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GoGreenNation news

California Announces Sustainable Fuels Partnership to Curb Emissions From Planes

News Feed
Thursday, October 31, 2024

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will partner with a trade group representing major U.S. airlines to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuels, state officials said Wednesday.The California Air Resources Board announced a plan with Airlines for America — which represents Delta, JetBlue, United and other airlines — to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuel in the state to 200 million gallons by 2035. That amount would meet about 40% of intrastate travel demand, the agency said. Davina Hurt, a board member and chair of the San Francisco Bay Area's Air Quality Management District, said the commitment would help the state combat climate change and improve air quality.“Together we are not just taking a step forward in cleaner fuels but creating a ripple effect of positive change that will resonate throughout the nine counties of the Bay Area and extend to the state of California and beyond,” Hurt said at a news conference at the San Francisco International Airport.California produces about 11 million gallons annually of sustainable aviation fuel, according to the board. The state plans to use sustainable aviation fuel produced in California and in other states to meet the new targets.The announcement comes after some airline workers and advocates said the state is not doing enough to address the health impacts of jet fuel emissions. Air Resources Board staff last year included jet fuel in proposed updates to the state's low carbon fuel standard, a program aimed at transitioning the state toward transportation fuels that emit fewer greenhouse gas emissions. But staff later removed jet fuel from proposed changes to the rule, which the board is set to vote on next week.President Joe Biden's administration has also set targets for curbing jet fuel emissions. Biden announced a goal in 2021 to reduce aviation emissions 20% by 2030 and replace all kerosene-based jet fuel with sustainable fuel by 2050. Planes contributed about 9% of planet-warming emissions from the transportation sector in the U.S. in 2022, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Emissions from cars and trucks account for the majority of greenhouse gas releases from transportation. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who often touts the state's status as a climate leader, said the new commitment will help the state and industry “tackle emissions head-on.”“This is a major step forward in our work to cut pollution, protect our communities, and build a future of cleaner air and innovative climate solutions,” he said in a statement.Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on Twitter: @ sophieadannaCopyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

California is partnering with a major airline trade group to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuels in the state

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California will partner with a trade group representing major U.S. airlines to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuels, state officials said Wednesday.

The California Air Resources Board announced a plan with Airlines for America — which represents Delta, JetBlue, United and other airlines — to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuel in the state to 200 million gallons by 2035. That amount would meet about 40% of intrastate travel demand, the agency said.

Davina Hurt, a board member and chair of the San Francisco Bay Area's Air Quality Management District, said the commitment would help the state combat climate change and improve air quality.

“Together we are not just taking a step forward in cleaner fuels but creating a ripple effect of positive change that will resonate throughout the nine counties of the Bay Area and extend to the state of California and beyond,” Hurt said at a news conference at the San Francisco International Airport.

California produces about 11 million gallons annually of sustainable aviation fuel, according to the board. The state plans to use sustainable aviation fuel produced in California and in other states to meet the new targets.

The announcement comes after some airline workers and advocates said the state is not doing enough to address the health impacts of jet fuel emissions. Air Resources Board staff last year included jet fuel in proposed updates to the state's low carbon fuel standard, a program aimed at transitioning the state toward transportation fuels that emit fewer greenhouse gas emissions. But staff later removed jet fuel from proposed changes to the rule, which the board is set to vote on next week.

President Joe Biden's administration has also set targets for curbing jet fuel emissions. Biden announced a goal in 2021 to reduce aviation emissions 20% by 2030 and replace all kerosene-based jet fuel with sustainable fuel by 2050.

Planes contributed about 9% of planet-warming emissions from the transportation sector in the U.S. in 2022, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Emissions from cars and trucks account for the majority of greenhouse gas releases from transportation.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who often touts the state's status as a climate leader, said the new commitment will help the state and industry “tackle emissions head-on.”

“This is a major step forward in our work to cut pollution, protect our communities, and build a future of cleaner air and innovative climate solutions,” he said in a statement.

Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on Twitter: @ sophieadanna

Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

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Environmentally harmful Christmas gifts to avoid

Our obsession with consumption and plastic is not sustainable.

It’s fun to indulge in the nostalgia of snowy Norman Rockwell Christmas scenes filled with wholesome candle-lit family joy. The happy faces in the famous paintings appear thankful and content with whatever gift they received—be it a wooden spinning top, a pair of shoes, or a bicycle. You can almost imagine a local carpenter or factory making the gifts a town or two over rather than a far-away plastic toy factory in China. Those days of sustainable, locally hand-carved furniture, wooden toys, quality clothing, homemade blankets, and quilts that could be passed down through generations seem mostly long gone. Instead, what lies beneath the warm and merry veil of today’s Christmases is an obsession with consumption that drives human and environmental tragedy. “Many people in the global north tend to think that it is their right and that it is normal to consume the amount that we consume today,” Vivian Frick, a sustainability researcher at the Institute for Ecological Economy Research in Germany, told Popular Science. “They often completely forget that the consumption level that we have depends on exploiting other countries, having cheap resources from other countries, and having cheap labor.”While burning fossil fuels for energy and transport contributes to 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions, reducing it requires systemic change at the international level to make a real, lasting difference. Although it doesn’t seem like it, given the lack of climate action at the COP29 climate conference in November, it’s far easier for 195 countries to agree on climate-friendly policy than to ask 8 billion people to carpool or stop eating cheeseburgers. That said, our personal choices can still make a difference. While some may be unable to stop driving or air-conditioning their homes–since we live in an industrialized society where fossil fuel consumption is a mostly fixed part of the current system — we can help by consuming less in our day-to-day lives. That can be as simple as being more mindful about what you gift friends and family for Christmas. Dirty SantaAlmost every Christmas gift affects the environment and humans in some way. Whether it’s a cheap single-use plastic product or metals mined using child or slave labor, it has likely caused a lot of suffering and pollution on its long manufacturing journey from the ground to your hands. For example, over 90% of children’s toys sold in the U.S. are made from plastics derived from crude oil—the same stuff that fossil fuel companies pump from the ground to keep your car running and economies ticking over. More than 80% of those toys are manufactured in China. After fossil fuel companies extract the crude oil from the ground, it travels thousands of miles via pipelines or oil tankers to a refinery. Once there, the oil is processed into materials called feedstocks and moved to petrochemical plants, where they are converted into plastic resins or pellets. Then they go to the factories to create almost everything in your home, wardrobe, and, honestly, life. Anything made in China has to be transported at least 7,200 miles across the Pacific Ocean. The effort is staggering. For example, parents report that children lose interest in new toys within hours. Most toys are forgotten within a month, and over 80% of plastic toys end up in landfills, according to a May 2022 study in the Journal of Sustainable Production and Consumption.The problem doesn’t stop there. About 70% of all clothing is made from crude oil-derived synthetics like polyester, nylon, and acrylic and manufactured in China, Vietnam, India, and other developing countries. This system is known as fast fashion. The clothing is made quickly and cheaply to keep up with the latest trends. It’s known to fall apart quickly.Around 11 million tons of clothing end up in U.S. landfills every year. The same applies to furniture and electronics. But this culture of unsustainable consumption didn’t start recently. Society’s transition from wanting very little to wanting everything began decades ago. Scientific advances during World War II led to our love-hate relationship with mass-produced plastic and our current throwaway culture. It began to take hold in the late 1940s, just as Americans entered an era free from war and economic depression. Families had more disposable income and time to watch the latest, humanity-altering invention: the television. Oh, and the baby boom. All combined, it created a new consumer market and an easy way to reach them. The U.S. toy industry’s sales skyrocketed from $84 million in 1940 to $900 million by 1953. Last year, toy sales hit $40 billion. Today, refined crude oil is used in many products: clothes, soaps, toothpaste, toilet seats, bedsheets, water pipes, food preservatives, and even aspirin. If you’re not sleeping in, wearing, sitting on, drinking, or eating a type of refined crude oil, you’re probably not reading this. Maybe you’re living in a cave. But it’s not just toys or fast fashion that make Christmas gifts unsustainable. Here are some of the most common and surprising gifts you should avoid.ElectronicsModern electronics, like smartphones and tablets, often require frequent upgrades, leading to significant e-waste. Producing these devices relies on mining rare earth minerals, which damages ecosystems, consumes massive amounts of energy, and harms local communities. Even when recycling programs exist, only a fraction of electronic components are recovered, increasing waste.Single-use beauty gift setsPre-packaged beauty sets are a popular holiday gift but often include non-recyclable plastic containers and unnecessary wrapping. Excessive packaging adds to landfill waste, and the single-use nature of products—like small lotions or disposable accessories—means they are quickly used and discarded. Opt for sustainable alternatives with minimal packaging.Subscription boxes with excess packagingWhile convenient, monthly subscription boxes generate significant waste. Each shipment typically includes single-use plastics, bubble wrap, or foam fillers, much of which cannot be recycled. The repetitive deliveries contribute to carbon emissions from shipping, and the short lifespan of box contents often adds to household clutter and waste.Candles with paraffin waxParaffin wax candles are made from petroleum byproducts, meaning they are unsustainable and release harmful toxins like benzene and toluene when burned. These emissions contribute to indoor air pollution. More sustainable alternatives, like soy or beeswax candles, burn cleaner, last longer, and have a lower environmental impact.Synthetic perfumes or fragrancesSynthetic perfumes rely heavily on petrochemicals derived from non-renewable resources like crude oil. The production process consumes high energy and generates chemical waste. Additionally, synthetic fragrance chemicals are often not biodegradable, contributing to long-term pollution when washed away or released into the environment.Mass-produced jewelryMass-produced jewelry frequently relies on unsustainable mining practices to source metals and stones. This process causes deforestation, soil erosion, and water contamination. Ethical concerns, such as poor working conditions and conflict materials, further complicate its impact. Choosing recycled metals or sustainably sourced alternatives reduces environmental harm.Chocolate from unsustainable sourcesUnsustainably sourced chocolate contributes to deforestation, as forests are cleared for cocoa plantations. Producing chocolate often involves unethical labor practices. Chocolate also uses unsustainable palm oil, harming habitats and wildlife. Opt for fair-trade or sustainably certified chocolate to minimize environmental and ethical harm.Bonus: these ain’t great either.Glitter-covered items – Microplastics that pollute waterways.Plastic-based beauty products – Microbeads also pollute our waters.Gadgets with non-recyclable batteries – Leads to e-waste.Pod coffee machines – Pods are hard to recycle effectively.Gas-powered tools – Emit greenhouse gases and harmful particulates.Gift cards to unsustainable chains – Supports factory farming and deforestation.Exotic pets – Harms wild ecosystems through poaching.Frequent flyer miles – Encourages carbon-intensive air travel.

Sustainable
Chemicals
Culture

Book Review: This Relationship Shaped Rachel Carson’s Environmental Ethos

The connection between queer love and the power to imagine a more sustainable future

December 17, 20244 min readBook Review: This Relationship Shaped Rachel Carson’s Environmental EthosThe connection between queer love and the power to imagine a more sustainable futureBy Brooke BorelNONFICTIONRachel Carson and the Power of Queer Loveby Lida Maxwell.Stanford University Press, 2025 ($25)On a summer night in the mid-1950s, two women lay side by side on Dogfish Head, a spit of land on Maine’s jagged coast where a river meets the ocean. They took in the dazzling stars, the smudged filaments of the Milky Way, the occasional flash of a meteor. One woman was Rachel Carson, who would become well known for her book Silent Spring and its galvanization of the modern environmental movement; the other, Dorothy Freeman, was Carson’s mar­­ried neighbor. The two had been drawn together from the moment they met in 1953 on Southport Island, Maine, and remained close until 1964, when Carson died of cancer. It was Freeman who scattered Carson’s ashes.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.The scene on Dogfish Head may sound romantic, and Lida Maxwell’s new book, Rachel Carson and the Power of Queer Love, argues that it indeed was. Maxwell, a professor of political science and of women, gender and sexuality studies at Boston University, explores the intimate bond between Carson and Freeman by drawing, in part, from a trove of personal letters. The book’s message is that the relationship holds a lesson for our modern climate crisis, especially for those of us willing to find meaning outside our culture’s dominant narratives.The correspondence is telling. Carson professes strong feelings after just a few letters (“Because I love you! Now I could go on and tell you some of the reasons why I do, but that would take quite a while, and I think the simple fact covers everything …”). The two call each other “darling” and “sweetheart.” During the stretches they spend physically apart, they express what can easily be read as queer yearning, as when Freeman writes: “How I would love to curl up beside you on a sofa in the study with a fire to gaze into and just talk on and on.”There is also reference to the hundreds of letters we’ll never read because the two women burned them, perhaps in that same fireplace. As Martha Freeman, Dorothy’s granddaughter, told Maxwell, “Rachel and Dorothy were initially cautious about the romantic tone and terminology of their correspondence.”Was Carson a lesbian? The answer has long been the source of speculation. It’s impossible to know; she’s not known to have publicly identified as such. To Maxwell, though, this question is beside the point: “Whether or not their love was ‘homosexual,’ to use the language of the time, it was certainly queer. It drew them out of conventional forms of marriage and family and allowed them to find happiness where their society told them they weren’t supposed to: in loving each other and the world of non­­human nature.”Queer love is a rejection of what Maxwell calls “the ideology of straight love,” or the pursuit of “the good life” through marriage, buying and decorating a house, having and raising children, and participating in the treadmill of consumer culture to keep it all running. Because Carson and Freeman’s love was queer, Maxwell argues, they had no template with which to explore it. Instead they created a new language, expressed through a shared love of nature: the song of the veery, the Maine tide pools, the woods between their houses. This avenue for connection and meaning making, Maxwell argues, is what made Carson’s Silent Spring possible—it changed her from a writer who captured the wonder of nature to one advocating to save it.How does this apply to the climate crisis? “As perhaps is obvious,” Maxwell writes, “the tight connection of the ideology of straight love with consumption is also bad for our climate because it ties our intimate happiness to unsustainable ways of living.” To truly achieve meaningful climate policy, she continues, we’ll need to expand our “visceral imaginary of what a good life could be.” The queer version embraces a “vibrant multispecies world” where we seek “desire and pleasure outside of the ideologies of capitalism and straight love.” These specific points, made through­out the book, are at times repetitive and can feel didactic.Some readers, particularly straight readers, may bristle at all this. After all, plenty of people who don’t identify as queer opt out of consumerism and fight climate change. Straight people can reject the hetero­normative story; queer people are not immune to it. But the point of the book isn’t that we should take individual action—it’s about broader structures and narratives. As a queer woman who spent a decade in a hetero­normative marriage, I know how seductive the call of that particular “good life” can be; I also know the liberation of building something new. Max well’s book holds lessons for all readers about ac­­knowledging, and then escaping, the structures that ensnare us.Carson and Freeman found the way through their decidedly queer, deeply romantic, long-­lasting love. Even when they were apart, they imagined themselves together. As Freeman writes during one of these spells: “You and I have been walking on the Head in the moonlight. Do you remember the night we lay there in that lovely light? I told you you looked like alabaster. You did. How happy we were then.”

Sustainable
Climate
Crisis

New Zealand Inks 'Sustainable' Trade Deal With Switzerland, Costa Rica and Iceland

SYDNEY (Reuters) - New Zealand signed a trade deal on Saturday with Switzerland, Costa Rica and Iceland to remove tariffs on hundreds of...

SYDNEY (Reuters) - New Zealand signed a trade deal on Saturday with Switzerland, Costa Rica and Iceland to remove tariffs on hundreds of sustainable goods and services, in a move Wellington says will boost the country's export sector.The Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS) was signed at a ceremony during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Peru on Saturday after being struck in July, Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay said in a statement."This agreement removes tariffs on key exports including 45 wood and wool products — two sectors that are vital to achieving our goal of doubling New Zealand's exports by value in 10 years," McClay said."It will also reduce costs for consumers, removing tariffs on hundreds of other products, including insulation materials, recycled paper, and energy-saving products such as LED lamps and rechargeable batteries."The deal prioritised New Zealand's "sustainable exports", he said, amid a roll back by the country's centre-right government of environmental reforms in a bid to boost a flailing economy. Exports make up nearly a quarter of New Zealand's economy.(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Sandra Maler)Copyright 2024 Thomson Reuters.Photos You Should See - Sept. 2024

Sustainable
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California inks sustainable aviation fuel deal with major airlines

California on Wednesday signed an agreement with the country's leading passenger and cargo airlines to accelerate the use of sustainable aviation fuels across the state. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Airlines for America (A4A) — an industry trade group representing almost a dozen airlines — pledged to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuels statewide....

California on Wednesday signed an agreement with the country's leading passenger and cargo airlines to accelerate the use of sustainable aviation fuels across the state. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and Airlines for America (A4A) — an industry trade group representing almost a dozen airlines — pledged to increase the availability of sustainable aviation fuels statewide. Sustainable aviation fuels, lower-carbon alternatives to petroleum-based jet fuels, are typically made from non-petroleum feedstocks, such as biomass or waste.  At a San Francisco International Airport ceremony on Wednesday, the partners committed to using 200 million gallons of such fuels by 2035 — an amount estimated to meet about 40 percent of travel demand within the state at that point, according to CARB. That quantity also represents a more than tenfold increase from current usage levels of these fuels, the agency added. "This is a major step forward in our work to cut pollution, protect our communities, and build a future of cleaner air and innovative climate solutions," Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said in a statement. Among A4A member airlines are Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Atlas Air Worldwide, Delta Air Lines, FedEx, Hawaiian Airlines, jetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, United Airlines and UPS, while Air Canada is an associate member. To achieve the 2035 goals, CARB and A4A said they plan to work together to identify, assess and prioritize necessary policies measures, such as incentivizing relevant investments and the streamlining permitting processes. A Sustainable Aviation Fuel Working Group, which will include government and industry stakeholders, will meet annually to both discuss progress and address barriers toward meeting these goals, the partners added. A public website will display updated information about the availability and use of conventional and sustainable fuels across California, while also providing details about state policies, according to the agreement. “We’ve put the tools in place to incentivize cleaner fuels and spur innovation, creating opportunities like this to radically change how Californians can travel cleaner," Newsom said. Kevin Welsh, chief sustainability officer for A4A, stressed the importance of this government-private sector partnership, which he described as "necessary to achieve ambitious climate goals." This effort will help support the "industry's efforts to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050," he added, referring to a 2021 resolution passed by the International Air Transport Association. Like the U.S. airline industry, the federal government has also mounted a push for the integration of sustainable aviation fuel — offering tax credits for its use via the Inflation Reduction Act. Nonetheless, some experts maintain that sustainable aviation fuel is anything but sustainable, since plant-based fuel sourcing can require the diversion of valuable lands away from crop cultivation and thereby increase emissions. The World Resources Institute noted that 1.7 gallons of corn ethanol are required to make 1 gallon of sustainable aviation fuel — necessitating corn acreage expansion that could jeopardize forests and grasslands. The agreement signed on Wednesday, however, expressed a commitment to "ensuring the sustainability and environmental integrity of feedstocks," by prioritizing the use wastes and residues in these power sources. “This partnership with the nation’s leading airlines brings the aviation industry onboard to advance a clean air future," CARB Chair Liane Randolph said in a statement. The agreement, Randolph added, will accelerate the "development of sustainable fuel options and promote cleaner air travel within the state.”

Sustainable
Climate
Government

Pumpkin soup and DIY fake blood: how to be more sustainable this Halloween

The environmental footprint of this holiday is frightening – here are ways to celebrate responsibly and still have funHalloween is just around the corner, with millions of children gearing up to put on their favorite costumes and flock to the streets for trick-or-treating. Spooky skeletons and glowing jack-o’-lanterns are adorning homes that have gone all out to celebrate a night of fright. But the truly scariest part of the holiday might just be the plastic waste left behind after the festivities end.The environmental footprint of Halloween is staggering. Continue reading...

Halloween is just around the corner, with millions of children gearing up to put on their favorite costumes and flock to the streets for trick-or-treating. Spooky skeletons and glowing jack-o’-lanterns are adorning homes that have gone all out to celebrate a night of fright. But the truly scariest part of the holiday might just be the plastic waste left behind after the festivities end.The environmental footprint of Halloween is staggering.A 2019 study out of the UK found that 83% of materials used for Halloween costumes are made from non-recyclable plastic. “They’re basically destined for a landfill near you,” said Lexy Silverstein, sustainable fashion advocate. This year, US shoppers are anticipated to spend more than $11bn on candy, decorations, costumes, parties and pumpkins. Here are some ways to celebrate Halloween more sustainably.1. Shop your closet or a thrift storeWhen buying any piece of clothing, it can be worth asking yourself: how many times am I going to wear this item? Where am I going to wear it? And what am I going to wear it with?These questions are harder to answer when it comes to buying a single-use Halloween costume that’s unlikely to be reworn another time. According to the Fashion Transparency Index, there are enough clothes in the world to dress the next six generations of people. Try finding a costume at a thrift store, and look out for clothes that you can rewear next Halloween or for regular occasions.“I really challenge everyone this year to shop your own closet,” said Silverstein. For example, a regular white button-up shirt can be used for a multitude of costumes such as the titular character of movie classic Risky Business. A striped shirt, bobble hat and round glasses are all the components you need for a Where’s Waldo costume. And working with colors you already own in your closet, such as all green or head-to-toe pink, can go with a multitude of iconic characters such as Barbie and Glinda.2. DIY or borrowSome of the most memorable Halloween costumes can be the ones created with your own hands, whether it’s cardboard butterfly wings or a jellyfish made out of an umbrella and some scrap materials. For parents of ever-growing children, making a simple cape can work for a princess, a superhero and a magician, among others. The best part: capes can be adjustable so they won’t grow out of them as quickly, lasting them several Halloweens.Hosting a costume swap is another way to minimize buying single-use outfits. Is there a costume your friend wore that one time that you’re dying to recreate? You can ask to borrow it or swap for one of yours.“Last year, my friend went as Padme and Anakin with her partner, and this year I’m going as Padme and Anakin with my partner,” said Silverstein. “I’m just repurposing her costume from last year and part of my costume is rented.”3. Try recreating a look with face makeupA lot of mass-produced costumes found in UK stores are made with thin synthetic materials such as nylon. They may be cheap but they are also highly flammable. In the UK, Halloween costumes are classified as toys and are not required to be flame-resistant or flame-retardant, meaning they can potentially catch fire if exposed to an open flame, and can be hard to extinguish quickly. This very thing happened to the daughter of television presenter Claudia Winkleman in 2014. A recent assessment out of the UK of costumes for children under seven has found that more than 80% of tested costumes have failed basic safety tests for flammability and strangulation from cords.In the US, thanks to the Flammable Fabrics Act, costumes sold at retail stores are required to be flame-resistant, but it doesn’t mean that the costume can’t burn, and it doesn’t solve all issues related to concerns about toxic chemicals found in Halloween costumes. Vinyl face masks can potentially expose people to heavy metals and ones made with flexible plastic are highly likely to contain phthalates.Opting to recreate the mask through face-painting may seem like a better alternative, but many conventional face paints can contain lead, arsenic and mercury. Experts recommend using regular drugstore makeup and cosmetic-grade face paint, as they have stricter regulations.And if you really want to know what goes into the products applied to your face, why not try some items found in kitchen cabinets? You can make fake blood from corn syrup, beet juice and cocoa powder.4. Ditch the cobwebsIt might be tempting to deck your front yard or stoop with fake spiderwebs this season. But these cotton-like cobwebs can be a death trap for wildlife. They’re often placed in trees and bushes and on windowsills, where birds and other small animals can get trapped in them, risking injury or death. Instead, window displays with a light-up LED web or a crocheted cobweb can be a safer and a more long-lasting alternative that can be reused in future decorations.“Every time I see a fake spiderweb drawn onto a window that is thrilling to me, because it looks great, it celebrates the holiday spirit, but it also eliminates a threat to birds, which is window collisions,” said Dustin Partridge, director of conservation and science at New York City Bird Alliance. Millions of birds die each year due to window collisions, many of them during migration, which is happening right now. “Painted spiderwebs or stickers can block out a reflective window and that can actually save birds.”5. Turn pumpkins into soupEach year, the US harvests about 2bn lbs of pumpkins to sell whole. One of the ways to utilize it for purposes beyond decor is using the flesh for soup and roasting up the seeds.It might be tempting to make your carved pumpkin stand out by spraying it with hairspray or glitter, but that can limit the ways it can be repurposed once festivities end. “Avoid spraying down your pumpkins and find a good use for them afterward,” said Partridge.After the celebrations are over, you might be wondering what to do with all the jack-o’-lanterns decking the halls of Halloween’s past. One satisfying way is to smash them up and compost them. Some zoos and farmers even accept them as feed for animals.“So much of the concern of consumption is put on the consumer, but really the onus is on these corporations capitalizing on these holidays,” said Katrina Caspelich, chief marketing officer for Remake, a non-profit advocating against fast fashion. “They really just need to create less stuff. How many Halloween costumes do we need?”Remember that it’s not all on you. Trying to reduce the footprint of this holiday can be hard when companies constantly churn out these single-use products. Halloween candy is one of the largest contributors to plastic waste.“[We’re] focused on developing packaging that adheres to the highest standards for food safety while also being fully recyclable, compostable or reusable in order to reduce the environmental footprint of confectionery packaging,” said Carly Schildhaus of the National Confectioners Association. “There’s also a role for federal, state and local governments to play in repairing and advancing the nation’s broken recycling infrastructure, which cannot yet fully address flexible packaging.”Some candy companies have been distributing collection bags to recycle the candy wrappers to turn into dog poo bags. But that only addresses a small part of the greater plastic problem from this holiday.

Sustainable
Waste
Business

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