Multiple Solutions for Environmental Harms

Finding the right solutions to address the broadband of environmental issues facing us is complicated by the fact that there is not one or even a multitude of “converging” mitigating actions that will address even the most devastating impacts. That is because the factors creating global ecosystem destruction, excessive atmospheric greenhouse gases, burgeoning plastics production, harmful and “forever” chemical use and disposal now known to bio-amplify all mean that we literally need to implement hundreds of different mitigating actions.

Individual actions, laws, and technology development can only take us so far. For example, mandating things like automobile fuel efficiency and tailpipe inspections worked as an initial mitigating action, as the average car now pollutes less per mile. But driving more miles based on patterns of human development and growth of suburban commuting, along with population growth, means more miles driven and hence not an overall solution.

The Earth’s environment is complex. Global ecosystems consist of the continued interplay among its physical and biological components, but our actions and personal and social choices can positively or negatively impact those interactions in thousands of ways. So, with the backdrop of the national political situation and questionable large-scale governmental movement, it’s going to take a paradigm shift in how we take actions in the US to meet the goals that the country has committed to meet by 2050. We all need to begin tackling the multitude of things that can be improved at the small scale and that local actions can affect. And there is a lot that can only be tackled individually by you, we, us, here in greater Newburyport. Here are a few examples:

Let’s source our food locally as best we can. Buy from local farms, join a CSA, plant a garden. Eat a bit less meat, just one meal a week less per week with meat can make a huge difference. Livestock growing has a very high carbon footprint, and while it may seem like a little less meat on your shopping list can’t turn the tide, it surely can if enough of us do it.

Reduce your personal purchasing of things made of or packaged in plastic. Send the kids off to school with reusable water bottles rather than single-use plastic bottles. Buy refillable containers for detergent and find refillable or non-plastic things you can use. Maybe use bento boxes for lunches and save on plastic wrap. Look for items in glass or paper containers.

Slowly evolve your clothes closet away from synthetic fabrics towards natural fibers. Polyester, after all, is just a plastic product. As you replace your old clothing, favor cotton, wool, linen, silk, or bamboo. There are a lot more of those choices available now. And unlike synthetics, each wash cycle doesn’t send thousands of microparticles of plastics into the sewers and ultimately out to the ocean (and even the atmosphere).

And one last item, let’s help create supply chains that emphasize recycling and reuse and upcycling more and more. Donate old clothing, sell your old clothing at a yard sale or online, buy vintage clothing at consignment stores or vintage shops. It's estimated that a new T-shirt creates almost 15 pounds of greenhouse gases in its journey from fiber to fabric to manufacture to distribution and to in the strip mall! It’s a crazy amount of GHGs you can personally prevent by buying one cool vintage T-shirt locally!

The problems in our environment derive from hundreds of subtle personal choices and can end with use of different choices worldwide. You can make a difference this week as you kick into summer. Plant some veggies, eat a bit less meat, and buy a natural fabric vintage T-shirt for summer use. It’s not about one thing; it’s about the sum of all things, and you can play your very important part starting today.

ACES believes we can make a BIG difference together. Team members invite you to stay updated on environmental matters by subscribing to our monthly newsletter via the “Join Our List” link on this page. Please consider joining our community of stewards who are committed to Make Every Day Earth Day by contacting acesnewburyport@gmail.com.

This educational column first appeared in The Daily News of Newburyport on April 23, 2025.