Ah, yes, the new year. A time when people ponder reflections on the year prior, and offer up new goals and objectives in the year to come. In a typical trip around the sun, that is. This year has kind of thrown us all for a loop with the pandemic, global racial injustice, and more environmental instability than we’ve ever seen. We know 2020 has been bleak, but also wonderful in so many ways. If anything, it’s brought us closer to our community more than ever. Small businesses in particular are hanging on solely through the support of the people. That’s pretty cool.

With that being said, in the new year, we want to offer some sustainable goals that support the community in St. Louis. To us, that is part of what sustainability means. Not just saving the Earth (although it’s that too), but it’s helping sustain the businesses that support the cause. Community engagement and sustainability is what helps us survive in times like these, and we are going full-swing into the new year with this in mind.

Eight Ways to Be Sustainable in 2021

Shop Vintage
Clean, Cook with Intention
Eat Less Meat
Bike to Work or Anywhere
Support Local Farms
Brew Fair-Trade Coffee
Sustainable Self-Care
Grow Your Own Garden

Shop Vintage with Mesa Home

Shopping vintage is important to the environment. Sporting secondhand attire helps reduce the clothing waste that plagues landfills all over the world. And Mesa Home on 2619 Cherokee St. is not your average thrift store. Each item in this shop is particularly curated through the seasons, and they house all the 70s, 80s, 90s vintage vibes you need. For the folks who want to stay home, Mesa Home offers curbside Saturdays every weekend. Seriously, we love this shop.

Clean and Cook with Intention at Dharma + Dwell

With a new year upon us, you may be thinking about doing that deep clean you haven’t gotten around to yet, or thinking up new recipes to try. Why not be sustainable while you’re at it? Dharma + Dwell at 8135 Big Bend Blvd in Webster Groves is your one-stop-shop for everything zero waste. Shop reusable eating and drinking utensils to reusable grocery and produce bags. Also, reusable unpaper towels, organic hand-made dish soap and a whole lot more.

Eat Less Meat at LuLu’s Local Eatery

Taken from LuLu's Instagram — Taken from Lulu's Instagram

If your New Year’s goal is to go vegan or vegetarian, or just to eat less meat in general, St. Louis eats are a good place to start. Lulu’s Local Eatery at 3201 S Grand Blvd in Tower Grove has had a mission of sustainability since its beginning days. They offer a fully vegan menu that is full of junk-eats like vegan buffalo cauliflower wings, lots of yummy and fun veggie burgers, and now, under new ownership in the pandemic, with an international vegan twist.

Bike to Work or Anywhere at Maplewood Bicycle

One of the best ways to stay sustainable is to travel by bike. It’s like a triple whammy - It saves the Earth from gas emissions, it’s good exercise, and it looks dang cool. Don’t have a bike? Maplewood Bicycle is a good place to shop for one. This small bike shop on 7534 Manchester Rd. carries bikes for beginners, and for the most veteran riders. All for a good price. If you have a ride that just needs some fixing up, they do that too. Contact or no contact service available.

Support Local Farms at Local Harvest Grocery

Regardless of how you eat, it’s important to consider where it’s from. Buying from big name brands like Prairie Farms at the grocery store feeds into the growing number of over crowded live-stock, and the unethical practices of pesticide farming. When you shop local farms, you have a better chance at knowing exactly where your food is coming from. At Local Harvest Grocery at 3108 Morganford Rd., you can do just that at St. Louis. This “small store with a big heart” has grass-fed meats and home grown meat alternatives, free range local eggs, raw milk from local livestock, and so much more. They try to source within 150 miles of St. Louis.

Brew Fair-Trade Organic Coffee at La Cosecha

The coffee industry is large and wide, and there’s a lot to think about when buying your beans. Fair-trade and organic coffee means that the practices in which the beans are harvested are sustainable and pesticide-free, and the farmer is paid a fair wage. Regardless of where your beans are from on the map, if it’s fair-trade and organic, you can trust that it was made in good conscience. All of the beans at La Cosecha (7360 Manchester Rd.) follow this way of coffee farming. You can buy the beans to brew at home, or grab a cup of joe when you’re in the shop!

Self-Care Sustainably with Zee Bee Market

Bath and body products are another thing that just hit a little bit better when you know where they come from. Zee Bee Market at 3211 S Grand Blvd and 7270 Manchester Rd. is another shop like Dharma + Dwell that has a mission of local and sustainable products. But instead of personal and house care, Zee Bee Market sells jewelry, clothing, and a whole collection of soaps and body scrubs that are all fair-trade, organic and/or handmade. They have all kinds and scents and kinds of self-care to love. Shop both of their locations or online.

Grow Your Own Garden with Flowers and Weeds

Maybe it was a quarantine hobby, maybe not. But gardening is not always for everybody. Flowers and Weeds on 3201 Cherokee St. is here to help you on that. Whether you’re dabbling in growing your own food garden in the backyard, or you want to start your own indoor plant jungle, there is something for even the least experienced gardener. Growing your own plants is good for the air, and if you grow your own food, you know exactly where it came from.

Overall

The new year is going to bring many unpredictable things, but something you can control is the choices you make in every purchase, and the intention you bring to every buy. We want to encourage you to stay sustainable and be green not just this year, but every year.