Hello, potatoes!!! Welcome to our next three-month theme! For this summer, we’ll be going back to Potato Squad’s roots (a brilliant metaphor 😁🥔) by doing an eco-etiquette recap. We challenge you to see how many of these you’re already doing and to start the ones you aren’t! We’d also be delighted and overjoyed and filled with utter potatoishness if you contribute your ingenious (or completely boring and commonplace, though don’t sell yourself short) ideas!

This month, we’ll go through some instantaneous things you can do with nothing but a spark of brilliance. Then in the next two months, we’ll talk about larger-scale things. We also encourage you to consider how you can contribute your particular strengths — for example, if you’re an artist, you can raise awareness that way, or if you live on a large plot of land, you can do more sustainable gardening or let wildlife thrive. And some things may not be as feasible — supporting small and sustainable businesses is important, but cost or availability can be a problem, so don’t stress about it! The goal is collective action, which doesn’t require individuals to be perfect. 🌱

• 💡Turn off lights when you’re not in the room (and it’s cool to push yourself to be in the dark! Try it! Your eyes really do adjust)
• 🌞Do things when there is natural light anyway
• 🍴Ask specifically for no plasticware or straws with takeout and instead use your own!
• 🗣Talk to people about the environment, why you think it’s important, and what you do to have a more sustainable lifestyle, and learn from others about what they do!
• 🦶🏽Don’t go places (except by the power of your very own feet) (but also, realistically, going places is important, so carpool and use public transport when you can’t walk or bike or teleport or fly atop a dragon)
• 🌳Go outside (we find it helpful to experience firsthand what we’re defending)
• 🍅Eat food you have (rather than buying new items)
• 🧶Use craft items, bags, cloths, etc. you already own (you may find unexpected ways to repair and repurpose what you have)
• 📱Share a social-media post about environmental goodness
• 🪣Take a bucket shower (fill a bucket with water and pour it on yourself) to reduce water waste
• 🌡Reduce your heat and AC
• 📝Sign and share petitions/email campaigns supporting environmental initiatives
• 🐓Be kind to the creatures around you, especially those who work hard to keep the world alive
• 🥔Be a potato! ✨ Whatever your circumstances, you have this p o w e r

Happy summer!!! 🌳 Thank you, as always, for reading, and we hope you’ll take a few minutes to do these things!