Black Friday?? Let's make it more like GREEN Friday

Happy day after thanksgiving!

If you want, skip to the list at the end of this post for a list of good places to buy from instead of always getting fast fashion/new clothing.

If there's one thing that I know we can do as individuals in lessening our environmental impact, it is lessening our consumption as one way of putting our money where our mouth is (or at least where my mouth is in my case!). Supporting ethical, environmentally conscious companies is a choice that I try to make as often as possible. Because they're often more expensive, it certainly means shopping less often and sometimes having to go to Target or Walmart to get something that I just can't afford buying at a more ethical/more expensive seller.

Buying clothes that are made from large companies that you find in most shopping malls like Forever 21, American Eagle, and Urban Outfitters (whose clothes I guiltily love), are often mass produced in countries with fewer workers rights and wage laws, and often take advantage of the poor and marginalized in order to make a huge profit in places like Europe and the United States. Plus, there are MILLIONS of pieces of clothing currently in circulation that are lightly worn or used. Trust me, I love getting something brand new as much as the next person, but I don't need every single item I buy to be brand new. Especially things like sweaters, jeans, pants, jackets, etc.

Even companies like Goodwill and Salvation Army have some sketchy practices and don't always treat their workers well...

However: nothing in this world is black & white. I know Goodwill does some good work, so I'll often shop at the local Goodwill with my friends rather than running to Target or Goodwill.

Here's how I rank and prioritize the different clothing items I buy, where I look for and buy it from, and some of the general philosophies I try to live by:

For Used Clothes (shirts, sweaters, jeans, pants, jackets), Shoes, Costumes, Furniture, Gifts, Kitchen supplies, Beach supplies, Cloth for sewing or repairing, Random odds & ends:

1. First I would try and check local thrift shops (aka not Goodwill and Salvation army. Cute church-run ones, or other local non-profits that run thrift shops are really great to support)

2.  Goodwill, Habitat for Humanity, or other national, larger thrift stores. These places are gonna be more sustainable than buying brand new, as you're still circulating and essentially recycling materials. Plus, the jeans I find are always nice and worn in already, and I feel less guilty about cropping sweaters, sweatshirts, or shirts myself if I bought 'em used.

3. eBay, Poshmark, ThreadUp and other online thrift stores & apps. I literally barely buy new shoes anymore thanks to eBay. This is also a great way to save money if you're looking for specific brands (like I am sometimes with Chacos, Tevas, and generally stuff that I would be buying new at REI if it weren't for places like eBay)

3. Your local "Buy & Sell" or "Free & For Sale" Facebook pages! I know this is much easier to find and be a part of on a university campus, but I know that a lot of these pages exist, and especially are really helpful for bigger stuff like furniture, kitchen and home supplies, etc.

For New Clothes like underwear, basics, and other more specific things:

1. Check out this list of sustainably sourced & ethical clothing companies!! https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/fair-trade-clothing
One of those companies that I've bought from is PACT, and I got a bunch of their (rather P R I C E Y) organic cotton undies, but I fell in love with them. I started by ordering 3 pairs and ended up ordering 6 more. Sometimes you gotta treat yourself ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

2. Companies that support NGOs with a certain percentage (if you've ever expressed in the environment, these are probably always sending you advertisements in your instagram feed). My personal favorite is Happy Earth: https://www.happyearthapparel.com/
I am an ambassador for them because I truly really love their environmentally-themed clothes and they donate FIFTY (50%!!) PERCENT of their profits to environmental and sustainability focused Nonprofits. Pretty damn good in my opinion.
My discount code for 15% off your order with Happy Earth is biancashappyearth. :) Go ham with that!!

Obviously, in many places in this world it is just not a reality for most people to be buying fancy stuff like my PACT underwear all the time. However, a lot of these options are usually cheaper, and by supporting thrift stores with your dollars that often will give back to the community in many ways. I know that I can't buy every single thing used (and one of my sisters would be appalled at my fashion sense if I tried to), but that's also okay. I think that by, as much as possible, using my wallet to make an impact is something that we can all try to do every day.

Cheers, and happy Green Friday,

Bianca

Easy list of places to check out for clothing:
1. Local Thrift Shops
2. Goodwill
3. Free & For Sale in different localities. Eg, NYC's version: https://www.facebook.com/groups/NewYorkSales/
4. eBay! https://www.ebay.com/
5. Poshmark (both buy and sell stuff) https://poshmark.com/category/Women?utm_source=bsdm&gdm_bottom=false&campaign_id=319292836&utm_campaign=319292836&enable_guest_buy_flow=true&msclkid=73964fd4e0251a6dfcb11235438aa3da
6. ThredUP online consignment and thrift shop: https://www.thredup.com/
Others like ThredUP include:
- Refashioner: https://refashioner.com/
- Swap.com https://www.swap.com/
- Goodtwice: https://goodtwice.com/
- Gone Tomorrow: https://www.gone-tomorrow.com/
7. This list of ethical companies for NEW clothes: https://www.thegoodtrade.com/features/fair-trade-clothing
8. PACT, an ethically and sustainably sourced company I can personally recommend: https://wearpact.com/
9. Happy Earth:  https://www.happyearthapparel.com/ (use discount code biancashappyearth for 15% off!)

Travel Blog Competition Entry

Although regretting my quickly constructed title "The Best and Farthest Place I've Flown To," I wanted to post a blog post here that I wrote for the Terra Incognita ethical touring company travel blog competition:

Vote for me in the competition by entering your email at the end of my story: https://www.terra-incognita.travel/2019/the-best-and-farthest-place-ive-flown-to

I crave experiences that give me goose bumps.

When I think of my favorite plane ride, I think of peering down at land that looks like molded clay; mountains rising in the center of islands, trees like little stalks of broccoli, and dry brown grass contrasted against moist tropical leaves.

While the plane dipped lower, what seemed like little blurry boxes come more and more into view. I saw that the little boxes were a sprawling, chaotic network of houses and buildings, as if the gods sprinkled houses on the ground like shaking sugar onto a cake.

This city, even from a plane, was wide and smoggy – stretching farther than I’ve ever seen a city stretch before.

I come from a very populated land: the east coast of the U.S. is a place where city blends into suburbs, and you can’t drive long without hitting another city. My mom’s family is from Panama City, Panama, which is growing so fast that there are new roads and buildings every time we visit our family there. But this big metropolis was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I crammed my face against the window and watched as the blue, red, green topped buildings appeared closer and closer.

As I felt and heard the plane’s wheels unfurl in preparation for landing, I got that feeling of smallness – of being tiny on this planet filled with people, plants, animals, mountains, rivers, and oceans I’ve never seen before. Feeling this sense of smallness gave me a tingle, and I smiled as I stepped off the plane into Manila, Philippines.

I traveled in the Philippines by myself for about eight days towards end of my university study abroad program in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where I was learning about sustainable agriculture and environmental issues.

My first stop being Manila, I found my two days there wonderfully overwhelming. While some have described the city as too intense, I reveled in the different and new smells and sounds around me.

On my first day, I spent a few hours turning at random street corners just to see what I could see, with no destination in mind.

This is how I stumbled upon an alleyway teeming with life. Children ran around chasing each other with their parents comfortably watching from small, dusty homes. In front of each house there was a stand filled with vegetables, fish, small plastic toys, or women’s accessories. As I passed through, I felt invasive – these people all knew each other, were yelling familiar greetings, picking up children and ducking in and out of houses in which I could see piles of blankets and small TVs.

While this scene struck me with an intense recognition of our common humanity, I also noted some strange looks. I imagined their thoughts – how did this tourist find her way into our neighborhood? No one’s eyes were hostile, but I felt that I was disturbing a certain intimacy, and I ducked out of the alleyway as soon as I saw a larger road.

I love traveling. It reminds me of so many wonderful things – my inherent connection to other humans, the big, bursting beauty and diversity of our earth, and the truth that no one persons’ way of life, culture, or background is better than another’s. But traveling with my eyes open also shows me the realities of the glaring wealth inequality that plagues the whole world; the accident of birth that people like me were born into a country that has advantage over others.

To see and understand this imbalance makes us responsible for doing something to combat such inequality.

Because my passions are for conservation and combating climate change, I know that it is important to understand the ways that the changing climate will disproportionately affect those who live in island nations and cities like Manila. Where will these people go if they experience extreme, catastrophic weather? What will become of these bright, vibrant, haphazard homes if the sea level rises?

The rest of my trip to the Philippines was spend on the island of Coron. The heart and soul of the place is palpable, with the small, bustling port area quickly opening up into bumpy, pot-hole-filled roads leading up sloping mountains.

I spent my days scuba diving and exploring on the more remote sides of the island, getting to do what I love: watching the coral reefs abounding with life.

Small fish darted in and out the reef, while shadows of larger fish passed over anemones and sea fans as if they were watching over the kingdom. I couldn’t help being reminded of my morning of the alleyway back in Manila, with children and adults darting in and out of homes and trading the daily news. Thinking of this busy reef with the busy city, I felt the familiar tingle of goose bumps on my arm.

Smiling down at the fish through my mask, I silently thanked them for teaching me a new way to think of how life on this planet is connected, and reminding me of the ways that humans and the natural world can, and should, live in harmony.

Chemistry, CO2, and the Anthropocene

This is a creative project that I wrote for my general chemistry class.
I find the scientific connections between chemistry, geology, and climate change extremely interesting, and my goal in this project was explaining it in a way that many people could understand.
Hope I accomplished that at least somewhat.
- Bianca

Chemistry, CO_2, and the Anthropocene: Understanding Humans Chemical Effect on the Climate

We are currently in an ice age. 

Some geologists call our time the Quaternary Period, but some people call it the Anthropocene.

Every 20,000 years, our ice age cycles between the earth being covered by 10% ice and being covered by 30% ice. Our earth has been cycling this way for the last 2 million years, between 30% and 10% ice coverage, and has completed this cycle around 20 times…

Source: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/abrupt-climate-change/Glacial-Interglacial%20Cycles

During the Mesozoic Era, 252.2 to 66 million years ago, there were two of earth’s biggest mass extinctions to begin the Era and to end it. During the Mesozoic, the earth was really, really hot, with CO₂ levels at about 4000 ppm (parts per million), meaning that “greenhouse gases” were at a high. 

Source: https://www.britannica.com/science/evolution-scientific-theory

The extinction event at the end of the Mesozoic killed about 75% of all plant and animal species on earth. Almost none of the earth was covered by ice, and much of the land on earth was covered by water, since there were low levels of sea ice.

But now we are in the Anthropocene epoch. Anthropo- means human: it’s the epoch that humans have been shaking things up for. Some scientists suggest that this epoch should be considered to have started around 12,000-15,000 years ago when human societies started farming on a larger scale. This is also called the “Neolithic Revolution.”

The Neolithic revolution is also when some scientists think that humans may have started affecting the amount of greenhouse gases (like CO₂ ) that are in the atmosphere.

Remember the 20,000 year cycles of ice? Well, we are theoretically in the middle of one of those cycles, meaning that the Neolithic Revolution would have been at the beginning of our current 10% ice coverage status within our ice age.

We know about increased amount of farming during the Neolithic Revolution because of a chemical process scientists use called “carbon dating.”

Carbon has multiple “isotopes,” which are versions of the same element (Carbon for example) that have the same number of protons, but different numbers of neutrons, the neutral particles in the nucleus, or middle, of an atom. Different isotopes of atoms are more or less “stable.”

So, for example, Carbon 14 (¹⁴₆C) is too large to be stable, and the ratio of protons to neutrons is uneven, making Carbon “decay” – it spits out a neutron, keeps a proton, and spits out a nuclear electron.

¹⁴₆C  à  ₁₄N + B^- (Beta particle, or radiation)

Therefore Carbon 14 has a “Half-life,” or a time for half of those radioactive elements to decay.

There’s a lot of Carbon in decaying organic matter: "organic matter" that humans were farming about 12-15 thousand years ago. So, scientists measure the radiation that this decaying carbon gives off, and use it to track the age of items found at Neolithic sites.

Through Carbon dating, we have a better idea of how many people were farming, where, and for how long.

If farming and decaying organic matter started the release of carbon, we know that the industrial era really spiked it.

As you can see in the reaction where octane is combusted, the product, or what is released from the reaction of burning gas, is CO₂, water, and energy.

Fossil fuels are about 81% of U.S. Energy use. That means 81% of our country’s energy comes from reactions like this combustion – releasing CO_2, water, and energy.

Petroleum and natural gas are “hydrocarbons,” meaning they are chain or ring-like molecules containing Hydrogen (H) and Carbon (C).

When we use a car, octane gasoline combusts in the following formula:

2C₈H₁₈ + 25O₂ à 6CO₂ + 18H₂O + Energy

The 81% of energy in the US in post industrial times has made a “normal” fluctuation of CO₂ ppm in our ice age go up. Carbon dating has also allowed us to track the amount of atmospheric carbon through testing sediments, and over the 20,000 year Anthropocene that keeps us alive, the CO₂ levels have fluctuated between 180ppm to 280ppm, normally.

Today, our CO₂ levels are at over 400ppm.

Just like the Mesozoic (remember, when all those plants and animals died?), if our earth were to keep getting hotter, we would trap more greenhouse gas, and the CO₂ ppm would keep going up. We could potentially avert the next glacial period, when the earth is supposed to be covered by 30% ice instead of 10%, and some scientists say that we might already have missed the mark for the beginning of the higher ice percentage in our ice age.

Although, to some, it feels hard to believe, combusting all that gas -- octane -- for a good few decades is changing the makeup of our atmosphere, and perhaps the current trend in our geologic time.
I hope I don’t live to see the end of the Anthropocene.

by Bianca Bowman


Sources:
All of the information comes from my Chemistry notes with Professor Jordan Walk from Chem 103, Fall 2019, and my Geology 101 notes from Professor Jim Kaste, Spring 2018.

A blog!

Hello!

This is the first post in my blog. This is an investment in an outlet for writing -- while still in college, I am doing a lot of writing and realized that I won't always have a "reason" to do so. So this is a new outlet, especially for the future! I want to document thoughts, opinions, and emotions that I'm having throughout life -- and because life is long (right now, as a young, irresponsible person), I think it's important to have a place to look back on my thoughts and think about where I'm coming from.

I'm an incredibly privileged person to have done the things I've done so far and lived the life I've lived, and I want to use that privilege to learn as much as I can about the world and try to make some stuff better.

With that goal in mind, my main passions are human equality and conservation of our natural world and resources. I believe in the importance of balance, and as of now, I'm looking to dedicate my life towards finding more balance throughout the world.

Sorry for such a sappy post!

Thanks for reading,

Bianca