ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Do Something About Climate Change And Polluted Oceans
Lower Your Carbon Footprint And Clean Up Our Beaches
Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of Earth Day. Our firm’s founder Ingrid M. Evans and all of us at Evans Law Firm, Inc. long to see the world embrace the revolutionary fieriness of the original Earth Day from 1970. A young Colombian American activist says it best:
“In 2020, it’s time to bring back the revolutionary spirit of Earth Day. No more greenwashing, no more corporations using the holiday as an excuse to make a few half-assed tweaks here and there and pretend that those are going to substitute for the radical change actually needed for us to save all life on Earth.”
- Jamie Margolin, Colombian American youth climate activist and a co-founder of Zero Hour[1]
Anyone who knows Ingrid knows she has that revolutionary spirit for radical change. She’s for action now – not tomorrow. That’s how she approaches her law practice and her commitment to saving the planet. Political and community activism are essential. So are personal steps we take as individuals and families in our everyday lives. Ingrid’s #take10leavenone beach cleanup initiative inspires us every time we’re at Half Moon Bay, Stinson Beach, or another beautiful stretch of California coast.
Share with Ingrid in making a real commitment today to saving the planet. Share your love of the planet Earth with your children and all young people – it will soon be their responsibility. Integrate sound ecological practices into their lives but – FIRST – your own. Here are a few of Ingrid’s ideas:
EATING:
- Consider a little less meat in the family’s diet. Raising livestock generates as much greenhouse gas emissions as all cars and trucks combined.
- Shop at Farmers’ Markets and buy only fruits/veggies/eggs/milk/cheese/chicken that are in season and local (there are major carbon emissions in transporting food).
- Shop at a coop like Rainbow Coop (also available on Instacart if you like home delivery) if you can’t find everything you need at Farmers’ Markets.
HOME HEATING AND ELECTRICITY:
- OhmConnect: If you haven’t already signed up for this, it is a NO BRAINER. Basically it works like this – when the grid gets overused, the utility company must switch to a power plant that uses dirty energy. They can foresee when this is going to happen so they text you (generally the day before) when they are going to have to turn on the plant (it’s called a OhmHour). You minimize the electricity used in your home during that hour (only have lights on in the rooms where you are, wait until later to do laundry, run the dishwasher, etc) and you earn points/cash back.
- CleanPowerSF.org: Sign up to switch your electric bill for your home (and/or business) over to clean power (you can do 33%, 43% or 100% renewable energy).
- Solar Panels: Look into adding solar panels to your home.
- Lights: Use more natural light (open curtains and try to avoid using lights during the day). Check to make sure all of the lightbulbs in/outside our house are energy saving bulbs.
- Hang dry clothes when possible.
TRANSPORTATION:
- Car: if you need a new car, consider a used electric car (“used” is important because approximately 20% of a cars carbon footprint is from factory to owner – i.e. production, shipping etc).
- Ride a bike to work or use public transportation. (All the staff at Evans Law Firm comes to work by public transportation!)
HOUSEKEEPING IDEAS
- Try to order fewer things via delivery. Delivery means more carbon emissions.
- Eat out at nearby restaurants instead of Ubering all over City.
- As new appliances are needed, switch to EnergyStar.
- The City of San Francisco will switch your toilets / shower heads / faucets to low flow FOR FREE.
- Turning your thermostat down just 1 degree can make a difference.
- Consider solar panels.
- When cooking, try and have your oven do double duty – by cooking two dishes at once.
- Use a tank water heater system as a tankless system takes time for the water to heat prior to use.
- Use LED lights.
- You don’t have to use water to rinse out recyclables.
- Re-use plastic containers to keep leftovers; just add a tape label so you know what’s in the container.
- Make sure your home is well-insulated and the heat may never come on in our mild climate.
- Plant drought tolerant landscaping and consider a grey water system for watering your yard.
CLOTHING
- Shop at thrift stores or Goodwill for some things as the apparel industry is one of the biggest consumers of water!
- Consider eco-friendly clothing brands. This blog has a useful list of some brands: https://www.buzzfeed.com/whitneyjefferson/eco-friendly-clothing-brands?utm_term=.pcmBvx16gk#.ocEGQNY92p.
CHILDCARE
- Use cloth or compostable diapers like Earth Baby.
- Use compostable/biodegradable wipes by Eco by Naty or Green Works.
- Re-use children’s clothing whenever possible for younger siblings or friends’ children.
- Chocolates are available in compostable wrappers (Alter Eco) or you can buy in bulk (wrapped in recyclable foil) at Rainbow Coop.
AVOID PLASTICS!!
- Chlorinated plastic releases harmful chemicals into the ground, which can then seep into groundwater, nearby surface water sources and the world’s ecosystem.
- In addition, the amount of plastic in our oceans threatens wildlife and humans both.
- Make a pledge not to use single-use plastic! Use reusable water bottles/tap water with filtration system.
INVOLVE YOUR CHILDREN IN ALL YOUR STEPS TO REDUCE CARBON
- Have your child help with composting and recycling.
- Plant vegetables and tomatoes in the yard and have fun watching the plants grow and picking.
- One Mother whose child felt overwhelmed by climate change worries, channeled her daughter’s anxiety into a bake sale to raise money for an organization fighting for change.
- Educate your children on the reality of climate change, the importance of recycling and the dangers of waste.
SAVING OUR OCEANS
#take10leavenone
Our founder Ingrid M. Evans has started a #take10leavenone campaign that encourages beach clean-up projects and inspires beachgoers with a simple job every time they go to the beach:
~~ take 10 pieces of trash when you leave a beach and leave none behind ~~
Share Ingrid’s #take10leavenone message with young people. Maintaining the natural beauty of our California coastline will be their responsibility in the years to come. Imagine what we could accomplish if everyone left the beach every time with #take10leavenone!
Keep the spirit of Earth Day alive every day:
“Let this day be a porthole through which we look out on the vastness of ecological time, laughing in retrospect at our small-minded schedules and wondering how we might act in different ones. If we agreed to do that, I wouldn’t be surprised if the effects of Earth Day cascaded into all our other days.”
— Jenny Odell, artist and writer based in Oakland, California[2]
[1] From “Earth Day at 50”, Sierra Magazine, March/April 2020.
[2] Id.
