Now that Memorial Day is behind us, summertime is unofficially here. With that, here come the onslaught of barbecues, beach days and backyard activities.
Are you prepared yet?
If you're looking to make sustainable switches at home, now is a great time to make sure your summer gear is eco-friendly.
One of my favorite things about visiting Hawaii (aside from getting to visit with the family who lives there) is the abundance of outdoor activities.
My husband and I always say we would be so fit and tan if we lived there, because we could easily go for a bike ride, spend a day hiking one of the many trails, or exercise at the beach. It's kind of impossible to not spend most of your time outdoors, especially when the weather is always warm.
Now that fall is officially here, it's a great time to get outdoors! Getting out on the area waterways is a popular weekend activity - especially kayaking on Lake Martin, Bayou Vermilion or Bayou Teche.
This weekend, if you have a hankering to get on the water, you can do so while helping to clean up!
It
is that time of year again as we get the Bayou Teche ready for the
hundreds of paddlers from around the country to come and explore our
beautiful water way. We are happy to announce our annual Trash Bash and
Boogie, to be held at the start of the Bayou Teche in Port Barre on
September 23.
As usual, the TECHE Project will have
everything you need to have a successful cleanup. Bags, gloves, pickers,
and boats! What would a TECHE Project event be without food, music, and
beer (also other drinks for the youngsters)
The Trash Bash
and Boogie is a family friendly event. If you have a group or
organization interested in helping we would love to have you. We hope
that you join us to make our Bayou Teche a cleaner, healthier place for people to work and play!
Volunteers at previous Trash Bash events have helped to clean up hundreds of pounds of trash out of Bayou Teche, the only waterway in Louisiana to be designated by the National Park Service as a National Waterway Trail.
TECHE Project has been a great ally to Eco Cajun over the past few years - I always love visiting with volunteer Dane Thibodeaux at the Vermilionville Earth Day events, and I'm working with him now to go on a bayou cruise and see firsthand some of the work TECHE Project does.
PARK(ing) day is an annual open-source global event where citizens,
artists and activists collaborate to temporarily transform metered
parking spaces into public “PARK(ing)” spaces. A handful of Downtown
Lafayette metered parking spaces will be transformed into interesting,
vibrant public spaces.
But what exactly are parklets and what is their goal?
Although I tend to call it my beach bag, let's face it, my bag doesn't see the beach very often. Somehow, "pool bag" doesn't have quite the same ring, so I just go with it.
This summer, I'm trying to get out and enjoy the water as much as I can, even if I can't get to a beach anytime soon. (Fingers crossed for a trip back to Hawaii later this year!) So, I'm pretty much left with the pool at my gym and at a friend's house.
I love my gym, although it's not exactly an eco-friendly haven, with the mountains of Styrofoam cups for water, the surely massive utility bill, and the giant chlorine pools, but it is a space where I can be an eco-friendly, waste-free individual, and hopefully an example to others.
Every time I go to the pool for a little sun or just to cool off in the water, I make sure to pack an eco-friendly beach bag. Pool bag. Bag of crap. Whatever we want to call it.
Lafayette is feeling a little more electric this week, because Festival International is just one short day away from kicking off! It's been a tough year for organizers, from trouble securing sponsors to having to cut one stage, so now it's time to come out in full force and show our support for Lafayette's keynote annual event (at least in my opinion!)
Make plans to come out, check out some bands, visit the vendor booths, eat a lot of food, and knock back a few drinks.
And when you do, be sure to do it all responsibly and sustainably. It's possible to reduce, reuse and recycle to leave a positive impact on Festival.
First, let's all thank the many workers and volunteers who clean up all of the Festival trash and recycling every year. It is not a fun or glamorous job, but it has a tremendous positive impact on our local environment, and keeps a lot of trash out of Bayou Vermilion.
If you plan on spending more than just a couple hours downtown, you're
probably going to want to pack a backpack (unless you're one of those
people who can spend an entire day needing only your cell phone and
Chapstick, and if so, teach me your ways).
For the past few years, my husband and I have worked on perfecting our Festival backpacks, filled with anything we could need each of the days, especially during the weekend. If you plan to spend a good amount of time at Festival, the key is to pack reusable and strategic items.
Stay hydrated with a full reusable water bottle or Camelbak.
The usual weather essentials: sunscreen (and lots of it), sunglasses, hat, a portable fan (this year a new addition to our backpacks are cell phone-powered fans...I'm nerdily excited to use it!), and a rain jacket or poncho - leave the umbrellas at home and out of the crowds.
Pack a compact cloth shopping bag for your Festival finds.
Pack a to-go dining set with a fork, spoon, straw, and cloth napkin. If you can't avoid plastic utensils from food vendors, and you most likely won't be able to avoid them all weekend, just rinse and reuse them.
Official Festival app downloaded on your phone. (Of note, there are three LUS Fiber Wifi hotspots at JD Bank Pavillon de Cuisine, Scene LUS, and Scene TV5Monde.)
Portable backup cell phone charger.
A small towel can come in handy during extreme sun or rainy periods and work better than paper napkins.
Ziploc bag or waterproof case for your cell phone in case of rain.
Once you’ve got the perfect bag packed, you’ll need to figure out how to get downtown.
Transportation
My personal favorite method is to skip the traffic and parking by riding your bicycle downtown. You get some exercise, fresh air, emissions-free traveling, and this year you get your own lane on Congress Street right on into Festival. Don’t forget your bike lock and a key. Make sure you lock your bike away from walkways or heavily trafficked area.
If bicycling isn't your thing, your group is too large, or you live too far, go for the free official Festival International shuttle to and from Cajun Field, which runs every 15 minutes. Shuttles drop off at Lee and Jefferson, and at Garfield and Buchanan. Check the Festival website or app for shuttle hours.
Carpool with family or friends instead of driving separately.
Sustainability at Festival
When you’re at Festival, try to reduce as much waste as you can.
Cut down on paper and use the Festival app to refer to band schedules and stage information instead of grabbing a handful of paper guides that will either end up at the bottom of your backpack, spilled on or left-behind.
While most drink vendors can't fill up the reusable bottle that you packed, those souvenir Festival cups are totally recyclable! Just save your cups to reuse at home or work. In 2015, I learned that New Orleans Daiquiris was selling a reusable daiquiri cup that would allow you to get refills for a small discount (if I remember correctly). I used it for that weekend, then brought it back in 2016 and reused it all weekend. You can bet that cup is getting packed again this year!
Don't forget to use your cloth napkin and utensils. Although many food vendors use styrofoam products, you can still reduce your trash by skipping plastic utensils and paper napkins. Don't be afraid to say you don't want a utensil when ordering your food.
The Scoop on Recycling
Here’s what’s accepted in recycling bins:
Aluminum cans
Plastic drink cups
Plastic drink bottles
Dry paper
Straws
Here’s what’s NOT accepted in Festival recycling bins:
Styrofoam
Wet paper
Plastic utensils
Napkins
Anything with grease
Food
Any paper or cardboard contaminated with food remnants
Leave the glass at home. It's super dangerous for all the sandal-clad feet!
Shopping
When you’re shopping, carry your purchases in a cloth bag. Stop by the official merchandise tent to get a cloth bag if you don't have one, and use it for all of your shopping. For the second year, Project Front Yard and CGI will be providing cloth bags for you to use instead of plastic.
Bring back your Project Front Yard bag from last year, or pick one up this year and reuse it when you
purchase Festival merch, and get 5% off your purchase.
Photo via Festival International
Support the Artists and Vendors
Many vendors sell green products, whether they use recycled or repurposed materials, source local materials or make their wares by hand. Support these vendors and show them you support sustainability! There are some truly great recycled things to find, and they are beautifully unique. I've found some of my all-time favorite jewelry at Festival International over the past few years, and I love meeting the artists who creatively repurpose and recycle.
This year, you can also purchase eco-friendly Festival aprons that are made from recycled material at the merchandise tents.
No matter what, remember that the ground is not where your trash belongs! There will be approximately 300 dedicated recycling bins located all over downtown, so recycle everything that’s acceptable, and throw your other trash in one of the hundreds of trash cans.
This weekend, members of Scenic Lafayette are hosting a very special spring Saturday event - Azalea Trail Day! The historic Azalea Trail began in the 1930s as a beautification project of the
Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the Lafayette Garden
Club and by the 1940s, driving the trail became a cherished annual
pilgrimage.
The trail runs through Lafayette’s urban core including Jefferson Street
and Lafayette Street, and includes loops through Sterling Grove Historic
District, St. Mary Boulevard, Myrtle Place, Mouton Gardens, Bendel
Gardens, and Greenbriar subdivision.
Dedicated locals have been working to revive Lafayette’s historic Azalea Trail, from planting more azaleas along the trail, to promoting use and enjoyment of the trail.
To celebrate these efforts, Scenic Lafayette, which is the local affiliate of Scenic America, is holding Azalea Trail Day tomorrow, Saturday, March 18, at Parc de Lafayette and Wurst Biergarten in downtown Lafayette.
There are tons of events going on as part of Azalea Trail Day, so you've got plenty of ways to participate and enjoy the day!
Scenic Lafayette is partnering with Bike Lafayette to pay tribute to Lafayette's past with a bike ride and other events along 16 miles of Lafayette’s greenest, most beautiful and architecturally significant urban core. All celebration proceeds will be reinvested in the beauty of the trail.
All participants driving/riding the trail are encouraged to dress in vintage clothing. Property owners along the trail are encouraged to host neighborhood porch parties, dress vintage and greet the caravans, cruisers and bike riders.
EVENTS
Information Booth at Parc de Lafayette, 8 am–5 pm
Classic Car Caravan/Vintage Motorcycle Cruise: 8 am–12 pm
Classic Car and Vintage Motorcycle Exhibition along downtown Jefferson Street: 1–5pm
Bike Ride registration at Parc de Lafayette: 10 am–12 pm and ride: 12–4 pm
One Acadiana ribbon cutting at The Wurst Biergarten: 9:30 am
Vintage Market at The Wurst Art Market: 10 am–4 pm
Vintage Bazaar at The Wurst Art Market: 5–10 pm
Photo Opportunity: Azalea-themed “LAFAYETTE SIGN” at Parc San Souci)
Happy March, y'all! Have we all recovered from Mardi Gras yet? My holiday was mostly bike rides, parades, documenting the parade litter, and a minor sinus infection - laissez les bons temps rouler, right!?
So, now we're officially into March and thisclose to the official start of spring (although it's unofficially been spring since like January 7 in Louisiana.) The muted colors are starting to get a little brighter, and the trees are starting to grow their yellow-green leaves. As much as I love the winter season and the holidays, springtime always leaves me feeling a little brand new.
Spring greens at Moncus Park at the Horse Farm
Today, let's celebrate the oncoming of spring with the 2017 color of the year, Greenery! Definitely my favorite color of the year in recent memory. During the unveiling of the color back in December, Pantone described their choice as:
Greenery is a fresh and zesty yellow-green shade that evokes the
first days of spring when nature’s greens revive, restore and renew.
Illustrative of flourishing foliage and the lushness of the great
outdoors, the fortifying attributes of Greenery signals consumers to
take a deep breath, oxygenate and reinvigorate.
Greenery is nature’s neutral. The more submerged
people are in modern life, the greater their innate craving to immerse
themselves in the physical beauty and inherent unity of the natural
world. This shift is reflected by the proliferation of all things
expressive of Greenery in daily lives through urban planning,
architecture, lifestyle and design choices globally. A constant on the
periphery, Greenery is now being pulled to the forefront - it is an
omnipresent hue around the world.
A life-affirming shade, Greenery is also emblematic of the pursuit of personal passions and vitality.
Since I'm feeling a little extra pep in my step today (and since I've been less wordy around here), I put together a nice little Greenery Spotify mix for you to enjoy this weekend! A completely random mix of songs with "green" in the title (and I've at least heard most of them before!) and a small shoutout for any Suits fans out there.
It's taken a few days, but I'm getting back into my regular work week/real world rhythm...so of course, let's reminisce on our holiday trip to Hawaii!
My husband and I ended up waiting until the Christmas holiday to take our honeymoon, and we chose Hawaii because his brother, sister-in-law and niece live there, and we could combine a honeymoon with a family visit for Christmas. We spent the first three days by ourselves exploring Kauai, then the next seven days on Oahu, where Phillip's dad and stepmom joined us.
Phillip and I love to maximize our vacations, exploring and doing as much as we can. Our goals were to hike, go to the beach, find awesome views, and eat all the poke bowls, and I'm pretty satisfied that we accomplished everything.
In addition, I was determined to make the trip eco-friendly, especially since Hawaii is committed to a clean environment and preserving their natural areas.
Traveling
Airports can certainly be some of the most wasteful places and parts of a trip. Although I'm not great about packing snacks ahead of time (although I did bring home a half-empty bag of sweet onion-flavored mac nuts), I was prepared for drinks with a water bottle and insulated kanteen. My insulated kanteen held lots of much-needed coffee courtesy of the United Clubs. Filling my water bottle at airport fountains saved me from needing a single-use cup of water while on board.
One time I still had single-use? An airplane bottle of sparkling wine. Hey, it was 11am, and we were on our way to our honeymoon! #treatyoself As long as United actually recycles everything in those blue bags like they promise they do...
On our trip home, we had a layover in San Francisco, one of my favorite cities. I love that SFO has not only recycling bins next to the trash cans, but also compost bins and waste water bins.
Yoga
Now, y'all know yoga in Hawaii was on the top of my personal goals list. As soon as we booked those plane tickets, I had a Google Keep checklist (go paperless!) started with the different poses I wanted to photograph during our 10 days.
As much as I love my regular hot yoga classes in the little dark room at my gym, not much beats doing a few poses against a Christmas morning sunrise, on an empty beach, or on a zip line platform (and in an international airport's little dark yoga room).
Each morning, I started off on the lanai doing a few sun salutations before we got started with our daily adventures, to warm up and clear my head a bit.
Hiking
One of my favorite parts about our last trip to Hawaii were all of the different hikes we went on, so I was extremely excited for a few new trails, and some of the same ones. While on Kauai, we had plans to hike a portion of the Kalalau Trail on the famous Na Pali Coast. However, the trail was closed while we were there due to construction.
So instead, we headed to the southern part of the island to hike the Canyon Trail in Waimea Canyon. It was incredibly worth it. Having never been to the Grand Canyon, it was amazing to see the place known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It took Phillip and me about an hour to drive the road leading to the trailhead, because we kept stopping at every small lookout to take pictures. The trail itself was challenging enough to be fun, but not too intense.
Back on Oahu, we hiked Kokohead as a family, and enjoyed the Christmas tree placed at the top of the mountain. And that's how you know you're in Hawaii hiking on Christmas Eve. However, going down the stairs proved to be more difficult than going up, ha.
And on Christmas morning, my husband, brother-in-law and I got up ridiculously early to hike the Lanikai Pillbox trail. But when you're rewarded with a spectacular sunrise, you know exactly why you were awake at 4:45 and walking a trail at 6:15 by the flashlight on your cell phone. Did I play Mele Kalikimaka three times on the way back down the trail? You bet Santa's butt I did!
Can I pick a favorite of the three hikes? Definitely not.
Other Adventures
After we hiked the Canyon Trail, we stopped at Glass Beach on the southern side of Kauai. It's a small beach in an industrial area (and near a solar farm), and some of the "sand" is actually small, smooth bits of sea glass, from glass bottles and whatnot. It's not much, but it made for a few good photos.
While I know I could have done more, I did pick up litter that we came across to do my very small part!
On our first evening in Kailua, we encountered a group riding Christmas light-decorated bicycles, making me highly jealous.
And, because we're totally cat people, here is our sweet Air BNB kitty. She lives outside at the home and greeted us every time we arrived back. She's totally Dax's new long-distance girlfriend.
Shopping
Last year, Oahu became the last island in the state of Hawaii to ban single-use plastic bags in grocery stores, although this article states that thicker plastic bags are considered 'reusable' and are still given out. I had packed one cloth shopping bag for the trip, and ended up buying another in Kailua, so we were able to conserve on many of our shopping or errand trips.
Many stores we visited promoting patrons bringing their own reusable bags - and the selection of cloth bags in stores was to die for. I seriously could have bought another 30 cute bags and donated all my existing ones.
Just as at home, I like to shop local while on vacation. On both Kauai and Oahu, we found a lot of great local stores for our souvenirs and gifts. Some of my favorite items are my Project Aloha super-soft t-shirt, my organic cotton Dwell on Positive Thoughts tank top from Lily Lotus, recycled newsprint gift wrap from Wrappily (a company based in Maui), and locally made soap and chapstick, macadamia nuts and macadamia honey coconut peanut butter from the different shops at the Waialua Sugar Mill.
Travel Tip: If you visit Oahu, take a trip to the North Shore, eat at Dat Cajun Guy (it's legit), and head out to the Waialua Sugar Mill. The former sugar mill now houses a variety of small, locally owned retailers, and it's super peaceful and charming. When we went, it wasn't crowded at all, making us feel like we'd stumbled upon a true hidden gem.
Eating
Dining is probably the area where we were least eco-friendly. While we ate at local restaurants (many of them awesome little hole-in-the-wall places), many of the places used disposable trays and containers. But...at least none of it was styrofoam. I certainly ate my weight in poke bowls and regret none of it, so I was glad that the plastic containers were at least recyclable.
The menu at the Kona Brewing Co. pub in Hawaii Kai shared some of the many ways the brewery reduces, reuses and recycles.
Beyond the packaging and single-use chopsticks, I have to say, all of the food we ate was incredibly delicious. In Kapaa, Kauai, we had lunch at Kenji Burger, and I am still dreaming about the furikake fries. We had this Japanese seasoning blend atop a poke bowl and these fries, and it was enough to send me to the grocery store for a jar to bring home (where I then sprinkled it on egg salad and grilled chicken. #noregrets)
And I discovered a local Hawaiian brew whose mango saison is incredible (and only available in variety packs, of course.)
Organizations
Ever since our last trip to Hawaii, I've been following Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii and 808 Cleanups. Both groups are incredibly active in cleaning up both popular and remote beaches and trails, for the health and beauty of the islands. They do so much good work, although it's not glamorous or easy. They also work to educate children about the importance of cleanliness.
This pile of fishnet was sitting at Flagpoles in Kailua, and volunteers with 808 Cleanups came by a day or two later to cut it up and haul it away. The groups do a lot of work rescuing litter like this from the water and beaches around the islands.
Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii also worked successfully to bring a trash water wheel to the Ala Wai canal, a very polluted waterway in Honolulu.
Although I didn't get a chance to meet anyone from the organizations, I did show my support by picking up a SCH canvas tote bag from the Kailua General Store. I used it as my shopping bag for the remainder of the trip, plus, it served as a beach bag one day, and as a carry-on for a few extra items on the trip home.
Tomorrow, I'll share more about our favorite activity from the trip: zip lining through the forests, over farms, with a view of windmills and the ocean! Okay, maybe I'm the only one who was in awe of zip lining with a view of windmills.
