As the leaves start to bloom across Park City, we are all getting excited about summer fun! Whether you’re camping, going for a trip domestically or internationally, or even just relaxing at home, we all must maintain sustainable habits during the summer months.

Summer is a time of travel, and while most of us will not take our overseas voyages by sailboat like Greta Thunberg, there are still plenty of ways to make our travel a little more eco-friendly. These choices include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Walk and bike! In the warm parts of the year, walking and biking is an excellent method of travel short distances, while providing much-needed endorphins!
• While camping or hiking, make sure you abide by the rules of the park or area by being vigilant when making and extinguishing fires, and staying on the trails so you don’t tread on growing vegetation.
• Use public transportation whenever possible.
• Carpool with friends and family to your destinations!
• If available, take the train! Trains, in most cases, are more sustainable than planes and buses.
• If you’re traveling abroad, fly with airlines that are actively reducing their emissions through the use of sustainable aviation fuel, such as Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines.

Separately, we must also remember to maintain basic sustainable habits during the summer, such as sorting our trash into recycling and composting, limiting the use of single-use items (use reusable containers instead), thrift summer clothes, and reducing meat and water consumption. 

Recycle Utah, your community non-profit drop-off recycling center, provides these weekly tips. Visit their website for more information: www.recycleutah.org.

The post Green Tips: Sustainable summer travel appeared first on Park Record.

“You are what you eat.” Most of my generation has heard this phrase at some point, usually as a warning against fast food, added sugars and preservatives. But this same adage applies to another growing issue: the rise of microplastics in our food and environment.

Microplastics are plastic fragments 5 millimeters or smaller, broken down from larger plastic waste. Their concentration has increased sixfold since the 1990s due to our growing dependence on plastic and inadequate waste disposal systems.

Microplastics contaminate air, water, and soil, harming the organisms that ingest them and increasing in concentrations as they make their way up the food chain through biological magnification.

The pressing concern for humans, however, is that we digest organisms and we drink water filled with plastic. We are connected to the environment, and that environment is filling with plastic.

Statistics show that the average person consumes 5 grams of microplastics per week, and more and more research is proving the harmful effects that this has on our physiology. Microplastics have direct effects on the human circulatory, respiratory, immune, and endocrine systems.

In the short term, they can cause oxidative stress, weakened immunity, organ dysfunction, and respiratory issues. Long-term exposure can disrupt essential bodily functions and even increase cancer risk.

Now you may be thinking, “That’s terrible, but what am I supposed to do about it?” Here are a few actions you can take to prevent microplastic consumption:

• Reduce the amount of plastic you use and purchase. Instead of using one-time-use items, invest in reusable bags, silverware, etc.
• Reduce your consumption of processed foods.
• Avoid drinking bottled water. Park City’s tap water is free of microplastics, but you can use a water filter to improve the taste of tap water if preferred.
• Avoid containers that have a plastic lining.

These simple actions reduce your risk of ingesting microplastics while also benefiting the environment by cutting plastic waste. In today’s world, we are constantly reminded of environmental challenges — but small, conscious choices can make a real impact.

By choosing less plastic in our daily lives, we take one small but meaningful step toward a cleaner, healthier future.

Recycle Utah, your community non-profit drop-off recycling center, provides these weekly tips. Visit their website for more information: www.recycleutah.org.

The post Green Tips: The hidden threat of microplastics in our food appeared first on Park Record.

Are you building a house? Perhaps remodeling your kitchen? If so, consider the most sustainable options for building materials before you begin to help the environment.

Lumber made from wood serves as a great option during a construction project. However, much of the time, the wood that is being used came from alive trees that were helping to provide fresh air and trap harmful carbon. A great alternative type of wood to consider is beetle-killed pine wood. 

Beetle-killed pine trees span across North America, where they host a combination of mountain pine beetles and blue stain fungus.

According to Sustainable Lumber Co., the mountain pine bark beetles “inhabit lodgepole, Scotch, ponderosa and limber pine trees.” The beetles and the blue stain fungus have a symbiotic relationship, which combats the harsh defense mechanisms of the pine trees and causes these trees to die prematurely.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says that the beetles have affected more than 6.3 million acres of land across the dense, forestry regions of the Western states, and Sustainable Lumber Co. estimates it’s “killed over 100 million acres of trees across the U.S. and Canada.”

Why is this relevant to sustainability? Beetle attacks on trees cause massive deforestation and kill many trees that are no longer capable of photosynthesis, which draws carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Although these trees are no longer useful as carbon sinks, they may still serve an even greater purpose of being reused as lumber for everyday building projects. Beetle-killed pine wood can be used as any other type of wood: in cabinets, doors, walls, floors and so much more.

In choosing to purchase beetle-killed pine wood, you are saving the environment by reusing wood that is no longer useful, and potentially even harmful to the environment, considering that these dead trees are great grounds for wildfires to spread.

Even better, Sustainable Lumber Co. states, “If harvested within five years these trees can still be used for wood products and sequester their carbon storage.”

Overall, beetle-killed pine wood is an excellent source of building material for any purpose you need, especially when you are looking for the most sustainable option. 

If you are looking to purchase this product, you can order it online from companies such as Sustainable Lumber Co. and have it shipped. You are also likely to find beetle-killed pine wood at a nearby Home Depot, depending on what’s in stock.

Grayson Rae is a sophomore at Park City High School. Recycle Utah, your community non-profit drop-off recycling center, provides these weekly tips. Visit their website for more information: www.recycleutah.org.

The post Green Tips: Consider beetle-killed pine for building appeared first on Park Record.