This article was written by Rhianna Reckmeyer We've heard it once, we've heard it a million times. "Save the Turtles", "Save the Bees", and "Save the Pandas". While we hear and see marketing for these issues, few people spend any time contemplating the significance for the plight at hand. We still see bees buzzing around the neighborhood, so how bad can this pollinator population crisis be? Well, it could be catastrophic. I'm not being sensational, keep reading. It's true that you might need to whip out a magnifying glass to see what is actually happening when a bee is pollinating a flower, the impact of this action (when carried across an entire ecosystem) is huge. The U.S. Forest Service's formal definition...

The overrated paper towel. Pretty often, if a product we don’t carry is requested enough, I’ll look into adding it to our repertoire. Not the case with Unpaper Towels. I gave a rather thorough explanation for why not in this blog post, and would add that most of the folks I know to have actually ordered Unpaper Towels complained that they weren’t particularly absorbent (or convenient to set up every time).Anyways, so many of the applications for which we’d typically reach for a paper towel are what people human have historically done with *drumroll*... rags. I know. Earth-shattering innovation coming at you from Ware right now. Those old tee shirts that are too tattered to be reasonably resold by any...

Looking to reduce waste and adopt a more sustainable lifestyle, but not sure where to begin? Consider starting in the kitchen. Of the entire food supply in the US, the USDA estimates that between 30-40% of it becomes waste. Food waste prevention starts by shopping with intention and only buying what you're sure you'll be able to consume before it goes bad. Then you can help keep the food you do purchase from becoming waste by properly storing it at home and preventing spoilage. Even then, waste happens, and seeking out a resource for composting (in your back yard, municipal collection, community drop-off, or through a paid service) keeps food out of our landfills. Food that winds up in landfills is quickly cut...

As I write and talk about our individual actions—how we take actions for our own comfort as well as for the wellbeing of the world at large—I am reminded constantly that the stark reality of climate change does not affect every human equally, and certainly not fairly. Those of us with the largest homes to heat and cool are least likely to experience the negative repercussions of the greenhouse gases we're emitting. We know that substantively that the redlining practices started in this country in the 1930s continue to have detrimental effects on Black and brown communities both in terms of economics and health. It also plays out in the physical environments of these communities: ' “These neighborhoods tend to have people who...

Did you know there are some things that are illegal to put into municipal trash collection? Did you also know that styrofoam isn't recyclable curbside, but that (in Asheville and surrounding areas) you can take it to Hard 2 Recycle events and Asheville GreenWorks will send it off to be properly recycled? We spend a lot of time in the shop chatting with folks about how opaque and confusing the world's waste services and systems seem to be, but there's hope! The City of Asheville and our pals at Asheville GreenWorks teamed up to produce a simple and user-friendly database that tells you what your disposal options are in the city and county (and some surrounding areas). It's a thorough collection of items, including things like coffee grounds and computers. A...