Uncategorized

Emissions from travel can be some of our biggest carbon footprints! Sometimes, when traveling internationally or long distances, we have to fly. However, it’s worthwhile to compare driving and flying and how to reduce our emissions.

First, let’s look at shorter local flights and consider the increasingly fuel-efficient planes used today. Take the average flight from SLC to LAX, about 600 miles. The Airbus A220, a more fuel-efficient plane, would emit about 300 kg of CO2 per passenger one-way. Driving a mid-range gas car this distance would produce around 219 kg of CO2 total for the car, meaning that as you add more passengers, the per-person CO2 cost would significantly decrease. Getting to LA from SLC in a car with 2 passengers would produce about 109 kg of CO2 per person, versus 300 kg per person on a plane.

Now, let’s look at a longer flight. To fly from SLC to Honolulu–about 3,000 miles–you would be on a larger plane, such as an Airbus A330, which can hold about 250 people. The average CO2 emissions for a flight from SLC to HNL are approximately 1.1 tons of CO2/passenger. If you were to drive this same distance in an average mid-size gasoline car, you would emit about 1 ton of CO2 total for the trip. While not necessarily realistic, this calculation does tell us that it is still more fuel-efficient to drive long distances than fly. 

In basically every scenario, driving a moderately fuel-efficient car is more environmentally friendly than flying, though the efficiency of flying increases the further you go. Driving, especially carpooling, is usually the more environmentally friendly option. When thinking about air travel, it’s important that we understand the scope of our impact. The website https://www.myclimate.org/en/ offers a helpful carbon emissions calculator for both air and ground travel, which was used for the calculations of this article, and may be helpful in understanding your carbon footprint from travel.

By Mia Moore

The holiday hustle and bustle is behind us and, if you’re anything like me, the desire to slow down and sink into simplicity feels like a welcome shift after a season of excess. The new year has a way of inviting reflection. For me, that doesn’t just mean a fresh start with my goals or schedule, it’s also a time to reset my home by clearing out the clutter and physically making space for new opportunities.

I’m really looking forward to decluttering this year. The kind of clearing out I haven’t done since the pandemic, when we were all stuck in our homes surrounded by the weight of our belongings. So I’m bringing back a challenge called the “30-Day Minimalism Game” made popular by the guys known as The Minimalists.

The concept is straightforward: on Day 1, you remove one item from your home. On Day 2, you remove two. Each day builds on the last, until Day 30 when you let go of thirty items. By the end of the month, you’ve decluttered 465 items.

What makes this approach so effective is how gently it begins. Early days feel almost effortless, allowing momentum to build naturally. As the days progress, the challenge encourages deeper reflection about what we truly need, use, and value. It becomes less about getting rid of things and more about understanding our relationship with what we own.

But unlike Marie Kondo who asks you to bag up and throw out anything that doesn’t bring you joy, my challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to declutter sustainably. That means having responsibility over the items you own and thinking carefully about where these items go once they leave your home.

While donating is often seen as the eco-friendly choice, the reality is only around 20-30% of what’s donated gets resold locally. Many of our donated belongings are actually shipped overseas or ultimately sent to landfills.

Instead, I’ll first be trying these guidelines when decluttering:

• Giveaway – Whenever possible, I’ll be passing my items directly to someone who will use them. I have lots of neighbors with children younger than my own. I can almost always find someone interested in our clothing or toy hand-me-downs. If my friends or neighbors aren’t interested in what I’m looking to give away, I’ll post the items in our local “buy nothing” groups.
• Sell – I’ll be putting those gently used items that still have value up on Facebook Marketplace. My nicer pieces of clothing I’ll sell in my own shop, fulFILLed Lifestyle Co.
• Recycle – Instead of sending it to landfill, I’ll be sure to take materials like paper and certain types of plastic to Recycle Utah to be recycled.
• Repurpose – Some things are better transformed than tossed. Worn or damaged textiles still have purpose when they’re turned into cleaning rags or reusable cloths

Like living a more sustainable life, the goal of the Minimalism Game isn’t perfection, nor is it about deprivation. It’s about intention. Sustainable decluttering creates space for clarity and encourages habits rooted in mindfulness. Because January doesn’t have to be about drastic change. This practice teaches us how to ease into meaningful transformation by letting go—one item at a time.

By Kimberly Flores

Bitcoin trading has become increasingly popular in the last 10 years. Today, one Bitcoin is worth about $87,000 USD, and the global cryptocurrency industry’s worth is estimated around $2.6 trillion USD. Bitcoin operates as a digitally “mined” currency. Rather than gold being pulled from the Earth and valued based on scarcity, bitcoins are “mined” by servers from blocks (long sequential number chains), which equate to a complex mathematical equation. Bitcoin “miners” are then tasked with solving these block equations, with the reward being one new bitcoin. The ins and outs of bitcoin mining are extremely complex, but mining one bitcoin consumes approximately 155,000 kWh of energy. Comparatively, the average US household consumes approximately 90 kWh of electricity in one month. 

Recent research on the effects of bitcoin mining on air quality found that 34 Bitcoin mines combined used about 33% more electricity in a day than the entire city of Los Angeles. Similar to how AI data centers work, Bitcoin servers require high energy input to run and large amounts of water to cool computers and data centers. The energy demand from these data centers is so great that it can only be met by fossil fuels. 

Mining for gold can also be a very environmentally taxing endeavor. Pulling gold and other precious metals from the Earth consumes significant amounts of energy in different ways and presents several more ethical concerns, such as fair labor and trade issues. The gold and cryptocurrency industries are estimated to each produce around 100 million tons of CO2 in a year, based on research done in 2023; however, the gold industry is worth vastly more than cryptocurrency, being valued at around 14 trillion dollars. Additionally, gold is less variable as a currency than what we have seen so far from cryptocurrency. 

When executed sustainably, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies do present positive environmental opportunities as alternatives to precious metal mining. But sustainable mining practices are developing faster than sustainable data and server technologies. Until we can switch to reliable and consistent renewable energy sources for our quickly evolving tech needs, we are faced with a world that is becoming more and more reliant on fossil fuels and uses more energy each passing year. Bitcoin and AI data centers are at the forefront of discussions on regulations for companies producing large amounts of pollution or consuming large amounts of resources. Ensuring that these companies are held accountable and that resource use is regulated is the most promising path forward for the future of cryptocurrency. 

By Mia Moore

A letter, the last in a four-part series…

My Kin, I think often about your quality of life and health as I live my own with joy. What we do now will affect you and I’m trying to be aware and choose my actions with this knowledge. Giving back to our community is beneficial in a multitude of ways: time, treasure, or talent. While there are selfish people in our world today, there are also many who donate their precious time to help others and causes, in addition to money or their talent to support programs. I can only hope that you, my descendant, are surrounded by a nurturing and warm community. 

My Kin, I can’t imagine what state the world will be in during your time on earth, but currently, we experience extreme inequality from billionaires to homeless populations. My hope is that those with money are investing more wisely now, towards clean energy programs, water quality, social equity, and more. We can do that through our banks and stock investments, but many are still unaware of this. Sadly, money is still being invested in programs that benefit fossil fuels, large monopolies, and socially unjust causes that won’t benefit you many years from now. 

My Kin, we’re learning the importance of community in our lifetime today–similar to the way our ancestors and natives from hundreds of years ago lived–but it’s challenging with our nuclear families spreading across the globe. Hopefully, your families are close and tight, and your youth feel secure and stable without too many external influences from social media and divisive politics. I can only hope that your family feels content with friends, family, neighbors, and many pets.   

My Kin, I think often about what I have now–clean water and air, trees, wild animals, land, and food–and I can only hope you’re experiencing the same. Please know we are all trying…

By Mary Closser

The holiday season is one of the busiest times of year for us at Recycle Utah. Dropoffs reach an all-time high after Christmas, as people unload the remains of presents: boxes, wrapping paper, bows, and bags! 

Recycling is a great way to dispose of the remains of the holiday season sustainably, but the three R’s of waste management are ordered this way for a reason: first reduce, then reuse, and finally recycle. Come by after all your holiday activities this year to drop off packaging, food waste, or any other items we accept. But first, here are some sustainable holiday tips to keep in mind so you produce less waste this year! 

Reduce. Be mindful of what you buy! One thoughtful present goes further than 10 unwanted ones. When purchasing gifts or stocking stuffers, look for items friends or family will use, value, and appreciate for a long time.

Look into making gifts yourself, rather than buying them. Every year, I make every member of my family a hand-knit gift. What started as a badly knitted hat has turned into one of my favorite traditions of the holiday season! When thinking about what your friends and family might want, think about whether it is feasible for you to make that present yourself–you might find that more often than not, you are the very capable crafter of their dream gift! 

Reuse. Consider how you wrap your gifts. Americans produce about 25% more waste during the holidays, most of which comes from wrapping materials or cards. This year, think about getting creative with wrapping materials! A brown paper bag or newspaper works great as wrapping paper, and you can decorate it yourself to add a personal touch. Scarves, old blankets, or dish towels can also work great, and when you’re done, they can go right back to their original use! 

Save used wrapping materials for next year! It’s easy to unwrap presents without destroying wrapping paper. Collect materials that don’t need to be discarded and keep them. They could come in handy for birthdays and anniversaries.

There are lots of ways to be more environmentally considerate this holiday season! Get creative, and think about the hierarchy of the three R’s: Reduce, Reuse, and then Recycle! After you’ve reduced and reused this holiday season, come stop by Recycle Utah. We’re always here when you get to that last R! 

By Mia Moore

We’ve all seen it—cups, cutlery, and takeout containers proudly stamped with the word “compostable.” It sounds like a guilt-free green choice, but here’s the inconvenient truth: most so-called compostable products are never actually composted.

A recent CBC Marketplace investigation tested a variety of compostable products and found that many failed to break down as promised. Instead, they ended up in landfills where, without oxygen or the right microbial conditions, they simply sit there. That’s because composting isn’t just about what something is made of—it’s about where it ends up.

True composting is an aerobic (oxygen-rich) process. When food scraps and compostable materials are exposed to air, heat, and microorganisms, they transform into nutrient-rich soil. But in a landfill, waste is buried under layers of trash where oxygen is limited. That anaerobic environment causes materials, even compostable ones, to decompose slowly if at all—releasing methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Many “compostable” materials, such as PLA (polylactic acid), require the high heat of an industrial composting facility to actually decompose. Without that infrastructure, “compostable” becomes little more than greenwashing.

The good news? Residents and businesses along the Wasatch Back have access to a solution. Through the Zero Food Waste Curbside Collection program, a partnership between Momentum Recycling and the Park City Community Foundation, food waste and accepted compostable materials are collected right at the curb and taken to Wasatch Resource Recovery’s anaerobic digester in North Salt Lake.

There, microorganisms break down organic matter in an oxygen-free environment, converting it into renewable natural gas and nutrient-rich fertilizer. If those same items went into your regular trash, they’d only contribute to methane emissions in the landfill.

Food waste makes up an estimated 40–60% of landfill space at Summit County’s Three-Mile Landfill. By diverting it, we reduce methane, create fertilizer, and extend the life of the landfill. As of January, Park City Community Foundation estimated local participation had already eliminated 18.1 tons of methane.

So next time you grab a coffee cup labeled “compostable,” ask yourself: Will it actually be composted? If the answer is no—it’s still trash. However, if you’re part of the local composting program, you’re turning waste into something that truly gives back to the earth.

Park City’s curbside composting program is a simple, impactful way to close the loop—and it’s free for new customers until the end of the year! If you prefer, you can also now drop off food waste at Recycle Utah whenever they’re open.

Learn more or sign up at parkcitycf.org/zerofoodwaste/curbsidecollection.

By Kimberly Flores, co-founder, fulFILLed Lifestyle Co.