This Wednesday was Earth day so for this Friday's tea cups I chose these cute succulents planted in china cups As of yesterday, artist Rebecca Marshall of The Cat Bird Nest is selling them on consignment at Flora Grubb Gardens in San Francisco. Of course today I'll be having my tea in a travel mug on Alaska Airlines. Going green while traveling is hard, but I have made a few little travel green steps:
- I bring my own empty travel mug. No Starbucks cups or plastic beverage containers onboard for me. If I forget my travel mug I hold onto my cup through the entire flight for refills so I don't go through more than one.
- I pack a travel pashmina to throw over myself. Its more snuggly than an airline blanket and cuts down on their laundrering. I similarly don't use the airline pillows, many of which are thrown away after only a few uses.
- In the comments section of my hotel reservation (there is always one) I tell them to remove all toiletries from the room. I bring my own, which I refill over and over and that saves me from having an allergic reaction to Marriott soap and saves a plastic bottle from biting the dust for my 1 night stay. Still haven't figured out how to save the other 8 towels in the room.
- I only use carry-on luggage and I try not to bring things I don't need, this saves pounds of CO2 from being released carrying my stuff around.
- I bring my own reusable purse sized tote with me. Its so easy to accumulate little plastic bags from everywhere without it. On the trip home I used to use the drycleaning bag from the hotel for my laundry, now those items go in a little tote as well.
- I have my flight carbon offset (which doesn't make me feel unguilty and many have said isn't effective, but I do it anyway to support local renewable power sources)
The succulent tea cups are on sale at Flora Grubb Gardens (1634 Jerrold Avenue, San Francisco) for $24.95. Rebecca Marshall also has a line of handmade jewelry for sale; learn more about her work at The Cat Bird Nest.
