny bee bath or volunteer with a group such as NW Honey Bee, which aims to turn grass strips between sidewalks and streets into pollinator habitat.  

To volunteer visit NW Honey Bee or to learn more about urban beekeeping check out Seattle Tilth.

How do Your Actions Affect Salmon?

Do you know how your individual actions affect salmon?  You can take a free self-assessment here: https://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/pub.php?id=00499 to see how your actions at home and in the community are impacting salmon/fish and how changing some of your behaviors might help.  After taking the self-assessment, create an action plan! The assessment has resources to help.

If you’re curious, one action I’ve already taken is to reduce my time in the shower from an average of 20 minutes (gasp!) to an average of 5 minutes. One item on my action plan is to reduce the size of my lawn by planting more areas of native vegetation (including a pollinator garden). What actions are you taking or are you willing to take to help the salmon make it out alive? Share your ideas on our Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WillWeMakeItOutAlive/

Clean Coastal Trash and Help Scientists!

So much garbage! We were unprepared, but improvised with dog poo bags. Note to self, bring bags and gloves everywhere!

A lot of people around the world participate in International Coastal Cleanup® Day in September of each year.  Sadly, cleanup is needed year round. There are several efforts out there, such as the Take 3 for the Sea campaign.  

This organization urges you to take 3 pieces of trash with you every time you leave an ocean or waterway (or anywhere, really), share a photo of you with your three pieces on social media with the hashtag #Take3fortheSea to inspire others, and reduce your plastic footprint.

While you’re participating in Take 3 for the Sea, why not also use the CleanSwell app?  You can see the impact you’re making by tracking things such as miles cleaned and weight of trash removed while earning cool badges, and you can help scientists identify locations and types of garbage being removed. This allows the scientist to track trash patterns and inform policy solutions.

Get out there and start cleaning!