What is the Kearney Sustainability Movement?

We are a group of individuals who all have a passion for using the limited resources available to us in a wise manner. The goal of the group is to help spread the word about sustainable activities, influence sustainable change in our community, and to continue to grow our knowledge about sustainable practices. We will be having workshops on ways we can help influence and create sustainable practices in the community.

What have we done so far?

We recently had a workshop in April where we had a hands-on demonstration of planting seeds and transplanting. We also had some members help with the Big Dig at Yanney Park in May.

Sustainability Tidbit for the Month:

A beginner tidbit:

Dishes, hands, hair, bodies all need soaps. Most come in plastic bottles and the bottles add up. You can only recycle some kinds of bottles, what do you do with others? Usually they end up in the landfill. To combat that, there are a few alternatives that can be implemented. The first is buying soaps in glass or aluminum containers. Some brands have transitioned away from single use plastics in their everyday offerings. Another alternative is to reuse plastic or invest in glass refillable bottles. There are many options for refills, some come in single use plastic which in our opinion, defeats the purpose of the refill. There are other brands that come in aluminum or as concentrated tablets that you mix with water. This is a great option as they normally come in non plastic containers, truly embracing sustainability.

An intermediate tidbit:

Many people use dry shampoo to help combat oily hair in between full hair cleanings throughout the week. There are tons of brands on the market. Some perform better than others, but we aren’t here for performance reviews. What we do want to talk about is how they are dispensed and what they’re dispensed out of. We favor refillable containers. There are a few out there. Some that use air to dispense the product and some that use a brush to dispense. Either way, it’s fantastic to refill the container with product. There are a few brands out there that provide the refill in plastic free containers.

An advanced tidbit:

There are many toilet paper brands out there that are made from bamboo, hemp, or other fibers that are sustainable. In conjunction with that, another great alternative in the bathroom to reduce the amount of toilet paper used is a bidet. Bidets come in different levels, from simple to complicated. A simple one gets the job done, but it’s preference to the user as to how complicated it needs to get. A bidet is a great way to cut down on the amount of paper product used each time.

Our next meeting:

TBD workshop in August 2024.

Follow us on Facebook: 

https://www.facebook.com/KearneySustainability

Resources:

Photo by Anastasiia Ornarin on Unsplash

Photo by Alexandra Tran on Unsplash

Photo by Colourblind Kevin on Unsplash