Greening the blue. That’s what this World Environmental Day’s all about, restoring the health of our air quality. Air pollution is something we’re all affected by, and when you hear the U.N statistics, you realize how wide-spread the issue is…92% of the world’s population doesn’t breathe clean air! And air is life, isn’t it? What doesn’t breathe? We’re all so beautifully connected, from the oceans to the land and the air, but that also means pollution travels everywhere.  While the problems may look impossibly big we can always do something…and that’s all it takes, collective effort from all of us. We, have a responsibility to care for the world that sustains our lives. How? Here are a few tips and tricks to green the blue that you can easily do;

One of the simplest ways any one of us can immediately start to combat air pollution, is to plant trees! Yes, let’s re-green our environment with trees, which in turn contribute greatly to cleaning the air; with just one tree able to remove up to 48 pounds of carbon pollution from the air every year. Support and encourage logging bans on these natural beauties and ensure you shop sustainably made furniture and wood pieces whenever you can.

On that note, why not take your ethical shopping all the way? 🙂 Try purchase ethically made products and choose brands that are eco-conscious. The process of production and manufacture in many industries and fields yields air pollution, so by aiming to support and buy from ethical brands and artisans who care about their waste disposal, aim to re-use and up-cycle, you’re limiting the amount of pollution that’s going out into the environment and consuming responsibly.

Plastic is another area we can always make improvements in. Let’s refuse, reduce, re-use and recycle as much as we possibly can. A few easy tips 🙂 ? For straws, switch to bamboo, metal or simply say no…water bottles? Carry your own! (It’ll be cheaper in the long run too!) A few seconds of use versus hundreds of years of pollution…single-use plastic makes no sense. Almost all the plastic we use ends up in land-fills where it’s burnt and poisons the air, or in water ways and eventually the ocean, where it literally chokes our eco-systems. Be inspired by the work of the Flipflopi, a boat built entirely of waste plastic! Touched by the dire state of our oceans and the fact that fishermen were fishing plastic instead of fish, this amazing team decided to build an inspiring symbol and message of hope to the world; We can definitely #beatplasticpollution.

Aside from choosing ethically made (it could be made anywhere!), how about eating local? Relish in the delicious flavours and variety you’ll find right at your doorstep? Or shopping local? Locally made and locally grown products have a much smaller carbon footprint than imported goods. Air travel is a major contributor to air pollution, so the less, the better! Eat what’s in season and discover all the local, talented artisans hand-making wonderful products. You’ll find almost everything you’re looking for and what’s more, you’ll be helping green the blue!

Those are just a few things we can all start to do. But what else do you think can help green the blue? And how can we #gogreen as the WAPI? Community too? Comment below, we’d love to hear from you! 🙂