This month we are looking at Cleaning Up, which will include volunteering, responsible waste disposal, and team efforts to clean up all the destruction and devastation! ????

Volunteering: 

• Volunteer for park pickups, forest cleanups, etc. (with social distancing!)
• Try plogging, which is a global challenge to pick up litter while walking. It is a great way to get some exercise and help out your city

• Invite your friends and have some fun together while cleaning up the environment. This is a great way to get some fresh air and exercise while safely seeing your friends and helping the world!
• Go to freetheocean.com and answer their daily trivia questions to remove plastic from the ocean!
• Use Ocean Hero as your search engine, and a piece of plastic will be removed for every five searches!

Waste disposal: 

• Make sure you dispose of things the right way! If you’re unsure, just look it up
• Batteries, light bulbs, and electronics must be taken to a drop-off center
• Be sure to recycle only recyclable items (see the August challenge at potatosquad.orgor in your email)
• Don’t put toxic chemicals down the drain — they will end up in the water that we all drink!
• Don’t litter!

Pollution:

• Walk and ride your bike instead of driving whenever you can
• Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, and rot!
• Don’t leave your car on when you are just sitting there. At least turn it off, then when it starts to get cold, turn the heat on
• Eat vegan food whenever possible

Purchases:

• Buy organic produce when you can — lots of toxic chemicals are sprayed on plants and are absorbed into the ground and end up in our water. (you can get it more cheaply — up to 30% off! — from imperfectfoods.com)
• Buy clothes made with natural fibers, so they don’t release microplastics into the water when they’re washed
• If you absolutely must use a fertilizer or pesticide, use a natural one
• ✨Bonus✨ Here’s a new water bottle that has all kinds of benefits! “For every one bottle purchased, we remove 44 pounds/20 kilograms of low-grade ocean waste (equivalent to 2,500 milliliters/17 ounces single-use plastic bottles) and turn it into building materials.” — Indiegogo.com. 1,000 bottles purchased adds up to one house!

And comment with more tips! Thank you for cleaning up this month!