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Honestly Modern | Sustainable Living

by Jen Panaro

Jen Panaro is a self-proclaimed composting nerd and an advocate for sustainable living for modern families. Through her writing, workshops, and podcast guesting, she helps others find ways to incorporate sustainability into their everyday lives more easily. Sign up to receive weekly conversations, tips, and news about composting, reducing consumption, and building our local communities through accessible sustainable living habits.

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why can't we repair our stuff?

Stepping Stones Small steps to climate action with kids At the risk of dating myself, remember the good old days when we rode analog bikes without batteries or chargers? They had a bell and maybe even a banana seat, if your parents bought you the fancy one. The bike lasted years and was passed down to your siblings or friends. When the bike broke, a parent fixed it or brought it to the local bike repair shop. The tools, instructions, and skills to repair things were widely available, and many...

3 days ago • 6 min read

Stepping Stones Small steps to climate action with kids Let's talk about greenwashing, that super cool practice where companies pretend to be sustainable, but they're not at all. They salad spin their story into word salad to confuse and mislead customers into believing they’re pro-planet while they're happy to plunder the planet so long as it's profitable. Wait, does that mean companies lie to pad their bottom line? Sure does Susie. It's frustrating. I feel you. Linking back to last week's...

6 days ago • 4 min read

Stepping Stones Small steps to climate action with kids Let's start with something simple and beautiful. :) If you like to shop for sport or have someone in your life with that affliction, you've probably heard about Shein. If not, Shein is a Chinese ultra fast-fashion company. Shein hauls, where people buy giant boxes of cheap clothes that fall apart after a wear or two, litter social media. A few weeks later, most of that clothing litters our landfills. The Guardian describes Shein's...

6 days ago • 5 min read

Hello Reader, Today it’s all about electric vehicles (EVs). I’m not here to tell you to get one or not, but over in my newsletter on Substack, I dive into some common questions I get. The short story on EVs is there’s lots of nuance and anyone who thinks the verdict on them is cut and dry is wrong. But one thing is for sure… they’re fun to drive and never going to the gas station is the literal BEST! Oh yeah, and they always attract a bunch of internet trolls when I talk about them. womp womp...

about 1 month ago • 2 min read

Stepping Stones Small steps to climate action with kids Is the NCAA basketball tournament kind of a big deal in your house? It is in ours (and has been since as long as I've known my husband). It's kind of his thing, and he's doing his best to ensure our kids catch the fan fever. Once the boys were old enough to fill out brackets, we each completed one for the tournament every year. But to make it more exciting to follow along, we also print a larger-than-life bracket for each of the boys for...

2 months ago • 1 min read

Stepping Stones Small steps to climate action with kids Many of you are curious about composting but managing an outdoor bin feels like too much (or you don't have the space to do it). I totally get it. For the last six months, I've been testing out a new electric compost bin**. I never thought I'd say this, but I really like it! And I think it can help make composting more accessible for more people. Let me introduce you to the Reencle Prime**. This electric composter can help you turn food...

2 months ago • 1 min read

Stepping Stones Small steps to climate action with kids Want to know a secret? Patience pays. Literally. Like "leave more money in your bank account" kind of pays. When it comes to consumption, a little dose of patience pays real dividends. Impulse shopping is expensive. We buy way more than we need and often throw a lot of it away. Sustainable or conscious consumption encourages us to tap on the breaks before breaking out our credit cards. Before splurging, it pays to ask: Can you borrow it,...

3 months ago • 2 min read

Stepping Stones Small steps to climate action with kids I have typed and deleted, typed and deleted, typed and deleted this sentence so many times because I'm not sure where to start or where to go. But I'm so sick and tired of the way that politicians (I can only speak to those in the United States, as that's where I live and have the most experience) throw around their power for personal benefit with absolutely zero regard for the real lives they're harming. Our politicians design food...

3 months ago • 3 min read

Stepping Stones Small steps to climate action with kids I know it's not January 1, and the rush of New Year's resolutions has waned. But I'm just settling into reflecting on what a new year might bring for us and what I hope 2024 entails. And maybe my slowness to come to this perfectly reflects my intentions for the year - to slow down, shed commitments, and focus on family. Some years, I’m gung ho about setting goals for the new year. I’ve made boards with very specific goals. I’ve written...

4 months ago • 2 min read

Stepping Stones Small steps to climate action with kids In passing decades, we’ve become entirely disconnected from our food, so much so that many kids (and adults) don’t have a clue where our food comes from. We don’t know how it starts, where it comes from, the labor and resources that go into growing and transporting it, or even what it looks like before it hits supermarket shelves. That might not seem like a big deal, but it’s at the root of many of the structural disconnections that have...

4 months ago • 2 min read
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