Month: September 2019

Photo by Madison Nickel on Unsplash

We’ve heard that lowering our carbon footprint can support an eco-friendly lifestyle. But what exactly does it mean to reduce your carbon footprint? Well, your carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gases produced to directly or indirectly support human activities. The lower the amount of carbon in our air, the healthier we and our planet will be. It sounds big, but we can start small. Here are 5 simple things you can start doing today to reduce your carbon footprint:

Drive Less

Photo by Alexander Popov on Unsplash

Consider how much we default to driving when we don’t have to. Carpools and rideshares, public transportation, biking and walking are all great ways to connect with other people, use your tax dollars or get some exercise while minimizing your environmental impact. If you must drive, make sure you use clean gasoline and keep your tires properly inflated. Both these measures will limit your carbon footprint from driving, and increase your gas mileage, saving you money at the same time. 

Green Your Home

Image by Iván Tamás from Pixabay

Start with simple steps like changing incandescent light bulbs to LED and turning the lights off in a room when you leave it. A low-flow showerhead can save reduce hot water consumption and save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. If you want to go a little further, invest in a home energy audit. An energy auditor will assess your home from top to bottom, looking at windows, walls, insulation, water heaters and more, and will give you recommendations on things small and large you can do to make your home more energy-efficient.

Eat Local and Low

Image by skeeze from Pixabay

Transporting foods – either by truck, rail, air or ship – uses fossil fuels to not just move the food, but in the refrigeration of that food in transportation vehicles. Eating local minimizes transport costs, and ensures your food is fresh every time. Additionally, eating foods low on the food chain – fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes, etc. – will help reduce your carbon footprint, since animal agriculture accounts for 14.5 percent of manmade global greenhouse gas emissions.

Hang Dry Your Clothes

Image by Igor Ovsyannykov from Pixabay

Your clothes dryer uses five times more electricity than your washer, making it one of the largest environmental culprits in your home.  If you have space, line-drying your clothes can reduce your carbon footprint by a third. Even if you don’t have room for a long line, you can use a shorter line, a drying rack or even your furniture. Wash the clothes in cold water before line-drying for an extra boost of eco-friendliness.

Unplug Your Devices

Image by kropekk_pl from Pixabay 

Unplugging is a small, simple step you can do every day all over your home. All electronics suck electricity just by being plugged in, even if they’re powered down. This “vampire power” costs the United States alone $19 billion in energy each year.  So when your devices aren’t charging (or you’re not using your toaster or coffee maker), unplug the chargers and small appliances until you’re ready to use them again.

Adopting an eco-friendly lifestyle does not have to mean a whole-life overhaul. Small changes can make a big difference. Tell us in the comments below or on social media what are small changes you’ll adopt to make a difference.

With love and compassion,

Team Karunaki

Photo by Alyssa Strohmann on Unsplash

In Part 1 of our capsule wardrobe series, we laid out how a capsule wardrobe will help support your eco-conscious lifestyle, and the questions you should ask yourself when paring down your overflowing closet to a functional wardrobe you’ll actually wear.

This week, we’re helping you get a jump start on your new style with five essential pieces to create a versatile capsule wardrobe that works for your life.

1. Tank Top

Photo by Claire Rush on Unsplash

Tank tops in basic neutrals like black, white or grey should be a staple in your capsule collection. They are great for layering, they go with everything, and they never go out of style.

2. Short-Sleeved T-Shirt

Photo by Md Salman on Unsplash

Like the tank, a t-shirt can be worn multiple ways. Think a white t-shirt with jeans for daytime, or a white t-shirt with a slim black skirt and gold chain for night. Invest in quality Ts that will stand the test of time. Keep the fabrics soft, the embellishments minimal and launder them carefully so they last. 

3. Button-Down Shirt/Blouse

Photo by Anton Mislawsky on Unsplash

Button downs are great for layering. They can be worn over long- or short-sleeved tops, they can be tucked or untucked (or if you’re fashion-forward, french-tucked). And who can forget when Sharon Stone wore her Gap button-down with a luxe skirt to the Oscars? This was the pinnacle of capsule wardrobing – take an everyday piece and turn it into something fabulous!

4. Little Black Dress

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

A great LBD will go wherever you go, in style. Pair it with simple sneakers and layered under a button-down shirt for daytime. At night, remove the shirt and add a simple scarf, and swap the sneakers for heels or pretty flats. Jewellery will also dress your dress up or down. When looking for your perfect LBD, focus on two words: simple & flattering. You’re guaranteed to go back to it over and over again.

5. Blazer

Photo by Fernando Lavin on Unsplash

A blazer is a great way to bring colour to your capsule wardrobe. A red blazer with a white t-shirt and jeans is a classic running-errands-on-a-Saturday look. The same red blazer over your LBD and heels is a simple way to transition your dress from daytime to evening, while adding a great pop of colour to your look. If pops of colour aren’t your thing (or at least, not in a blazer – jewellery is a great way to make a colour statement in a smaller piece), go for a blazer in black, white or even cream, and wear it with everything.

This is just the start of your capsule wardrobe. Throw in a tweed skirt, a great pair of jeans, some slacks and some versatile shoes, and you’ve got a simple mix-and-match wardrobe that will save you money, save you time getting dressed, and support your eco-friendly commitment to avoid fast fashion trends. If you’re looking for inspiration for your capsule wardrobe, check out Daria Andronescu’s Wonder Wardrobe,  Courtney Carver’s Project 333 or Verena Erin’s Green Closet.

Tell us in the comments or on our social media what you consider essentials for your own capsule wardrobe. 

With love and compassion,

Team Karunaki

1) Show, Don’t Tell 

Showing how you live is a lot more powerful than showing why you live the way you do. When you get invited to a party, bring your own single use utensils and containers if disposable ones will be used. People will naturally be curious and ask questions, and when they do, you can have a genuine conversation about the benefits of long term use items. The conversation can be short and sweet if they don’t seem that interested, and as long and passionate as you’d like if they seemed to want to know more! The key is to be in tune with the other person’s social cues. 

2) UTILIZE SOCIAL MEDIA

3) INVOLVE OTHERS

4) SET BOUNDARIES

Photo by Fernando Lavin on Unsplash

Look, we’ve all been there: Standing in front of a closet bulging with too many clothes, bemoaning to whomever will listen, “I have nothing to wear!”  In our disposable consumer culture, fashion trends come and go with the blink of an eye, and more often than not, we blindly follow. Susceptible humans are easily lured by cheap prices and celebrity endorsements, but all this fast fashion is ruining our planet, with millions of items of clothing ending up in landfills each year. Given that most people only wear 20% of their wardrobe 80% of the time, a capsule wardrobe is the perfect way to pare down what you wear and save the planet at the same time.

When building a capsule wardrobe, there are a few questions to keep in mind when you begin to ensure you get started on the right foot. They include:

Have I Worn It In The Last Year?

Image by Steve Buissinne from Pixabay 

To get a handle on what you’re wearing and what you’re not wearing, turn all your hangers backwards. When you wear something, turn that hanger to face forward. After a month, a season or a year, you’ll know exactly what you’ve worn and what you haven’t.

Does It Fit My Lifestyle?

Photo by Kaylee Garrett on Unsplash 

Remember those volleyball court shoes you bought three years ago when you were convinced you were going to start playing volleyball, but then you didn’t? These are the items we’re talking about. You don’t use it. Ever. It has to go, and so do other things of that ilk. If you’re not wearing it to most of your daily or weekly outings, you don’t need it.

Does It Go With My Other Clothing?

Photo by Tobias van Schneider on Unsplash

You may love the orange camo pants you bought last year, but when you got them home, you realized you don’t really have a top or shoes (or life!) to match, so they’ve sat there unworn all this time. If you can’t find at least 3 pieces to wear with a particular item of clothing, it shouldn’t be in your capsule wardrobe.

Do I Love It?

Image by Luisella Planeta Leoni from Pixabay 

In the Konmari method, organization guru Marie Kondo encourages people to only keep things around them that “spark joy”. Are you holding on to that sweater that you don’t really like just because you already paid for it? Are you keeping those shoes only because they were a gift, even though you never wear them? Do you love those jeans and wear them all the time? Ask yourself if you truly enjoy each piece, and organize accordingly.

These questions are just the beginning of building your eco-friendly capsule wardrobe. Stay tuned, because in next week’s Karunaki Blog, we’ll outline exactly how to build your capsule wardrobe so you don’t have to overthink your clothes ever again.

Till then, talk to us below or hit us up on our social media, and tell us what items of clothes you can’t live without. What unused items are you finally going to get rid of? And most importantly, what will you do with the freedom that a capsule wardrobe provides? 

With Love and Compassion,

Team Karunaki

1) Car sharing model

2) Clothing Swap Parties

A woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure…right? Why throw away perfectly good clothing when you can give it a brand new home with someone who will love and cherish it? For this reason, more and more people are organizing independent meetup events where they get to swap clothing items with strangers, and make new friends! These events are either planned on social media platforms like Facebook or meetup.com. What a wonderful way to create new connections, recycle, and protect the planet from harmful textile pollution.

3) Sharing Things

4) Home Sharing Services

5) Renting bridal and occasion wear

Image by Herbal Hemp from Pixabay 

Conversations about hemp can put people in a tizzy, as many people tend to conflate hemp and marijuana. But they are two separate things, though both are derived from the Cannibas Sativa plant. What’s important for our purposes is that hemp is not psychoactive (it contains minimal amounts of THC) but it can be used for a myriad of industrial purposes. Here are three simple ways to incorporate hemp into your eco-friendly lifestyle.

Paper

Photo by Jan Kahánek on Unsplash

Paper in a school is as ubiquitous as students themselves. With an average paper use of 2-5 sheets per class, per student, that’s a lot of trees we’re cutting down to make paper airplanes. And we never stop! We use paper at work, to take notes, for our personal journals, and more. Hemp paper, which was widely used until hemp production was banned in the United States in 1937, can be produced and replaced faster than tree paper. Hemp stalks take only four months to grow, versus 20-80 years for trees. It is estimated that in a 20-year cycle, one acre of hemp stalks can produce the same amount of paper as 10 acres of trees. 

Clothing

Photo by Pricilla du Preez on Unsplash

Because hemp stalks grow so quickly (about 4 meters in 100 days), they are better at CO2 absorption than regular agro-forestry. Hemp fabric is naturally antimicrobial, UV protective and mold-resistant, which means your hemp pieces stay cleaner, longer. Hemp fibre is also more resilient than cotton, so your clothes won’t get torn or tattered easily. And that’s good, because unlike some other materials, hemp fabric gets softer over time, making your pieces more comfortable the longer you have them.

Food

Image by Susanna Sieg from Pixabay 

Hemp isn’t just sustainable to grow, it’s good for your health! Hemp seeds are a non-allergenic, vegan, complete protein source, giving people a healthy and sustainable option to animal products as their main protein sources. Hemp seeds are also full of essential fatty acids like Omegas-3 and -6, fibre (8% of the recommended daily intake of fibre per serving) and vitamins and minerals including vitamin B1, iron and magnesium. And hemp seeds are easy to incorporate into your diet. Sprinkle them over yogurt, salads or roasted vegetables, or throw them into your morning smoothie. 

Hemp is an amazing, eco-friendly plant with a myriad of industrial and commercial uses. We’re excited to share some of them with you! Share in the comments how you’ll introduce hemp into your life today, and let us know if you’d like to see hemp products included in our amazing eco-boxes!

Photo by Houston Max on Unsplash

Canada’s goal of becoming plastic-free by the year 2025 can seem like an impossible task, especially when only less than 11% of our plastics get recycled each year. But it doesn’t have to be.

More and more people have turned to using reusable water bottles to aid in the fight against plastic pollution in our oceans and landfills. If you still haven’t, there’s no better time than now. Using a tumbler like this one not only saves 1,460 plastic water bottles per year, but also at least $200 per year.  And you can save even more by taking proper care of your bottle and making sure it lasts as long as it should.

We at Karunaki believe in both sustainability and wellness for our community. Follow these simple tips so you can keep your reusable container clean and germ-free, whether it’s a tumbler, a bottle or a travel mug.

Wash it Regularly

Experts recommend washing out your water bottle regularly, preferably once a day. If that’s not possible, once every other day works just as well.

This is because water bottles create an ideal environment for bacteria to fester and grow thanks to all the trapped moisture inside them. The bacteria probably won’t kill you, but it will definitely get you sick if you leave your water bottle uncleaned for long periods of time.

Use Hot Water and Soap

Cleaning your water bottle doesn’t have to be hard.

All you have to do is fill it up with hot water (not cold, not lukewarm) and soap, shake it well, then rinse it out. White vinegar and baking soda together also work well in the place of soap here.

Some tumblers and bottles have little spaces and gaps where mold can grow. You can prevent this by giving your tumbler a thorough scrub as well. You don’t need to scrub these parts every day, but it pays to do it every so often when you can. Better safe than sorry!

Let it Air Dry

Then, once you’ve washed and rinsed that bottle, it’s time to let it dry. Remember, bacteria enjoy moist environments. Simply keep your bottle in a dry area like a tabletop and let it dry overnight.

We also advise that you keep your bottle as dry as possible when not in use. Even tiny droplets left inside can create enough moisture for bacteria to grow. And even without bacterial growth, if moisture is trapped inside the bottle it can lead to awful odors. When that happens, drinking from your bottle can turn into a very unpleasant experience, which leads us to our next tip…

Remove Odors with Bleach and Baking Soda

The easiest way to remove odors, according to this article, is to fill up the bottle with water and add a teaspoon of bleach and baking soda each. Then, leave it for a night and rinse it out. Make sure the mixture is completely rinsed out as well. Then let it dry as usual.

Alternatively, the same article also suggests cleansing your bottle with antibacterial mouthwash, which can achieve roughly the same results.

Don’t Throw it Away Too Soon

The best way to help a bottle last as long as possible is, well, not throwing it away before its time.

So how can you tell?

When it comes to metal bottles, you only need to throw them out when you see signs of deterioration. A surefire way of knowing if the bottle is no longer usable is when it starts to rust. While it’s not necessarily toxic, rust isn’t exactly the best thing to ingest either. Other signs of breakage include cracks (for glass and plastic bottles) and/or loosened lids that can lead to leakage.

Image by urformat from Pixabay 

Without water we’d be nothing. Life on Earth would cease to exist and the planet itself would become a wasteland. This isn’t an exaggeration.

And we’re running out of clean water. People in Canada alone on average use 329 litres of water every day.

That’s why it’s more important than ever that we take steps to reduce the amount of water we waste on a regular basis.

You’ve likely heard of all the many ways to reduce your water usage by now. Showering instead of taking a bath, using the washing machine only when you need to, using the dishwasher instead of handwashing dirty dishes. The list goes on.

But there are a lot of other things that waste water. Things in your life using up ridiculous amounts of water without you knowing.

Down below we’ve listed down some of the biggest and most unexpected water wasters in your life and what you can do about them.

Clothes

The first culprit on our list are the clothes you’re wearing right now.

According to The Fashion Law, the fashion industry wastes 25 billion gallons of water on textile production and 1.3 trillion gallons on fabric dyeing annually. That’s an awful lot of water to throw away for the sake of a new outfit.

Instead of buying from fast fashion outlets, try sourcing from more eco-friendly fashion brands that use environmentally-friendly fabrics other than cotton. Another option is to reduce the amount of clothes you buy. Do you really need TWO t-shirts of the exact same color?

Food

The very food on your plate wastes 45 trillion gallons of water when it’s thrown away. Meat production alone uses up 5,000 to 20,000 litres of water per kg of meat.

The solution? Be more conscious of your eating habits. Store uneaten food portions in the refrigerator. Make sure to eat all your fruits before they rot. And if you’re up for it, reduce the overall amount of meat you eat (even better, go full vegan!).

You should also shop more wisely. Buy your groceries from eco-friendly supermarkets or farmer’s markets to support environmentally-conscious food production practices, which will in turn reduce water wastage and consumption.

Bottled Water

You probably already know to stay away from bottled water at the convenience store. Bottled water not only adds plastic to our landfills but also wastes valuable drinking water. Since most taps are regulated and provide clean water to drink, you shouldn’t have to get water from the store.

Instead, opt to bring a reusable water bottle like this tumbler wherever you go. That way you can stay hydrated and the Earth won’t suffer for it.

Paper

1 sheet of A4 paper requires the equivalent of 5 litres of water. Now multiply that by the amount of paper you print and use every day and let that sink in.

Unfortunately, sometimes using paper is unavoidable. Maybe your boss really likes having paper copies. Or perhaps you need to print out and fill in hardcopy forms to submit because that’s required. Regardless, there are still some things you can do to reduce your paper usage.

As always, the first thing you can do is to recycle any paper you dispose of. The second thing you can do is reduce the paper you use by using digital alternatives. Like reading? Use an ebook. Need to communicate? Use email or text. Have notes you need to organize? Evernote’s got your back.

And finally, if you absolutely need paper in your life (perhaps you enjoy journaling), get your paper from eco-friendly sources. There are many companies that produce compostable or sustainable paper materials. Support them, and the environment, by buying from them.

Coffee

Another huge waster of water is your morning cup of joe. A single cup of coffee takes 37 gallons of water to produce from harvesting to brewing. It’ll be hard, but letting go of caffeine will save a lot of water for the planet. It also reduces your carbon footprint. That same cup of coffee also releases 150g of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Instead of drinking coffee, you can try drinking black tea instead. It provides that same caffeine fix but without the intense water requirements.

You might also consider buying your coffee from brands that incorporate eco-friendly cultivation practices into their production. Look for organizations that carry certification labels on their products like Rainforest Alliance or Fair Trade.

With love and compassion,

Team Karunaki

Image by Herbal Hemp from Pixabay 

Ever thought that marijuana of all things could help the environment?

We certainly didn’t.

While it’s not exactly the same plant, hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) comes from the same family as cannabis. However, unlike its cousin, hemp doesn’t make you go high. The herb only contains tiny amounts of THC, the chemical substance that gives marijuana its psychedelic kick.

This begs the question: what IS it good for?

The short answer is a lot of things. Hemp is a super crop with several uses and beneficial properties that make it valuable for a variety of things from being used for industrial building to organic beauty products. Down below we’ve compiled all of this herb’s uses as well as the ways it benefits the environment.

A Natural Building Block

Hemp won’t be going into your lungs, but it’ll definitely be going into other things you’ll find useful.

The fiber in the plant, extracted through retting, or in more recent times, using steam and machinery, is well-known for being a versatile and environmentally-friendly building material. It can be used to make rope, textiles and clothing, bioplastics, paper and even concrete. It’s strong and durable; the strongest, in fact, and is 100% biodegradable, meaning products made from it won’t pollute the environment.

Natural Beauty

The hemp seeds, which don’t contain any potentially intoxicating substances like cannabinoids, can be used to produce hemp oil. And while this oil plays an important role in your kitchen, it is also very popular as a component of organic skincare products.

Hemp oil has been touted as an effective moisturizer that helps reduce acne and wrinkles. Research claims that it provides a huge array of health benefits, including reducing anxiety and inflammation. And the best part? It’s all natural.

Highly Nutritious Food

Hemp seeds are also full of healthy nutrients, namely proteins (they contain all 10 essential amino acids, magnesium and omega-3 fatty acids.

Most people consume hemp by eating the seeds whole or by adding the oil (culinary, not cosmetic) as a meal dressing. Hemp seeds can also be used to make plant-based milk and protein powder, making them an excellent choice for vegan diets in need of a reliable protein source.

However, this piece from Medical News Today also cautions against overconsumption of hemp, as it has been known to induce mild diarrhea in large and sudden doses, as well as disrupt blood-clotting. As always, consult with your doctor to make sure you’re not hurting yourself.

Efficient Biofuel

According to this article, industrial hemp seed oil can also help manufacture environmentally-friendly biodiesel. The stalks of the plant can also be used to create biofuel in the form of methanol and ethanol.

Unfortunately, while the plant does produce a very convenient and effective source of fuel and energy, fuel created with hemp still releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, as it’s still made with ethanol.

It may be one of the best alternatives to fossil fuels, but it won’t be the savior of the planet on its own.

An Easy to Grow and Sustainable Crop

Hemp can be grown anywhere, in cold temperatures and with minimal amounts of water. Add to that natural antibacterial properties that remove the need for pesticides and you have an incredibly easy to grow crop.

The plant also grows very quickly. Hemp reaches maturity after just 120 days, compared to trees which take decades or more or cotton which takes around 140. And this is excluding the heavy amount of artificial fertilizers, pesticides and soil nutrients used during their growth cycles. Hemp is mostly self-reliant, and most of the nutrients it absorbs is returned back to the soil, enriching it and creating a more ideal environment for other crops to grow.

It Sucks Up CO2 Like A Sponge

Most plants absorb carbon dioxide to grow. However, hemp takes in more CO2 per hectare than any other crop on Earth, making it one of the best solutions to global warming, especially when grown in large quantities, more effective than even trees.

Plants, and by extension hemp, do this through a process called sequestration. Atmospheric carbon dioxide is absorbed and is then stored for the rest of the plant’s life, only released into the air once it becomes compost or if it’s burned. After that, it is re-absorbed by other plants in its place. Isn’t that neat?

So Why Isn’t Hemp More Common?

Hemp is by no means a recent discovery. It has a long history that’s spanned a whopping 10,000 years, with records of its cultivation and application dating back to ancient China. However, due to its association with the controversial marijuana, the growing of hemp was banned.

But now times are changing. With the industrial hemp now legal in the United States, we are beginning to see new innovations with this super plant that could create a massive positive impact on the environment.

Hemp has huge potential, and we can’t wait to see what else it has in store. In the meantime, you can feel free to look into hemp products as sustainable alternatives to incorporate into your life. And as always, spread the word to others in your community who may be interested. You never know what interesting discussions may come of it.

With love and compassion,

Team Karunaki