Explosions of poppy flowers color the countryside of California in vibrant shades of gold and orange, signaling the end of long nights and the start of warmer days. Butterflies and people alike respond to the arrival of spring by visiting the blooming hills—but only one is trampling the sights. 

This is the image of the 2019 California poppy “super bloom.” Yet, instead of being popular for its beauty, it’s infamous for the people destroying it for the perfect selfie. Many uninformed visitors have trampled vegetation by walking off-trail, leaving behind dead flowers and compacted soil. This isn’t the first time natural places have witnessed harmful human activity—parks including the delicate Joshua Tree National Park experienced vandalism and waste overflow during the government shutdown earlier this year. 

Whether you’re heading out on a hike or paddle this summer, remember these guidelines to reduce your impact on our precious parks. 

Follow Leave No Trace Outdoor Ethics 

Whether you are a seasoned outdoor recreationalist or an occasional visitor, you have likely heard of “Leave No Trace.” It is a collection of principles that serve to educate visitors in minimum-impact practices based on extensive research on human impacts and attitudes towards the outdoors. These range from minimizing campfire debris to being considerate of other visitors. While the phrase itself is a mantra for seasoned outdoor enthusiasts, Mitch Warnick of the Leave No Trace Center says it’s meant for everyone.  

“We can treat Yosemite National Park the same as Piedmont Park in Atlanta,” Warnick says. “They’re both public lands, open space that are a valuable natural resource. Everyone can benefit from understanding Leave No Trace principles.”

Pack it In, Pack it Out

Don’t leave behind litter when visiting any public land. Many locations have bathrooms and disposal bins, but you may have to bring bags with you when visiting more remote areas. While micro-trash (cigarette butts, fishing line, wrapper scraps) is easy to overlook, it is dangerous to wildlife that may confuse it for food. 

It might seem like leaving biodegradable items behind could be an exception to this rule. Unfortunately, most things labeled as biodegradable or compostable are missing one important word: “commercially.” Many of these items can only be broken down in commercial composting facilities—throwing them into your backyard compost or leaving them at a park doesn’t mean they will break down on their own. Even items that are naturally biodegradable such as orange peels cannot be left behind. Essentially, if it is not natively found in the park you’re visiting, it does not belong there. This is critically important for popular parks that see thousands of visitors each year. 

 “There’s certainly a notion that with many people, their impact is very small,” Warnick says. “But if a thousand other people do that, then it starts to become fairly problematic and can have a large impact.” 

Stay on the Trail 

Going off trail compacts the earth and creates a new “social” trail. Social trails are tracks that others follow thinking it is a legitimate path; however, they can affect how water flows during a rain and wash out a previously safe part of the original trail. In particularly fragile places, going off trail means trampling delicate keystone species like cryptobiotic soil (a fungi “crust” that prevents desert erosion). Stay on the trail even when it means going through a muddy section—going around will only widen the trail.

Established trails are designed to have a minimal impact and are regularly maintained by park staff for safety and cleanliness. 

Allyship in the Outdoors

Public lands are for everyone, but not everyone enjoys them. A 2012 study titled “Why Do So Few Minority People Visit National Parks?” found that Asian Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic populations often feel uncomfortable when visiting parks. 

Historically, federal public lands have played a role in promoting racial segregation and suppressing indigenous rights. The latter struggle is yet ongoing.

Inclusion-minded Green Americans can take part of forging a new path by inquiring about park diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, sharing concerns with park officials and state legislatures, and supporting projects that work to make the outdoors more inclusive like Diversify Outdoors and Camp OUTdoors. These recommendations come from a diverse group of outdoors experts from a partnership between The Atlantic and REI. 

Inclusion is a crucial part of outdoor advocacy—conservationists are born when a new visitor falls in love with the outdoors.

When Visiting Public Lands, Don’t “Do It for the Gram”

Summer means nature is in full bloom—and so are everyone’s Instagram feeds. 

Being kind to public lands also means respecting them online. While social media has served to share the beauty of natural places, it has simultaneously made them more popular. That popularity has led to an influx of visitors many fragile places are unable to accommodate. 

Hanging Lake in Colorado is a famous photo destination and a prime example of the effect of damaging human activity. In four years, visitation has doubled, and many of those visitors disregarded the National Forest’s rules for the sake of a perfect photo. As a result, management was forced to move to a permit system. Visitors must now purchase a hiking permit in advance, so rangers know who is on the trails and can hold them accountable to illegal activities such as walking off trail and swimming in the water. 

To protect public lands, visitors can combat harmful social media practices by not geotagging specific locations and sharing ecosystem-kind practices to those who ask. Additionally, not sharing photos that promote illegal activity (including but not limited to: walking off trail, drone shots in no-fly zones, feeding animals) will safeguard public lands for future visitors. 

Volunteer 

Park clean ups are a great introduction to outdoor stewardship for children and are hosted by local community associations and environmental organizations. You can find a clean-up near you with volunteercleanup.org and americanrivers.org. Volunteer opportunities with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, such as tagging butterflies and planting native trees, may be found at wildlife refuges and hatcheries across the country. Visit volunteer.gov to learn more. 

Clean-ups and local conservation projects aren’t the only way to get involved. Green America, among other nonprofits, leads campaigns in support of or against environmental policies. Signing petitions, volunteering on these campaigns, and showing up to rallies are additional ways to promote outdoor stewardship on the civic level. 

Become an Advocate

The outdoors does not speak for itself in court rooms or legislative offices. We do. Therefore, the most valuable way to protect our public lands is to advocate for them. The damage to public lands during the government shutdown was a tough lesson on the importance of park management. Changes such as better infrastructure, holistic park management, and more funding are all items advocacy can support.

Not sure how to get involved? Outdoor Alliance is a coalition of national advocacy organizations that provides resources on the latest public land and conservation policies—their Advocacy 101 Series is an easy introductory toolkit for the novice conservationist. 

Most importantly, vote. Advocacy can only go so far if our elected officials don’t serve conservation. You can learn how to register to vote at vote.gov and learn who your elected representatives are at commoncause.org and click “find your representative.” 

“Public lands are important, whether that’s for ecological reasons, or recreation,” says Warnick. “It’s all of our collective duty to protect them.”

In June 2019, the Washington Post published a damning expose on cocoa farming child labor, an issue that is still persistent in West Africa. Over 2 million children engage in hazardous child labor in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, the two largest producers of cocoa. You may or may not have known this, but the chocolate companies definitely did – and have not done much to address this issue in 18 years.

18 Years of Broken Promises

The Washington Post notes, “The world’s chocolate companies have missed deadlines to uproot child labor from their cocoa supply chains in 2005, 2008 and 2010. Next year, they face another target date and, industry officials indicate, they probably will miss that, too.” And not only will chocolate companies be missing another pledge to eliminate child labor, they have also lowered their goals – while the goals in 2001, 2008, and 2010 were to completely eradicate child labor, the 2020 goal is to reduce it by 70%.

Part of the challenge is that many interventions and plans were not able – or did not – address the root cause of child labor: extreme poverty. Many cocoa farms are small, and according to Fairtrade International, a farmer’s annual household income is $1,900 – well below the family poverty line as defined by the World Bank.

Another challenge is that companies started overly relying on certifications such as Fairtrade America, Fair Trade USA, Rainforest Alliance, and Utz as sources of sustainable chocolate. (Note: The latter two merged and will be releasing a new set of standards in 2019 under the name Rainforest Alliance). While certifications are helpful tools, they are not the silver bullets to addressing the root causes of child labor, such as farmer poverty and low wages. Furthermore, due to the remote nature of many cocoa farms, site visits happen occasionally and with advanced notice, allowing child labor to be hidden. Major companies cannot trace most of their beans to the sources.

Now, even the major companies, such as Mars and Hershey, have acknowledged that certification labels are not enough to address farmer poverty or child labor, nor are they strong enough indicators of a lack of child labor.

“We are hungry, and we make just a small amount of money.”

In the expose, the Washington Post also conducted interviews with child laborers working on Ivorian cocoa farms. One boy tells the reporter he’s 19; when the farmer who oversees him isn’t looking, he informs the reporter he’s only 15. The reporter also talked to boys who started working at ages as young as 11.

When we say work, we don’t mean a child helping out with age appropriate tasks after school. We’re talking about long days spent doing hard labor such as carrying heavy loads, wielding machetes, or applying pesticides -- often in hot temperatures.

Some child laborers come from neighboring countries, such as Burkina Faso, looking for better opportunities for work and a chance at a better life, earning about $0.85 a day. Others work on family farms if their families can’t afford the costs of sending them to school or hiring extra help.

And despite almost 20 years of industry efforts to curb this issue, the number of children engaged in child labor has actually increased; meanwhile, farmer poverty continues to be a pressing issue.

What can I do?

Take (and share!) our Godiva action: As the Washington Post noted, Godiva does not disclose much information about the cocoa it is sourcing for its chocolate, and hasn’t done as much as its competitors to address child labor and its underlying systemic causes. Take our action today and tell Godiva that it must step up its efforts.

Check out our chocolate scorecard: Our scorecard rates the major companies on their efforts to address child labor as well as gives you some ideas for more ethical alternatives you can shop from to get your sweet tooth fix. Reach out to your favorite companies and tell them that you expect them to do more for farmers. Shopping for fair trade chocolate—like your coffee—is a great way to vote with your dollars.

Support chocolate companies who are going the distance for cocoa farmers: Rather than boycott chocolate completely, we encourage you to support companies that are going the extra mile to support farmers. Green America’s scorecard and our Green Business Network are excellent resources. If you’re not sure what a company is doing to improve farmer income and combat child labor, ask!

Share this information with your networks: Companies started to source certified cocoa because of consumer pressure. Now that we know that certification on its own can’t solve the issue of child labor, we must continue to pressure chocolate companies to take substantive action to address this important issue.

The Green New Deal is a call to create a truly green economy. But there’s no need to wait! Here’s what’s already happening around the country.

A recent Vox piece by NRDC staffer Mary Annaise Heglar starts with a bold headline, “I Work in the Environmental Movement. I don’t care if you recycle.” The author says that when she meets people and tells them she works at an environmental organization their first reaction is to express guilt for their poor environmental performance. The article then makes the argument that individual action on the environment (e.g., recycling) is not meaningful and that the focus on individual action just make people feel guilty for their failure to protect the planet, which disempowers people from taking action to create the systemic change we need. 

While it is true that we need systemic change first and foremost to address environmental challenges like the climate crisis and mass extinction at the speed and scale that is required, it is questionable that encouraging individual action on the environment somehow prevents or hinders the collective action we need. It’s often quite the opposite – people take action to green their own lives, and through this process realize that there is only so much they can do on an individual level. They then take action in their community, with corporations, and nationally with others to create systemic change. But, for many people, it all starts with those individual actions. 

It’s also questionable that Americans are feeling guilty about their personal environmental actions. I’ve been working at Green America for almost 20 years, and I’ve talked to many people all over the country. When I tell them where I work, they almost never respond that they are guilty of poor environmental conduct. Almost always, they ask questions about Green America’s work and the most impactful practices they can take to create a greener planet. 

That is an encouraging sign because Americans are some of the least green people on Earth. For several years, National Geographic partnered with GlobeScan to produce the GreenDex, a survey of environmental attitudes and practices in countries around the globe. The surveys consistently find that US residents are amongst the least green people on Earth in practice and feel little guilt over it. In general, the developed world’s peoples are less green than the developing world. India and China consistently have the greenest populations. If anything, we need ways to encourage individual Americans to be more green, including recycling more, since our recycling rates in the US are low compared to much of the world. And, once they increase their own recycling and question their waste, encourage them to use their voices on the local and national level to increase re-use and recycling and reduce the production of inherently harmful products, like plastic bags and water bottles. 

Being Green is Good for You and the Planet 

It might help more Americans to go green if they better understood that being green actually improves their quality of life. It’s not about making people feel guilty, it’s about protecting themselves and others from harm. 

Using greener products at home, such as green cleaners, reduces toxic exposures and protects your health. Drinking tap water instead of bottled water is better for the planet and exposes you to less microplastics. Eating produce and whole grains (especially organic) instead of process foods means a healthier diet for you and less impact on ecosystems. The list goes on. Being green is an act of self-preservation.  

People who take environmental action in their own lives are more likely to be activists 

From what we’ve seen at Green America, people who take action to green their lives are the ones who go on to take action in their community, to push large corporations to clean up their practices, and to promote national governmental action on environmental issues like climate change or toxins. For most people, their “aha moment” comes when they realize that the products they are bringing into their home are toxic, that the food they are eating is unhealthy, or that a new power plant or manufacturing facility coming to their community will threaten their health. A number of people then realize that individual action is not enough and move on to taking action collectively – either locally or nationally – to create systemic change that will benefit all.   

It is much rarer for someone who’s never thought much about environmental impacts in their daily lives, or done anything to green their own life, to read about the climate crisis in the newspaper and suddenly say, “I’m going to become an activist on this issue.” Also, people who are not making personal environmental choices are less likely to prioritize national action on environmental issues like climate change in relation to other issues, like jobs, healthcare, or education. In the US, where people are taking less action than in other nations to protect the planet in their personal lives, for years we’ve seen that a bare majority of people tell pollsters that they agree human-caused climate change is real, and it has not been their top concern. That is starting to change, with more people agreeing that humans are causing climate change and we need government action on it, because people are seeing that climate change, and the increasing storms, floods, heat waves, and fire events it brings is threatening their own lives and the lives of their children down the road. 

The Collective Acts of Individuals Change Corporate Conduct 

At Green America, we totally agree that if we want to address the largest environmental challenges of our time, we need to act at the systems level. With the current dysfunction in Washington DC, some of the largest opportunities for change in the US are at the corporate level. Here, individual consumers are playing a major role in moving consumer-facing companies to adopt greener practices. 

Take food as an example. As more and more consumers nationwide have woken up to the dangers in our agricultural system, and the risks to themselves, their families and the planet from toxic monocultures and CAFOs, they have been shifting their consumption from food produced with GMOs designed to be doused in toxic pesticides to organics and non-GMO options. Each individual purchase does not, in itself, have a large impact, but collectively, the shift in food habits is having a dramatic impact on major food companies, which are moving in the direction of regenerative agriculture that nourishes the soil and sequesters carbon, livestock that is more humanely raised with less antibiotics, and ingredients that people can recognize. Activists groups have been calling for these changes for years, but it is consumer pressure that is finally moving the dial – companies can’t afford to lose market share. 

That consumer pressure is expressed through changes in purchases, with consumers, particularly millennials and Gen Z, foregoing brand loyalty and instead really understanding the supply chain and impacts of products they purchase. And, it happens through consumers calling on companies through email petitions, phone calls, and social media actions to adopt greener practices. Hundreds of thousands of consumers took action with Green America to get 12 major food companies –from General Mills to Sabra/Pepsi -- to offer non-GMO options and/or increase their organic options. These companies have told us that it is the combination of shifting purchases and consumer activism that got them to move on GMOs. 

We need to get more Americans on board with being green 

At a time when people are feeling increasingly hopeless about the future, it is important to help people understand that change begins with individuals, and when people start to question the choices they are making and shift their purchases and practices to support people and the planet, they are taking actions that matter. When we then ask these folks to take collective action to push corporations to be more responsible as well, they are far more likely to heed the call, because they understand what’s at stake, and since they are acting in their own lives to create a greener future, they feel more empowered to call on corporations to do the same. We need more people caring about recycling, toxins in the home, and safe food in order to have an educated and active group of Americans who will push corporate America to care as well. 

The Big Bad Woof is a pet store that brings health and sustainability to the community.

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Nestled in Washington, D.C.’s Takoma neighborhood is a one-of-a-kind pet store. Founded by business women Julie Paez and Pennye Jones-Napier in 2005, The Big Bad Woof merges green living ethics with pet supplies.

While they’ve always been committed to reducing their carbon footprint, these women business-owners have checked off several careers in their lifetimes – from web design to retail to property management. Yet it was their relationship with Artemis, a wolf-dog hybrid, that started their journey in sustainable pet supplies.

"She had diabetes,” Julie says. They realized that conventional dog food worsened Artemis’ health problems. “[The food] had corn in it, corn turns to sugar, which feeds the diabetes,” Julie continues.

They began searching for alternative dog food and discovered that raw foods would be a healthier option. This led them to investigate other pet supplies and their impacts. 14 years later, their store has established itself as a green pet care leader – it was voted as one of America’s Coolest Stores by Pets+ Magazine in 2018 and a Best of D.C. winner by the Washington City Paper in 2019.

“As a homage to our wolf pack, we named the store The Big Bad Woof,” says Julie, laughing.

Julie and Pennye are all about health, sustainability, and community. These three principles are the lifeblood of The Big Bad Woof and have sparked a green living consciousness among their partners and customers. They specialize in raw foods and opt for toxin-free alternatives whenever they can. They prefer purchasing close to home and will seek out local, regional, and USA-made businesses that are environmentally kind. And they have a unique relationship with their customers, who will come to them for advice and help them be as green as possible.

“We try to help customers solve problems,” says Julie. “We have an all-natural flea killer product that uses no chemicals, so the process is all mechanical... We’re very proud to be able to go the extra mile for our customers.”

They also go that extra mile to get products to the customer’s doorstep. The Big Bad Woof launched a delivery service in response to an old location’s terrible parking. While delivery services typically mean more single-use packaging, Julie and Pennye are always searching for new ways to repurpose waste.

“We reuse the boxes that our shipments come in...to go back out to our customers when we’re delivering packages to them,” says Pennye. “We try to see how we can improve the cycle, constantly.”

“Customers return packaging to us and we slap a label on it, send it to TerraCycle, and they upcycle it,” Julie adds. “There’s a huge amount of product we are pulling out of the waste stream, and we’re only one store.”

Julie and Pennye are proponents of business supporting business. “I would say over the last 14 years, we’ve seen more businesses becoming environmentally friendly,” says Pennye. “If there’s a local or regional company, we’ll give them first preference. As long as their product will be an asset to our business model.”

“It’s about businesses communicating with each other and figuring out how they can support each other in a really useful and meaningful way,” adds Julie.

Like The Big Bad Woof, the Green Business Network supports green businesses across the country. The Big Bad Woof is a certified Green Business Network member.

Over 8,000 chemicals are used by the textile manufacturing industry. It’s a dirty, toxic part of the supply chain. One that affects workers, their communities, and has the potential to affect consumers once clothes have left shelves. In fact, textile manufacturing accounts for 20% of industrial water pollution.

And here’s the scary truth about what’s going into our clothes: we just don’t know what’s in our clothes.

There currently isn’t enough transparency in the apparel industry about what chemicals are being used, nor full understanding of their health impacts on the workers who are in direct contact with the chemicals, the environments and communities they live in. Residual chemicals on clothing can affect the health of consumers as well.

Flame retardants, which can still be found in baby's clothes (not just sleepwear!), can be hormonal disruptors. Azo dyes, which are the most commonly used dyes in the textile manufacturing industry, can be carcinogenic. In fact, some azo dyes are banned in the European Union because of their carcinogenic properties. Heavy metals such as lead and cadmium are found in dyes and can cause cancer or damage the nervous system.

Meanwhile, rivers are being polluted from toxic runoffs from textile factories. Major water sources in manufacturing countries – ones that the communities depend on –  are toxic and can no longer sustain life. In some communities, locals can tell what the “It” color of the year is based on what color the water is.

That’s why we launched our new Toxic Textiles campaign. Our first goal? Getting Carter’s, the country’s largest retailer of baby and children’s clothing, to adopt a comprehensive, public chemical management policy that protects workers, the environment, and the smallest members of society who wear their clothes.

Contrary to what the chemical industry may say, Green America does not, in fact, want children to run around naked.

What we do want is for kids to run around in clean clothes that are better for them, workers, and the environment. We want major companies – like Carter’s – to identify what chemicals they’re using in their supply chains and substitute them with safer alternatives. Green businesses have been leading the way with using more sustainable dyes and chemicals in their production. Meanwhile, some major companies have started working with industry organisations to adopt stronger chemical management policies. ZDHC, for instance, works with companies on adopting and implementing a manufacturing restricted substances list (MRSL), which restricts/bans what chemicals can be used in the manufacturing process. Afirm Group works with its members to implement a restricted substances list (RSL), which is important for consumer safety as it restricts/bans chemicals that can be found in final consumer products. We're asking for Carter's to support workers and consumers by using a chemical management policy, starting by adopting an MRSL and an RSL.

In fact, even Carter’s knows that it needs to do better: Carter’s has one line of GOTS certified clothing, which helps ensure that the clothes are made from organic cotton and are not made with harmful chemicals.

But one line of clothing is… not all that impressive, considering that Carter’s how much clothing Carter's produces. Baby steps in addressing this serious issue are not enough. Plus, we think that clean clothes should be the norm and not the exception – and that all families should be able to easily access clothes free from toxic chemicals. In the meantime, check out our Green Business Network members to find clothing that is better for people and the planet.

PWR offers one-time comprehensive financial planning and impact-focused investment management. We are based in San Diego, CA but work with clients worldwide. Our clients are busy professionals and impact investors looking to generate a positive environmental and social return alongside their financial return.

The days of single-use plastic is numbered.

In 2018, Seattle became the first US city to ban single-use plastic cutlery. Starbucks followed suit with a plan to eliminate plastic straws by 2020, and several airlines joined by phasing out single-use plastic straws and stirrers. The anti-plastic movement became so prolific that “single-use” was named the word of the year by Collins Dictionary.

Even though the world’s plastic pollution problem isn’t over, public awareness and policy action are growing.

Governments Opt Out of Single-Use Waste

This year, the European Union voted to abandon single-use plastics by 2021 and New York will join California and Hawaii in plastic bag bans by 2020. Peru is the latest country to restrict single-use plastics – visitors will no longer be able to carry in single-use plastics into its protected natural and cultural areas.

Plastics aren’t the only thing on the single-use chopping block. Polystyrene, or more commonly known as Styrofoam, has been targeted by Maryland. The state has given foam food packaging the boot as the latest contributor in the effort to reduce single-use waste. While cities such as New York City, Seattle, and Miami already ban polystyrene, Maryland will be the first state.

Businesses Opt For Reusable Innovations

While legislators are stepping up by creating bans, businesses are transitioning to sustainable packaging. ALDI, a supermarket chain that serves more than 40 million customers each month, has announced all packaging will be reusable, recyclable, or compostable by 2025.

Additionally, major brands have committed to selling products in reusable containers under Loop, a project partnership between TerraCycle and brands such as Tropicana, Axe, Tide, and Haagen-Dazs, among many others. Since 40 percent of all plastic produced is used in packaging, the Loop project is poised to effect significant change. The pilot project will roll out to customers in New York City and Paris during 2019.

The Sustainability Solution to Plastic

Concern for the planet is at an all-time high, and millennials are twice as likely to pay more for a sustainable product than older generations. With sustainable packaging winning customer loyalty, businesses that invest in environmentally-responsible goals are more likely to meet the bottom line. Read our sustainable packaging movement blog post to learn more about this industry trend.

Businesses with a third-party certification have proven to an independent organization that they meet a verified standard of sustainability, including responsible packaging. Green America’s Green Business Network seal is the authentic trustmark for social and environmental responsibility and is home to 3,000 certified businesses across the country. Search our greenpages.org to find your next plastic alternative.

Supporting A Green Economy

As industries gradually transition to sustainable options, consumers can accelerate the movement by "voting with their dollar" for green businesses. By being a conscious consumer, our collective power can shift the tide away from our current wasteful single-use culture and instead towards a green economy that puts planet health and human welfare first. 

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