Today I’ll walk you through what we did so that hopefully you can make the most of this strange summer safely, with just a good friend (or family that you live with!) and a little patch of grass.

We’d connected with Tatiana of Zuahaza earlier this year with a tour of her creative studio in Bogota here on eco club. Zuahaza’s ethically made home décor are designed and produced in collaboration with their local community of female artisans. Tatiana is a fiber artist herself so it’s very inspiring to see how she combined so many of her own passions into this sustainable business.

She mailed us Zuahaza’s Salento Pillow and Jardin Pillow. When possible, I love to personally experience the brands we add to our sustainable shopping directory. I know there’s a bit of risk in not being personally involved with each & every one, but we’re also mindful of each member’s budgets and the fact that quite honestly we don’t need that much product. The pillows were beautifully made using 100% organic cotton and vibrant natural dyes. And as mentioned, they’re SO soft. So I brought those, along with several pillows I’d collected from Etsy for my balcony, over to summer happy hour with Charity.

Next we made this tasty cantaloupe margarita recipe by Charity’s sister, Katie Hestead, who is a cocktail expert!

Click here to view her cantaloupe aperol mint frozen margarita recipe. It was the perfect summer cocktail for real. We garnished with mint and edible flowers from Charity’s garden and took 9 million photos because that’s what we do with pretty drinks ‘round here.

A few suggested accessories for such an afternoon: snacks like fresh fruits & veggies, sun wear and care, a fun little raffia fan (I use them as wall décor so I have a few around), journals or books or magazines, and a camera if you’re in the mood to get creative and share your pretty scene with your Insta community.

And more cantaloupe margaritas.

How are you making the most of your summer during COVID? Let’s all be sure to check in on our friends and try to lift people up when we can. Even the tiniest activity like those above can be difficult to be motivated to do when you’re feeling down.

Shop Zuahaza on their website or via eco club member Made Trade.

The post Making The Most Of Summer During Covid-19 appeared first on Eco Club.

This isn’t the case for everyone, but if you do find yourself with a little more time on your hands, consider using some of it to make a few simple lifestyle changes in an effort to become more eco-friendly in the long run. I intentionally kept these tips as more of an intro because I want you to know that there is always something you can do, even if you don’t live in an area with as many resources (or encouragement!) as Seattle to ‘be green’.

How to be eco-friendly during quarantine

Mindful habits. With quarantine forcing a lot of us to slow down, we have the opportunity to reflect more on our lifestyles and try improving personal habits. Before you could practice touching your face less, you had to notice how much you were doing it before, right?

Now is a great time to think about which lifestyle habits could be made more eco-friendly too—whether it’s washing bottles and cans right away so you can recycle them properly or using meal planning to make the most of limited grocery trips and ultimately waste less money and food. It’s such a great time to get the whole household on the same page, too.

Single use swaps. Decreasing your reliance on single use items in favor of reusable ones is a great way to lower your environmental impact, but it can be tricky to get in the habit of. If you’ve been thinking of how to go “green”, now is the time to get a feel for it. An easy start? Try swapping out paper towels for cloth napkins. Right now it actually makes you more resourceful… it lessens your reliance on popular “stock up” items which will make you feel a little more empowered getting through this crisis—and beyond.

Another quick, practical swap is changing from dryer sheets to (sustainably made) wool dryer balls. They eliminate the need for throwaway dryer sheets and work just as well. (I hate static so I was a bit apprehensive at first, but they do the trick!) If you like them scented, you can make them smell exactly how you want with essential oils, or keep them fragrance-free. It’s freeing not to rely on a grocery trips for some of these everyday items.

Lastly, another way to be more eco-friendly during quarantine is to master recycling. In the United States, trash removal and recycling programs vary widely and are extremely confusing to keep up with. This is because it’s not streamlined at a national or even state levels. It’s usually counties or individual cities that dictate their own waste programs based on local resources (and/or demand). Even then, there are tons of items that need to be disposed of different ways in order to be recycled, such as textiles and trickier plastics. For example, this year Seattle announced that it would no longer be picking up plastic films along with the rest of weekly recycling. Instead, we need to take them to a different recycling center (where they won’t interfere with the other machines). There’s truly so much to learn about recycling in each area, and I can see why people stick to the basics. It seems like a daunting task, but it feels so good to know that everything is going in the right place.

Would you like to see more in-depth advice on any of the tips above? If you’ve already started on this, share your favorite single use swaps or recycling tips below to teach others how to be eco-friendly during quarantine.

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