For those of you who have followed this journey from the beginning (thanks!), I’m learning more and more about how my actions have ripple effects. Every single use plastic water bottle or coffee cup I consume sits in a landfill for generations. The bottle has a small chance of ending up as something else, but not indefinitely. The cup, though, that’s a one and done.

Luckily I’m not a huge coffee drinker, and I learned this lesson fairly early, so my small step of bringing my own coffee cup with me to work in the winter and in the car on days I might indulge makes a huge difference. I alone will keep at least 1,400 pounds of coffee cups out of the landfill if I live another sixty years.

What’s even cooler about this, is my choice to reject disposable plastics will trickle down. My toddler will grow up valuing sustainability and using reusable cups.  If she saves 23 pounds a year for her lifetime, the two of us will keep 3,400 pounds out of the landfill. If she has two kids and raises them with these same values, we’re looking at 7400 pounds. Not to mention the friends we’ll all tell, and through our insistence on doing better, perhaps cafes will think of better cups that are recyclable, charge you more for a to go cup, create true culture around sustainable choices.

The image above was from Beautycounter’s recent trip to the Santa Monica beach for National Ocean’s day. I love supporting companies that align with my values- that take an afternoon to clean up the beach and spread the word about sustainability, even though that’s not the first thing you think of when you think of a cosmetics and personal care brand. We’ve taken steps to make all our containers and shipping materials recyclable, balance the cost of shipping glass with the increased likelihood it’ll be recycled.

There’s a lot going on in the world today. It can seem overwhelming at times, but our small decisions and choices can have ripple effects through the immediate present and generations to come. Your choices matter!

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