Tiaki: the heart of New Zealand sustainability

On my desk is a package of supposedly biodegradable plastic bags. A helpful person gave it to me with the hope I would promote degradable plastic bags as a solution for both types of residential food scrap recycling programs implemented this month in most of Ventura County.  Others have suggested degradable plastic as a solution for diverting from landfills the “to-go” food service items no longer reliably recycled from curbside recycling carts.

Merrell, the leading outdoor performance and lifestyle brand, today announced This Is Home, a multi-year sustainability initiative designed to inspire consumers to protect the nature that shapes their everyday lives. The campaign will focus on digital, social, and connected TV while showcasing Merrell footwear and apparel that is made with more sustainable materials. The goal is to inspire people to get outside while minimizing their environmental impact.  To kick off the inaugural year of This Is Home, Merrell is launching a multinational product takeback and resale program called Merrell ReTreadSM, which will save 300,000 pairs of footwear from landfills in our own backyards. This first of its kind program introduces the takeback economy to the footwear industry and is a step towards a more circular economy.

Limiting climate change is a global effort that requires many actions, large and small. Making sustainable food choices when shopping, cooking and eating is more important than ever, and more and more Canadians are looking for sustainable food choices.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. In the early 1970s, a group of fishermen organized a campaign to dump 2 million used auto tires into the Atlantic Ocean, about a mile off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., between two living coral reefs.  The goal was to build an artificial reef that would promote sea life. But it had the opposite effect: The mass of tires became an underwater blight.  William Nuckols, with Coastal America, the federal office that is helping coordinate a cleanup of the tires, says the original goal was a good one.  “The original intention,” Nuckols says, “was to try to provide a fish habitat and add to the natural coral reefs that were there.”