[00:00:30] John Salak: Everybody wants to live in a clean world. I mean, who wouldn't want clean air, water, soil, beautiful parks, beaches, lakes, and rivers. This, however, hasn't stopped the raging arguments, uncertainty, confusion, and even guilt surrounding the concept and practice of sustainable lifestyles. Let's face it.

Sustainability, even in its simplest form, has obviously become politicized. But even beyond this surrounding hubbub, questions surge over the effectiveness of local, state, and national efforts. What can be done to improve these practices? How can individuals and families start living sustainably? And is it a matter of all in or don't even bother?

Then, of course, there's another layer to this unsettling mix by way of the harsh judgments delivered by some sustainability warriors on those not totally involved. This only tends to breed resentment and guilt. What seems like a natural win win for the planet and people has become anything but. These issues, of course, don't mean we should give up on living sustainably.

But more guidance is required on how to start and maintain this approach to life for individuals and families and communities large and small. Fortunately, WellWell is bringing in an expert who can lay out a roadmap that gets people moving in the right direction in order to build a sustainable drive that makes a real cumulative difference.

Keep listening.

So as promised, this episode of what the health is about really connecting to the world, in a practical way, and we're centering that on the concept of sustainability, which is a hot topic. And we are bringing in someone who knows an awful lot about sustainability and how to incorporate and what are the challenges.

And that's why we're talking to Kenny Barnes. He is the program and outreach coordinator for Sustainability Matters. So Kenny, thank you very much for joining us and welcome to what's the health.

[00:02:30] Kenny Barnes: Well, thank you so much for having me, John. I'm happy to be here today.

[00:02:33] John Salak: Great. And I want to let everybody know that Sustainability Matters is headquartered in, the Northern Shenandoah Valley and the Piedmont region of Virginia, but Kenny is not in either of those locations. Kenny is sitting near Grant Lake, California. That's correct. Right.

[00:02:49] Kenny Barnes: Yep, that is correct. Just finished up a little trip to Yosemite.

[00:02:52] John Salak: Okay, all right, fair enough. So, Kenny's spread of sustainability, spreading the good word, goes far beyond Virginia. Sustainability is a hot topic. We know that. We hear it all the time. It's in political discourse. It's in personal discourse. It's in a lot of different areas. But, Well, just because we hear words, we don't always understand exactly what they mean or what we assume they mean.

So can you tell us what your definition of sustainability is and what you think maybe most people assume it really means?

[00:03:23] Kenny Barnes: Yeah, definitely. I think, like you said, sustainability is really a hot topic right now and, for some reason it's kind of a polarizing one as well. But for myself and for us at Sustainability Matters, sustainability is really simple. It's really the idea that people can coexist with the natural world within a system that supports all of us.

Pretty much everything we use, everything we need depends either directly or indirectly on the natural world, and sustainability is really all about protecting and preserving that relationship. Whether it be social, economic, or really any facet of our life, sustainability is really all about fulfilling the needs of our current generation, without sacrificing the needs and wants of future generations.

And for other people, I think they have pretty similar definitions of it. Whether they actually think directly about it all the time, I think is different. I think a lot of the times when they hear sustainability, they just associate it with things they see in the news, whether that be climate change or recycling or pollution.

So I think they think about all the different facets of sustainability, but perhaps. We don't do a good enough job communicating how all those facets are interrelated.

[00:04:27] John Salak: I think most people think of sustainability, they know it's tied to the wider discussion and, confluence of influences on climate change and, eco friendly living, but I think most people assume it's about taking cans and bottles and putting them in recycling tubs. Is that what you think the working assumption is for most people when it comes to sustainability or is it from a hands on standpoint, whether they agree with it or practice it or not?

[00:04:53] Kenny Barnes: I think historically, yes, I think in America there's been a lot of information that kind of puts the onus on sustainability, conservation, and pollution on individuals. So a lot of the time I think people have grown up with the understanding that doing things like recycling, is great for the environment, which it is, and doing things like riding their bike or carpooling.

And these are definitely aspects of sustainability, but I think in America we have kind of missed the note on sustainability in that. We tie it very much directly to climate change and in the climate change world, there are a lot of people who alienate large portions of the population because they come on very strong with their beliefs and kind of telling people what to do.

But with sustainability, it's really all about incorporating everybody into a system that works for us all. It's not about making a ton of sacrifices into your regular life so you can be a better steward of our planet. It's about creating systems and putting policies into place to where we can all live our fullest lives without sacrificing the natural world around us.

[00:05:49] John Salak: So that begs a point and we sort of hit on some of the things we wanted to talk about. Do you think, most adults or in families accept the concept of sustainability, whether they adapt the practices or not? We're going to get into the practical aspects of sustainability in a minute, but we can't get around the political hot points that sustainability raise and why some people may embrace it or not embrace it or get overwhelmed by it or get sidetracked by it.

So do you think families are adopting the sustainability philosophy, whether they practice it or not, is that growing, not growing, and there are all sorts of stats that show all sorts of different things about this.

[00:06:29] Kenny Barnes: Yeah, definitely. I can only speak from my personal perspective in my bubble, but from the statistics I've seen, the people I talk to, I definitely think there is just an increased awareness, about sustainability and increased desire to live a sustainable, and just lower impact life more generally.

I think the issue comes in, kind of matching that desire with the actual behavior changes. But in terms of general awareness, I think we do a pretty good job and I think people are just becoming more aware of the impact that they have. Like I said, it's really all about just taking that awareness and that knowledge and that education and actually turning it into behavior change.

And that behavior change is really the hardest part of make, of sustainability.

[00:07:08] John Salak: And again, we know there are recycling bins everywhere, and I'm not lessening that as an impact. I think if nothing else, it seems like a great way to build awareness that you should recycle .

Think people are overwhelmed? by trying to put sustainability practices into effect? What are the other challenges? Is it just not easy? Or is it just like, Oh yeah, I'm recycling. Does it do any good? That sort of thing.

[00:07:32] Kenny Barnes: I think there are just like so many challenges that it's just very overwhelming for people. To start, like I said, sustainability is something that touches every single aspect of our life. You can't really go to the grocery store, get food without having an impact on the environment. You can't drive your car without having an impact on the environment.

So pretty much every single thing we do. Has some negative impact. And I think that's very overwhelming for people because a lot of the times they don't really know where to start. They get bombarded with things like you should be carpooling. You should be taking public transportation. You shouldn't be eating meat.

And then these people are like, okay, well, I live 40 miles away from my job. There's no public transportation offered to me. And my kid really likes cold cut sandwiches for lunch. These are things that are really hard to sacrifice and problems that we don't necessarily have answers for. So I think that feeling of just overwhelmingness debilitates a lot of people, to a point where they don't even really get started trying to apply these in different aspects of their life.

But I don't think it's from a lack of desire. I really think it's just from, a lack of systems in place, and a lack of knowledge and education about how we can easily change those systems to make them work for us.

[00:08:40] John Salak: So before we get into exactly how we can make it work, let's talk about one of the challenges beyond just practicality and somewhat being overwhelmed or confused, how much, is the generational impact affecting the country's embrace and sustainability .

I don't mean to lump that all older people, which I'm sadly part of now, may not be as an abrasive of sustainable practices as younger people, but is that still a problem? And I'm not going to go into everything we discussed before, but you did tell me you came from a house that would get a new Christmas tree every four years, a fake Christmas tree.

So, that's something that we see there. We see it in my, family. My daughter just graduated with a degree in, ecological, environmental policies and sustainability, that sort of thing. So every time I turn around and I'm running the water, she turns it off, which is very frustrating.

But, how much does a generational pull, affect our ability to embrace sustainable practices?

[00:09:34] Kenny Barnes: Yes, I definitely do think there are differences generationally, but oftentimes I think they're overstated. At Sustainability Matters, a large portion of our volunteers and supporters are in that 55 plus demographic, so there are definitely older people who are very environmentally conscious and just wanting to do their best to mitigate their impact and create a better world for future generations.

Obviously there are a lot of studies that show that people in Gen Z. Millennials are much more worried about climate change. And I think that makes sense. We're gonna be the ones that are alive and dealing with a lot of these consequences, whereas people that are older don't really have those considerations.

They have loved ones they have to think about, but those problems are literally when they are no longer going to be on the earth. And there's also just kind of that whole idea that it's hard or you can't teach a dog new tricks. And for people that are older, they have grown up accustomed to living in these systems that do not support our planet.

They're used to filling up their tank with gas, and driving a car. They don't want to use electric vehicles necessarily. A lot of people tie recycling very, very closely to sustainability. Younger generations don't really see recycling as a great option. They just want to mitigate the plastic waste before they even have it.

So there are differences like that generationally. But I think by and large, it's not really age that separates us on these things. I think a lot of the times it's just kind of our own, either political affiliations, the information that we're given, more so than age.

[00:10:59] John Salak: So how do we begin incorporating sustainable practices in our lives? And I guess it, it's going to vary by degree or maybe not. What are you guys doing and how do we incorporate whether you're living in the Catskills, whether you're living in Hoboken, New Jersey, Milwaukee, near Grand Lake in California.

[00:11:19] Kenny Barnes: I think it really comes down to three main categories. The first is just voting. There's no way around it. Climate change and sustainability is a political topic in America, and the people we elect to office, have more impact than any one individual outside of office can have. Outside of that, you can also advocate and educate.

That's something that we really focus on here at Sustainability Matters, is just teaching people ways they can practice sustainability easily. Encourage people to volunteer for local organizations advocating for conservation. Attend workshops and webinars to learn more about specific topics, and share what you learn with your family and friends.

Since I've started caring about sustainability, the effect that it's had on my friends and my family, I mean, it's honestly hard to put into words just the change that one individual person can have on their circle.

So advocate and educate other people is another huge one. And then the third main category really just comes down to individual behavior change, take a look in the mirror and assess and look for ways for you to improve. That's not necessarily about self judgment and feeling bad about what you buy or how you operated in the past or might operate in the future.

It's really all just about getting information, about your individual impact and finding ways to improve. It can be very overwhelming to start on a sustainability journey since it touches, all aspects of our life, there are people who really care about native plants in terms of sustainability, people who care about plastic use, people who care about greenhouse gas emissions, and the list goes on and on and on.

So, for individuals and families, the thing that I always encourage them to do is really just start with one main focus, or even just one room at a time, and try and be sustainable in there.

[00:12:49] John Salak: So we have the education and the advocacy. Which you're saying is important to do on an individual level and can have an enormous impact because you're spreading the word and you don't need to necessarily do this in a judgmental way.

It's a matter of saying, Hey, how do we deal with this issue or what do you need to know? For somebody saying, okay, yeah, I want to lead a more sustainable life. What does that mean for somebody specifically? And I know it may vary by individual and it, somebody maybe can't change their world entirely.

Is it a matter of recycling? But I suspect it goes beyond that. It's a matter of composting. What do we do on our lives? If you're in an urban environment to lead a more sustainable life, is it purchase choices, whatever it may be? How do we begin to guide people in that direction?

[00:13:32] Kenny Barnes: Well, composting would be a great one, because honestly, food waste is the number one impact that humans have on the environment. And that's why when I started talking to them, I said, really just start with one main focus or one room at a time, and a kitchen is really a great place to start. Go through your pantry, go through your trash, and see what's producing the most waste,

look for eco friendly alternatives to that. You can stock up on silicone baggies so you don't have to buy single use plastic baggies anymore. You can buy reusable beeswax wraps instead of plastic wrap. You can go with glass Tupperware instead of plastic. You can, shop for things like dish soap, beans, coffee, and other stuff like that at refill stores so you can just take your own glass jars and you're not producing any more packaging.

And of course, there are also a ton of other aspects in the kitchen where you can practice sustainability. You can look for ways to reduce your meat consumption and eat a more plant based diet. Meat and dairy, especially beef, consumes a ton of land and water and just emits a ton of methane, which is, terrible.

pretty much the worst greenhouse gas that we have. So even though a hamburger tastes great, maybe you go with a veggie burger every once in a while, just to mitigate that impact. You don't have to just say, okay, I care about the environment. I'm going vegan now. That would be great, but it's also very hard to sustain that change if you aren't practiced in cooking a plant based diet.

You can also consider food waste, like I talked about earlier. Americans discard 120 billion pounds of food per year, which is about 325 pounds per person. So, that's almost a pound of food per day we're throwing away individually. And that's about 40 percent of the U. S. food supply.

And while a lot of the times we can blame things with climate change on corporations, 43 percent of that waste is actually coming from households. So that's something that individuals really are in. We have the power to actually change that. And again, that's not like a blame game. All of us have bought those salad packets in plastic that go bad before we throw them away. Everybody is guilty of that. Everybody lets bananas go brown, they say they're gonna make a banana bread, and they never actually do. They have leftovers and they don't actually eat them.

The sad thing is that all of that stuff ends up in the landfill. Roughly 24 percent of all solid waste in landfills is simply food that was good at one point that we just don't eat in time. And when it's there, it's trapped under heaps of trash, it doesn't get oxygen, undergoes anaerobic decomposition, which is essentially just a fancy way of saying it doesn't do it right.

So it ends up just releasing a ton of methane, a greenhouse gas 28 times more powerful at trapping heat in the atmosphere than CO2. So it's really just food waste is kind of the biggest impact humans can have, on the impact. So if people can find ways to reduce their waste and just compost what they have, that's really a great, great starting point for, I think, a lot of families.

[00:16:09] John Salak: My daughter, by the way, was in corporate work for seven or eight years. She started her own website and small nonprofit called GoPosty.

To promote composting in urban environments. So she, she's a, yeah, she's a fanatic composter.

That's point. And as you mentioned, the kitchen is a great place to focus. Not just on composting but on some of those other aspects you mentioned. And it's not an all or nothing approach, it's sort of a movement approach.

Can you do more in this area versus you have to do everything at once? Is that a fair assessment?

[00:16:43] Kenny Barnes: Yeah, definitely. I mean, I'll even look at myself, for example. Like, I definitely consider myself an environmentalist. Like, I'm still living in a van that uses gas. I'm still driving around the country using gas, but at the same time, I haven't used electricity in three months. I haven't had to plug it in.

I have solar. My batteries are able to charge from my driving. So it's really all about trade offs. There's nobody that's doing anything perfectly because we don't have systems in place for people to do it perfectly. Like if you go to the grocery store and you want to eat, you are going to be buying something in a single use plastic.

There's no way where we can be all or nothing in sustainability. And by and large, it's really not about A few people practicing zero waste or emissions reductions perfectly. It's about a bunch of people practicing it imperfectly. And that's how we're really going to have, systemic change, and a sustainable change.

[00:17:32] John Salak: The Times just wrote a piece. Recycling is broken. Should you even bother? It cites only 10 percent of plastics are being effectively recycled. The Times cited the reason for this is cost, systems, all sorts of issues. And again, nobody's arguing against this sustainability.

They're saying, Hey, these practices are broken. Are there ways to quantify the payback of what we may be doing in the kitchen or individually. So, if people want to know if they're really having an impact or how do we quantify it because we're a nation of win and lose.

[00:18:05] Kenny Barnes: We definitely are. And there are ways to quantify it. There are definitely tools out there for you to track either your individual or your family's carbon footprint. You just input data about how much you travel, how big your home is for your heating and cooling. What you buy and eat, and then all of that information will output an estimated CO2 footprint.

But at the end of the day, I don't really think in most instances that impact or payoff is really, the importance of the story. It's all about the feeling and effect that it has on you and the people around you. I've seen stats that like 71 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions since 1998 have come from like only 100 companies.

And there's only so much that like individuals can do to really change that, but what individuals do have the power to do is change their own behavior and influence those around them. If you start practicing sustainability, you'll probably notice a decrease in your spending. You'll probably be taking out the trash less.

If you plant natives as part of your sustainability, you'll probably see more pollinators in your yard. So things like that. You can quantify it, but I also think it's important to just see how you feel and see how people are reacting in the way around you because at the end of the day that's what's going to create the snowball effect for more and more people to start caring.

It's educating, it's advocating, it's walking the walk more than it is about like doing all these things to get a number back to feel like you've achieved something at least personally, when I finish one of those salad packets, I just get such a feeling of satisfaction.

Because I know how bad it is to not finish it. I know that I haven't wasted any money. And I think once people start to actually seek out that feeling, they'll realize that it's a really good feeling and one that can make you feel just as good as buying more things.

[00:19:40] John Salak: Okay. What's the role of government, state, local governments, schools, corporations, NGOs, nonprofits in moving both the education forward, the policies forward, and the practice forward versus the individual.

And I know it's coordinated. I know it's interconnected.

[00:19:59] Kenny Barnes: I think it's everybody's job. Sustainability is something that affects us all and something that everybody has a responsibility for. Starting with families and schools, teaching their children about sustainability, teaching their children that climate change is real, and teaching them solutions that matter and solutions that will actually work for us.

Yeah. As a non profit here at Sustainability Matters, we try and fill the role of education and awareness as well. For other non profits, they may focus on lobbying and working with local, state, and federal governments. But I think at the end of the day, it's really all about figuring out what skills and abilities we have.

Because all of us differ in those. And finding ways to use your skills and abilities to leverage it in people. to inspire positive change in the world of climate action. But at the end of the day, the burden of really slowing and hopefully reversing the effects of climate change, those all really do come down to like, federal governments and corporations.

Not to get political, but like, one candidate in the upcoming election is talking about massive tax incentives and regulatory favors to big oil companies for supporting his campaign. I can use as many reusable silicone baggies as I want, but if the powers that be aren't taking those necessary steps to really mitigate that pollution and the greenhouse gas emissions, there's only so much that individuals can do.

And that's why when I talked about things that individuals can do, voting was the top of the list. You can change your behavior a lot, but really the policies in place and corporations, that's where we're really going to see systemic change that can change our world for the better.

[00:21:23] John Salak: Where do people go to effectively learn about the policy positions of individual candidates, or let's not even talk about a federal level, even talk about a state or local level, because everyone is adept at, Soundbites, whether you're, whatever market you're trying to attract.

So you can come up with 12 soundbites that sound great, in terms of supporting sustainability or supporting big oil or drilling or whatever you want. Where do you, where would you direct people to say, Hey, here's a non partisan, uh, soundbite view of policy, uh, per candidate, per government, per, you know, state or regional governments.

[00:22:00] Kenny Barnes: Don't just look, go to one news source and read an article or go on X slash Twitter and see like one little quote. Like you said, it's so easy to get soundbites now without getting the entire conversation and their entire policy into the picture.

So I think it's really just about educating yourself and not taking the easy way out. And just read stuff from both sides of the, political aisle. It's not good, um, just to have a completely one sided view of anything. You should be reading things that you disagree with, um, because that will help inform you.

That will help, inform, the arguments you make. You can know counter arguments that people are going to make that you can rebuff in the future. But I think by and large, it's really, Don't take anything at face value, do your own research. Just because somebody is a Democrat doesn't mean they're going to be staunchly for the environment.

There are still a lot of Democrats who put policies in place that are pretty anti, environment. So it's really all about just educating yourself, to make the most informed decision that you can. And of course, sustainability isn't the thing that's going to be the number one topic for everybody in the public.

Like political scheme, there's other economic factors and social factors and things like that. So it's really balancing those and figuring out what makes the most sense for you.

[00:23:08] John Salak: It seems that Western Europe embraces sustainable practices on a national or regional level more effectively or, more vigorously than we do in the States. Would you agree with that? I'm not asking you to be an expert on Western Europe. or, European commission policy, but just in general, why Europeans seem to embrace, Western Europeans seem to embrace sustainable practices more readily and incorporate them.

[00:23:32] Kenny Barnes: Yeah, I think it's definitely true. And I think there's a few reasons for that. One of the first ones is that just energy and gas there is just more expensive than it is in the US. A gallon of gas is going to cost people in Europe almost twice what it's going to cost them in America. So I think that all that discourages them from doing it.

But I think the big thing is really just attitudes about climate change. In America, we have had big oil companies like Exxon running essentially misinformation campaigns for decades. That successfully convinced a large portion of the population that climate change wasn't really real and it was not something that we had to worry about.

So here in America, we have portions of the population who strongly believe that climate change is real and are fighting for it. And another portion of the population who just doesn't believe it's real at all. And in Europe, there is a much more homogenous culture. Climate change is not really a politicized topic or controversial.

It's just kind of a fact that most people accept and are willing to try and, improve upon. And there's also, I think, better infrastructure in Europe. A lot of the time. I've only been there a couple of times myself and definitely visited the cities, but there were just things like bike lanes and, It was easier for people to walk to the grocery store and bring it back to their house.

So a lot of that stuff is infrastructure and kind of how we structure our society, which makes it hard for, large portions of America to really practice it in the same way.

[00:24:46] John Salak: Yeah. I know We could go on and talk about sustainability in a lot of different ways but what do you think are the biggest misconceptions about sustainability? Incorporating sustainability, the impact of sustainability, sustainable practices on the world, as a takeaway.

[00:25:04] Kenny Barnes: I would say that a couple of the biggest misconceptions are first that sustainability and climate action are for liberals and young people. That's not true. Sustainability and climate change is for everybody. It affects us all and I think all of us need to be involved in it if we're really going to have an impact.

And I think the second biggest misconception is that, Sustainability and individual behavior change won't really have an impact because corporations are the ones that are doing so much of this pollution. And I think that's really demotivating for people because they can do it perfectly, but if PepsiCo continues to produce bottled water and bottled sodas, there's only so much we can do.

But I think it actually is true that individuals can have a massive impact. I think that is a massive misconception. This past March, a report actually just came out examining data from 430 different studies, to see which factors most heavily influenced people's environment related behavior.

And it was honestly pretty fascinating, providing data and facts ranked last, only 3. 5 percent behavior change, which I think is a reflection of kind of where we are in America. Emotional appeals and personal commitment came in respectively at 10 and 11 percent behavior change. But the thing that inspired the most environment related behavior change was just social comparison at 14.

5%. Simply observing what other people doing and then mimicking it drove more environment related behavior change than like financial incentives. Just an example of that. If you install solar on your house, the likelihood of additional solar installations increased by 50 percent within a half mile radius.

So we see people doing it. We realize that we can too. And it really creates that snowball effect because at the end of the day, I keep talking about changing systems and creating systems that work for us all, but systems are just made up of individuals. So in order to change systems, you got to change the minds of individuals.

And the way we do that is, By changing our individual behavior and by inspiring other people in our circle to change their behavior. And eventually it really does create a snowball effect that can just reach more and more people and eventually grow into a movement that can't really be ignored by the powers that be.

[00:27:06] John Salak: So, I would suspect that you're pretty positive, let's say five or 10 or 15 years in the future we'll have a more sustainable environment, more sustainable practices, country, communities. Are you optimistic about the future when it comes to sustainable practices?

[00:27:27] Kenny Barnes: I am optimistic. And I think we all should be optimistic because if we just think it's not going to work, it probably isn't going to work. At Sustainability Matters. One of our slogans is seriously making sustainability fun. So we try and have a positive outlook on all of this, and I mean, even in just the year and a half, two years that I've been interested in sustainability, I've seen such a massive growth in awareness and education on the topic.

And while we are lagging behind Europe, maybe 10 or 15 years, they were having some of these discussions. We're starting to have the discussions now, and we can see that Europe has improved. They have reduced their greenhouse gas emissions. So, America, I think, is on their way to doing that.

It might take a little bit longer, but I think, by and large, a large portion of society recognizes that this isn't something we can continue to ignore. And as younger people continue to age up, and get into more positions of power, , I think we'll continue to see people, Changing policies that reflect, caring about the environment and caring about sustainability more than just, making a profit.

[00:28:24] John Salak: I don't know if you've ever heard this quote from Winston Churchill. He said, America always does what's right in the end, after it's exhausted every other possibility beforehand. So, so,

[00:28:36] Kenny Barnes: That sounds about right.

[00:28:37] John Salak: it sounds about right. It sounds about right. And that's from Churchill who, , had a mixed bag himself. So, Kenny Barnes from Sustainability Matters.

Thank you so much. We are going to flag, of course, the website, but can you give us your website link so people can go there and help begin educate themselves.

[00:28:55] Kenny Barnes: Yep, you can, visit our website at sustainabilitymatters. earth. And then you can also follow us on our social media feeds. Instagram is probably our main one. That is sustainabilitymattersVA as in Virginia. We post a lot of short form videos on there. It'll be my talking face talking at you. Bye.

But a lot of like just easy steps that you can take to, start practicing sustainability as an individual and in your family.

[00:29:18] John Salak: All right, Kenny Barnes. Thank you very much. We hope to have you back soon.

[00:29:22] Kenny Barnes: Thank you so much, John.

[00:29:23] John Salak: Before we move on, we wanted to again encourage listeners to take advantage of the hundreds of exclusive discounts WellWell offers on a range of health and wellness products and services. These cover everything from fitness and athletic equipment to dietary supplements, personal care products, organic foods and beverages, and more.

Now signing up is easy and free. Just visit us at WellWellUSA. com. Go to Milton's Discounts at the top menu bar, and the sign up form will appear. Signing up will just take seconds, but the benefits can last for years. So, what's the bottom line? Well, practicing sustainability isn't a political decision or statement.

Rather, it is common sense. Why wouldn't we want to safeguard the Earth's resources, reduce pollution, protect the environment, and maybe save some money? Getting started also doesn't have to represent an all consuming change that disrupts all aspects of a person's life. Starting can be relatively simple and focused.

As noted, a great place to begin is in the kitchen, incorporating small steps on recycling and food use that alone can have a big impact. Carpooling, using public transportation, even riding a bike or walking whenever possible is another way to engage. Composting in urban, suburban, and rural areas is an extremely doable step that gets people headed in the right direction.

Education is also critical. In order to find out what makes sense in each particular circumstance, whether that involves an individual, family, community, or business. Ultimately, it's It's just as important not to get overwhelmed by demands that aren't practical or possible that will only deflate everyone involved.

Successful sustainability, after all, is a community effort that has to involve individuals, neighborhoods, businesses, and governments to make a lasting difference. Well, that's it for this episode. We'd like to, of course, thank Kanye Barnes of Sustainability Matters for walking us through both the pitfalls and promises of living sustainably.

And if you want to learn more about how you can build sustainable practices into your life, and you should, please visit sustainabilitymatters. earth for more information. That's sustainabilitymatters, and matters is plural, dot earth. So, thanks again for listening to this episode of What the Health. We hope you'll join us again.