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🗑️ How to be less trashy
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🗑️ How to be less trashy

STOP BEING SO TRASHY.

When we asked y’all to share your Earth Day pledges to help the environment, many chimed in with promises to cut down on their waste. So, with some help from the community, we pulled together a couple easy ways you can do that in the 305:

Use less packaging by buying in bulk

Bring your tupperwares and jars with you next time you hit up places like Whole Foods and Fresh Market, where you can buy a lot of staples like beans, dried fruit, and nuts in bulk. Some places, like Aunt Jenn’s at Yellow Green Market in Broward, will even give you a discount if you bring your own containers. (Thanks to reader Lina Castaneda for this tip!)

Sign up for Hungry Harvest

Hungry Harvest sells packages of produce that can’t be sold to grocery stores, either because the produce is visually flawed (but still totally okay to eat!) or because there’s too much of it. Most of this stuff would otherwise just head to the garbage dump.

Like many local produce deliveries (aka CSAs), Hungry Harvest will drop your delivery right on your doorstep. Bonus: if you’re willing to be surprised by what you’ll be cooking that week, it’s cheaper than buying at the grocery store. We have one complaint though: They don’t take back the ice packs they use to keep the produce cold. So help us out, does anyone know of any organization that could use these secondhand?

Bring your own mug/cup/water bottle/tote bag.

We promise you don’t look like a dweeb when you do this. Plus, an increasing number of places actually give you discounts if you bring your own container. Wynwood Yard knocks $1 off your drink; know of other local spots that do this? Hit reply and let us know – we’ll share it out!

If you wanna have a multiplier effect, buy a reusable cup or water bottle from a nonprofit like Miami Waterkeeper or Debris Free Oceans (their “Zero Waste Toolkit” is pretty awesome) – the proceeds go to supporting their environmental work.

Also, #StopSucking. Plastic straws are terrible for the environment, end up discarded everywhere, and are totally unnecessary. Ask your server to leave it out when you order your drink. (Thanks to @volunteercleanup for that hashtag!)

Upcycling

Fabric waste is one that we don’t talk about too often, but a lot of that clothing you donate so you don’t have to throw away doesn’t actually get reused.

There’s a growing effort across the U.S. to upcycle unwanted clothing, and it’s got some traction right here in Miami with companies like The Full Edit and Nomad Tribe, which help people give their clothing a second life by organizing workshops on how to alter and upcycle it. They also organize clothing swaps. (There’s a full day of sustainable fashion awesomeness happening this weekend, with a clothing swap and workshops. Details here.)

The Blue Jeans Go Green initiative partners with major retailers (previous ones include Madewell and J. Crew) to collect your old blue jeans and turn them into denim insulation for homes. A lot of those stores will give you credit toward new jeans bought in their store. Check here to find out what stores are accepting donations right now.

Did we miss anything? On Friday we’ll share out your pledges, along with a list of local environmental groups, and any additional tips you send our way on cutting down on waste.

WHAT'S NEW IN THE 305

This is a big deal. Homes in Miami-Dade County near sea level are rising in value slower than those at higher elevations. That’s because home buyers are waking up to the more frequent flooding and the fact that it will likely be much harder to sell their homes in a couple decades. Miami is perhaps where it’s most dramatic, but it’s not the only coastal city where this is happening – and it’s pretty scary for the economy. (WSJ)

DIY. Miami is a national leader in coworking space, but the trend is leaving entire neighborhoods behind. So, husband-and-wife team Felecia Hatcher and Derek Pearson, the founders of Black Tech Week, decided to open up Tribe Co-Work and Urban Innovation Lab in Overtown. “[We] would always be invited to entrepreneurship and startup events and the look around the room and realize that there was no one in the room that looked like us and that was a problem,” Felecia said. Stop in for one of their open house Fridays. (WLRN)

Hole in one. Miami’s doughnut scene seems like it’s on a permanent sugar high, popping up everywhere we turn with new shops and expansions. If you’re struggling to keep up, then this take on the six best doughnut shops in Miami should help you out. (PureWow)

Software bug. The keynote by “Sophia the Robot” was supposed to be the big moment of LatAm tech conference eMerge Americas this year, but she had some “technical difficulties” at the last minute and didn’t give a speech. Organizers blamed the “South Beach effect.” Meanwhile, although eMerge generally exists to help techies meet each and encounter new ideas, this year’s conference ended up being pretty political, too. Day 1 included a keynote by former Mexican President Vicente Fox, an immigration talk by Rep. Carlos Curbelo, and a press conference on Nicaragua by other Republican lawmakers. (Miami Herald)

Stopped in their tracks. The three candidates in the District 5 County Commission special election have one thing in common: they’re all pretty tired of hearing about the SMART Plan, a 2016 proposal from Mayor Carlos Gimenez to build or expand six rail lines across the county. It’s already cost millions of dollars in research costs, but during a recent debate for the Miami Herald’s editorial board, all three candidates refused to endorse expanding Metrorail. (Miami Herald)

SMH. This lovely Miami Springs park in the middle of a traffic circle would be perfect for a picnic or lounging with a book – if you could actually get to it. But visitors have to play a game of Frogger across several lanes of Miami drivers to reach it, and we all know how that goes. So these two Springs residents are applying for the Miami Foundation Public Space Challenge to

THAT’S ALL FOR TODAY.

We’ll catch you mañana. 

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