Our Personal Eco-Friendly Journey

The idea of Maristella Mission seemed straight forward enough. In the mind, it went something like – “sell t-shirts to raise awareness about the health of our oceans and donate a portion of the proceeds to organizations that support ocean conservation."  As we dove a little deeper into the logistics, we realized there was so much more. Most importantly, we realized that starting Maristella Mission meant “walking the walk”. Not only did this take us on a business journey to ensure that we created and promoted eco-friendly, environmentally sound products; it also took us on a personal journey of transformation to more environmentally focused, responsible decisions. Below are some of the small personal steps we are taking to support the principles embodied by Maristella Mission:

• Shopping bags - Of course, our investment in reusable shopping bags is only as good as us remembering to bring them in to the store. We’re getting better but there are still times that they sit in our car while we shop, then try to carry everything out without a bag.  
• Straws – Usually, we are good at refusing the straws at a restaurant; but, as you know, there are the restaurants that automatically provide the straw. We're trying to recognize these situations, and be more proactive. 
• Water bottles – Again, we’re pretty good with this one, but not perfect. There are times when it just makes sense to grab a water bottle and run.  But, it’s also fun to have a cool water bottle to take along. Be sure to check out the Maristella Mission water bottle coming soon!
• Doggie bags – Even Kaycie wants to do her part! 
• Lawn care bags – Instead of putting our yard waste into plastic bags that will be around longer than us, we invested in a supply of compostable lawn care bags. It just feels better.
• Towels – We also started hanging and reusing our beach and bath towels for a second or third use, instead of washing them after each use.
• Recycling – We are more vested in our personal recycling. We toured our local recycling plant to learn what happens after we put something in the recycle bin. This also gave us the opportunity to learn the dos and don’ts of recycling in our area. Every municipality is different - see what the rules are where you live.

While we think these are all steps in the right direction, we realize that our journey will continue to take on new twists and turns. What's next? We're not sure yet, but generally speaking, there’s an overall awareness toward what's best for the environment that now gets filtered through our everyday decisions. We've also concluded that it’s important to recognize and accept that that we cannot be perfect on this journey; but what's most important is that we all keep taking steps toward improved environmental awareness.

We’re grateful that you’re joining us on this eco-friendly journey! Thank you!