How to Blog About Being More Environmentally Friendly

Green is the new black. Reducing carbon footprints and pawprints is ethical, socially responsible, and here to stay. Knowing how to share tips about becoming environmentally friendly in a blog post can turn your readers into environmentally aware and responsible citizens.

All the cool kids are doing it: Those involved in recycling and upcycling know why it matters, and your reader wants the information. Rubbish, trash, and compost do not make for the sexiest of topics, so having the facts helps. Here’s how to blog about being more environmentally friendly and infuse facts with fun on your blog:

Enviro-Friendly Facts

Fact: BlogPaws, the world’s first pet blogger and influencer network, hosts an annual conference, leveraging the opportunity to engage, educate, and bring brands together with leading pet influencers and experts.

Imagine a pet-welcoming conference that reduces waste and by collecting compost, recycles most everything, and helps the environment while teaching others how do it. At the BlogPaws 2017 Conference in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, this is exactly what happened.

Fact: Reducing carbon footprints and pawprints is essential to the planet’s future. When asked how they felt about zero waste in 2016, 75 percent said that they were important or very important to them.

Fact: Sustainability involves methods that do not completely use up or destroy natural resources.

Fact: The Pet Sustainability Coalition (PSC) strives to be the leading organization for sustainable advancement in the pet industry. They promote creative collaboration throughout the pet industry that prioritizes business minded solutions for sincere social and environmental improvement. Visit PetSustainability.org.

Fact: Prior to the BlogPaws 2017 Zero Waste initiative, Myrtle Beach did not have a green waste program in place.

Here’s our COE, Chloe DiVita, being interviewed by a local Myrtle Beach television reporter, about the Zero Waste initiative in May. (photo courtesy Carl Kerridge Photography)

How to Encourage Your Readers To Care

Give facts infused with fun ways to encourage your readers to go green or at least cut down on their pets’ carbon pawprints while you reduce human carbon footprints, including, but not limited to:

• Check out your pet’s bedding and toys: Steer clear of plastic and synthetic products. Instead, look for products containing natural fibers such as organic cotton or hemp, as well as products made from recycled goods.
• Clean Up Pet Waste: Leaving pet waste on the ground increases public health risks by allowing harmful bacteria and nutrients to wash into the storm drain and eventually into local water bodies.
• Reusable Water Bowls: When traveling or just for a jaunt around the neighborhood, carry a collapsible water bowl.
• Switch from store-bought chemical cleaners to allergy-friendly, non-toxic substitutes: If your pet has environmental allergies, those can be triggered even indoors by the allergens you and your pet bring inside.

Cite Experts and an Ambassador

One of the key elements to adding credibility to any blog post is having expert resources.

Jodi Chick, BlogPaws 2017 Conference Ambassador, and DIY blogger, says, “Simply put, it (zero waste) means making smart decisions that keep as much waste as possible out of the landfill by focusing on three things: not creating/using disposable materials, recycling whatever you can, and diverting food waste to composting centers.”

Grab some more facts and insights from Kols Notes here.

“Putting on a Zero Waste event requires an immense amount of effort,” according to Andy Downs, Senior Marketing Manager for Only Natural Pet. “It all starts with a goal of diverting as much waste material from the landfill as possible.”

As you write about how to be more environmentally friendly, consider what Downs shared about this year’s BlogPaws Conference Zero Waste initiative:

• Starting the day before BlogPaws, the Only Natural Pet Zero Waste Team arrived to meet in person with the team leads in Myrtle Beach, helping them understand the importance of a Zero Waste event, touring the facilities (both front and back of house), distributing special compostable single use items to the coffee and concession stands, and setting up Zero Waste stations throughout the convention center.
• Landfills are the third largest source of human related methane emissions in the United States – mostly caused by organic matter anaerobically decaying. The BlogPaws Zero Waste Event prevented 31 percent of organic material from the week from going into the landfill.
• The BlogPaws 2017 Conference recycled over one ton of material – most of which was cardboard. By recycling this, we saved approximately:
  • 390 kWh of energy
  • 1 barrels (46 gallons) of oil
  • 6 million Btu’s of energy
• This year’s initiative was epic collaboration between the City of Myrtle Beach, Horry County, the Sheraton Hotel and Myrtle Beach Convention Center. A good idea for a blog post is to find out how enviro-friendly your city is. We discovered that our zero waste initiative will serve as a pilot for the city to seed more zero waste programs in the future.
• Karta Elise Hassler, Sustainability Implementation Manager, for PSC, encourages bloggers and online social influencers to visit the PSC website to gather more information for blog posts and social sharing.

Jodi Chick of Kol’s Notes, on left, the BlogPaws 2017 Zero Waste Ambassador, with me, Carol Bryant, of BlogPaws and Fidose of Reality. (photo Carol Bryant)

The Big Drumroll Result

In conjunction with the Myrtle Beach Sheraton, Myrtle Beach Convention Center, City of Myrtle Beach, Horry County, and Only Natural Pet, the Pet Sustainability Coalition produced an epic event equating to a waste diversion rate of 96 percent!!!

What are you doing to become more eco-friendly? Ask your readers, show them how to do it, be a role model and leader, and stake a claim in the local ground of the town in which you live. Making a difference in the environment can be done: As leaders in the pet space, you have the power to steer the conversation.

Image: By somchaij/Shutterstock

Carol Bryant is the Marketing and Social Media Manager for BlogPaws and runs her own dog blog, Fidose of Reality and its fundraising arm, Wigglebutt Warriors. When not busy playing with her Cocker Spaniel, Dexter, she stays far away from cooking. Her trademark is her mantra and is tattooed on her arm: My Heart Beats Dog.®