HOME & HEARTH

Living a More Sustainable Life

By Aleta Daniels, Executive Director of Keep Prince William Beautiful

The trend toward a sustainable lifestyle is a hot topic right global food production has on the environment. Here are a now. Companies are shifting toward incorporating more few examples of small changes you can make to your grocery sustainable messages, indicating they see the world leaning shopping and cooking habits that can have far-reaching into products and consumable goods that have healthier ways impacts on the environmental effects of the agricultural of using our planet’s renewable resources (i.e., wind, solar industry. energy and hydropower), rather than our non-renewable resources (i.e., coal, oil and natural gas). 1. Focus more on vegetables, legumes, fruits and grains to fill your dinner plate, rather than making meat the star The thing about a sustainable lifestyle is, there is always more ingredient. Beef production is particularly notable for its that one can do to live a little more sustainably. Whether you environmental impacts, consuming more water and more already embrace and enthusiastically pursue a sustainable land and causing more environmental damage than any lifestyle or you are just now peering over the edge and are other food product. ready, or just about ready, to take that first step toward 2. Buy as many organic products as you can. Organic practicing habits that minimize your own ecological footprint, agriculture uses fewer pesticides and herbicides, which there are easy swaps to make to your current lifestyle. helps protect our water supplies and our pollinators. 3. Take advantage of your seasonal farmer’s market. Buying Clothing locally grown food reduces your agricultural footprint and The clothes you buy can have a huge influence on your supports local land remaining in agricultural production as ecological footprint. Just a few decades ago, our society small farms and homesteads. switched from more natural fibers like wool, cotton and linen, to manmade (plastic-based) fibers like nylon and polyester. At first an applauded new invention, we now know that clothing made from plastic-based fibers have raised major concerns, from harmful chemicals in the production stage to shedding microfibers and microplastics when worn or washed, which all cause myriad problems for our environment. Here are three Shopping When you maintain a more conscious approach to your shopping habits, you can ensure the items you purchase are more meaningful to you, are higher quality and are produced by companies dedicated to having a gentler impact on our planet. actions you can take to improve your relationship with the clothing industry. 1. Create a designated spot by the front door where you can hang your reusable shopping bags. Having them in a 1. When possible, purchase clothing made from 100% cotton (organic cotton being an even better choice) or other types conspicuous location helps you remember to grab them as you head out the door. of natural fiber, such as wool or linen. 2. Look for B Corp Certification. This means the company 2. Take advantage of nice weather and hang your clothes up to dry rather than using a dryer. Not only do dryers consume a large amount of electricity they also blow microfibers out underwent a rigorous certification process that considers the company’s impact on their workers, customers, suppliers, community and the environment. of the dryer vent. These microfibers can harm wildlife and 3. Websites like Good On You (goodonyou.eco) can help you human health when they end up in our drinking water or are find out how your favorite companies rate on categories like ingested as food by aquatic organisms. pollution, waste and human rights. 3. Consider purchasing a Cora Ball (coraball.com). These can be thrown in the washer with your clothes and collect microfibers that shed from your clothing during the wash process, keeping them from polluting our environment. These are just a few examples of things you can do to contribute to the eco-movement that is sweeping the globe. Other small steps include keeping a reusable travel mug in your car for those midday pick-me-ups, refusing plastic straws, bringing and using refillable water bottles rather than Groceries According to Forbes research, food production contributes purchasing single-use plastic bottles, and recycling any items you can rather than tossing them in the trash. to approximately one third (34%) of the world’s man-made greenhouse gas emissions, with livestock making up about half of that number. Our decisions about the food we purchase and consume can have a huge influence on the impact our To learn more, visit kpwb.org or call 571-285-3772. We’d love to hear from you! Follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/ keepprincewilliambeautiful and Instagram at @kpwborg.

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Arthur Lampros, who also owns Giorgio’s Family Restaurant right next door.

“It's fun to give people a different outlet. We carry wines from all over the world, not just Virginia. So we expose them to something off the beaten path,” said Lampros.

Moonshine

There are two distillers on the trail, KO Distilling and MurLarkey Distilled Spirits.

KO Distilling is located in Manassas. In 2015, their first spirit was a white whiskey called Virginia Moon. KO now makes and sells Bare Knuckle bourbon, rye whiskey and wheat whisky, Battle Standard 142 gins and Bottled-in-Bond Distiller's Reserve whiskeys.

“Besides being a manufacturing enterprise, KO is a travel/ tourism destination. Like other hospitality industries in this area, the last 15 months have been very challenging. It is great to have visitors come to the distillery again on Wednesday thru Sunday afternoons to enjoy tastings/cocktails, to take a guided tour of our facility, or to host special events in our Tasting Room,” said CEO and Co-founder, Bill Karlson. MurLarkey Distilled Spirits is located in Bristow and also gave back to the community during the pandemic by making hand sanitizer.

“This past year, MurLarkey received a 2020 Human Rights Award from Prince William County for our efforts in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. We were incredibly honored by this recognition and hope our efforts to produce and distribute hand sanitizer helped those we donated to in some small way,” said Murlarkey’s Social Media Editor, Josh Luckenbaugh.

About the trail, Luckenbaugh said, “We love being a part of the Steins, Vines and Moonshine Trail! All of our products are sourced locally, so when you come into the distillery, you're truly getting a taste of Prince William County. We encourage all of our visitors to check out the other amazing breweries, wineries and distilleries along the Trail!”

To learn more about the Steins, Vines and Moonshine Trail, go to visitpwc.com/steins-vines-and-moonshine/. To find the Passport to Prince William, visit PWCDeals.com.

Amy Falkofske is a freelance writer and photographer. She has a Master’s degree in Film-TV with a concentration in screenwriting. She lives in Bristow with her husband, two boys and two Beagle dogs.

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