as the earth heats up, the climate justice movement strengthens its fight for a livable future.

the movement looks different for many. there are crowds of protestors walking to the u.s. capitol calling for change. protest happens off the streets too, in our own backyards, the ways we spend our money, how we manage our trash, and much more. it can look like teaching youth or farming sustainably or eating more plants. the more people that prioritize the environment today, the bigger the positive trend that can result.

our house is on fire and environmental activists are determined to put the fire out. they are determined, hopeful, and passionate about finding solutions. scroll through this photo essay for a look at those fighting to save our planet.

who says though that individuals can’t make a positive change right in their own communities? three women share their journeys to living a more sustainable lifestyle. read on to hear their stories, from their inspiration to how they incorporated these alternative changes into their lives. 

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arlington, virginia, resident fidan karimova, 33, is on a personal journey to live a plastic-free and zero-waste lifestyle. she will be the first to admit that it can be intimidating and says, “you can’t be perfect all the time, but making little changes, at least, slowly gets you to where you need to go.” 

karimova was inspired by a book she read in 2017 called “zero waste home: the ultimate guide to simplifying your life by reducing your waste,” written by bea johnson. since then, karimova has incorporated these switches into her life and says it “saves money and saves a lot of plastic going into the trash and filling up our landfills.” 

many of these changes center around products used in her daily life. in her bag, she always has a reusable cup, bamboo utensils, and a cloth napkin because although paper towels are easier to recycle than plastic, “it adds up” she says. 

she uses a refillable deodorant which allows her to keep the plastic encasing and reuse it, instead of purchasing a brand new product over and over. her floss comes in a glass container with the string itself shipped in compostable packaging. additionally, her lotion and shower products come in reusable containers. even her phone case is compostable! 

at home, karimova uses dishwasher drops that come in a paper box and wool dryer balls to replace disposable dryer sheets. in terms of wardrobe, karimova is in the process of shifting to a closet of only 50 clothing items. this feat has been difficult in a world where fast fashion brands mass-produce cheap quality and low priced items. 

these are small switches in the sense that anyone can choose to spend their money on them, but they require effort and research to get there. by being conscious of where she spends her money and avoiding single-use items, karimova says, “i’m ensuring that our environment stays cleaner longer.” 

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kristy halvorsen, 42, had lived in florida her whole life. while working as a firefighter-paramedic in 2015, she had a dream of traveling the world. not wanting to wait until retirement for her adventure, she created a five-year plan to downsize her home and move into an airstream full-time.

then, one year into the plan, “i just suddenly realized we don’t have to plan everything and life kinda has our backs and we can be more in the moment,” halvorsen said. her vision ended up only taking two years before she was out on the road. 

her portable home attaches to her truck and lets halvorsen to stay at national parks, campgrounds, and friends’ driveways. this lifestyle allows her to lower her water and electricity use and her total cost of living. halvorsen also had solar panels installed on her trailer to give her power when off-grid. she’s since realized, “i don’t need more than the sun gives me…it almost forces you to be more cognizant and more conservative.” her trailer holds just 60 gallons of water — but that lasts her, one person, about three weeks. 

“i’m a drop in the bucket. i’m sure there’s many more people living like me out there. the more there are, the less impact we have, the smaller the footprint,” she said. 

“one of the biggest things i’ve seen in the journey is we need so much less than we think,” she said. through her time on the road and her new habits, halvorsen has noticed just how much stuff we buy — whether from the grocery store, shopping, or even buying souvenirs on vacation. she said she wishes she could cut her already tiny closet in half, but admits it’s hard to get over the very human worry that we might “need it someday.” 

halvorsen acknowledges that this lifestyle isn’t for everyone, but encourages even those who aren’t living on the road to aim for a more gentle footprint. now in her third year living full-time in the airstream, she has become so close to nature and says, “(i) don’t want to waste things; hurts my soul.” 

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karen mcmanus, 62, and rich mcmanus, 68, haven’t lived on land for the past five years. quite literally, their home is on the water, in a sailboat with 300 square feet of living space. they moved to their energy-efficient boat, named free spirit 2, to travel during their early retirement. this new living situation quickly taught them to reevaluate the way they used their space, what they owned, and how they used electricity and gasoline. 

free spirit 2 provides the mcmanus’ an environmentally friendly way to travel and is a more affordable way to live in pricey washington, d.c. the sailboat has solar panels which provide most of the power they use, with the option to run a generator for air conditioning. karen mcmanus says, “it’s not like an apartment where you can just flip a light switch.” on cloudy days she says they are especially cautious of their usage. 

with limited living and storage space on their boat, prior to moving the couple got rid of an entire closet of clothes and donated extra kitchen supplies. they’ve since even switched to e-books over physical copies. (they quickly become damp and moldy on a boat.) but their life on the water also has been cheaper in a few ways for them. the daily cost of living, including boat slip fees, are relatively cheap. but maintaining a boat and doing repairs can add up fast. 

mcmanus said living on a boat leads you to become more aware of your environment, since there’s no escaping the weather changes. she stays very attuned to how the weather and seasons change — and how they impact the tide. mcmanus said she and her husband enjoy living at a marina, and have met people from many different walks of life. 

she says she also has become more mindful of how much waste ends up in our waterways. “how much trash i have picked up out of the ocean, made me very aware of our society’s use of plastic. also, no longer a fan of helium balloons,” which she said she’s found miles offshore floating in the ocean. 

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in almost every facet of life, people can make product or lifestyle switches that are better for the planet. from changing the place you call home to not eating animal products, buying reusable products, shopping for sustainable clothes, actively protesting, picking up trash, and more. the more people that make these smaller-scale changes, the bigger the positive trend that can result. as halvorsen said, it’s all “a drop in the bucket” toward a livable future. 

once you’re done with your banana, what happens to the peel if it sits in a plastic trash bag? the natural breakdown of food slows immensely when leftovers end up in a landfill or on the sidewalk. if you want to make a change that will help the planet, look no further than your own food scraps. 

“composting is essentially a renewal process. it is a verb and it’s a noun,” said najwa womack, a d.c. native who has been composting for the past seven years. “the action of composting is actually monitoring the decomposition process of organic materials, and what you come out with is a very nutrient-dense soil amendment.” 

womack runs sistained 8, an action step movement that increases awareness around environmental sustainability and teaches the community about composting. she admits that at first people may be wary of the smell, but they are almost always impressed with the end result. 

composting is an aerobic process, meaning it requires oxygen. in this process, organic material is heated and breaks down into nutrients which enrich soil and results in much lower carbon dioxide production, compared to the lengthier breakdown process in a trash bag. 

“you probably heard about methane when it comes to animal waste and pig manure, and too much of it can cause an issue. so that’s also the case with food waste going inside of plastic bags. it has been very harmful over time to the planet. it’s literally trapped methane gas that could be decomposing naturally,” womack said. 

in the u.s., the third-largest source of methane comes from landfills. this means every time food goes into the trash can, the release of methane increases, heating up the earth and furthering the climate crisis. 

“composting is an easy, fascinating, and natural way to recycle,” writes rhonda sherman, an extension solid waste specialist at north carolina state university, in a backyard composting publication. 

for those who don’t have outdoor access or prefer to be more hands-off, one method involves leftovers and a freezer. after cooking, throw any food scraps in a compostable bag (paper works too) or reusable container. organic materials like grass or house plant clippings, paper products, coffee grounds, tea bags, and more can be added. 

with this “freezer method,” there are no requirements for what or how many scraps get frozen. it all depends on what you have available. and that’s it, you’ve started composting! once the bag is full you will need to do a little research about your town. drop off your compost at a municipal facility or pay a small fee to have it picked up by a service. some farmers markets and universities also offer free composting programs to the public and handle the decomposition process at a dedicated facility. 

the other option is to be involved in the composting process from start to finish. start your pile on the ground or place your bin in a shaded area, so it stays moist. here you must have two main components — your browns and your greens. browns are dried leaves, newspapers, cardboard, twigs, etc. they absorb moisture, help keep your compost pile structured, and are sugar-rich carbon sources. greens are your leftover food discards like fruits, veggies, and even your coffee grounds. greens help provide moisture for microorganisms and are protein-rich nitrogen sources. you should aim for a browns to green ratio of about 70 to 30. note that it is best to avoid adding meat and or dairy products as they don’t decompose well in a traditional compost pile, and can attract bugs.

is it possible to compost meat and dairy? yes! “they can be placed in an in-ground digester, such as the green cone,” according to sherman from nc state. some municipal composting programs also may allow them. if you use the freezer method and have meat and dairy leftovers, check with your drop-off program for their specific guidelines.

as for the size of your compost pile, it should reach three to five feet in height and at least three feet in diameter. this is key to having the pile retain heat and be self-insulating, which decomposes the materials. alternate between layers of browns and greens or mix them very well and the breakdown process will happen naturally. to speed up the composting process, add water to keep it moist and turn the pile frequently. chopping your leftovers into smaller pieces doesn’t hurt either. 

to avoid having excess food overall, womack says the first step is awareness, and to study your own eating patterns. from there, one can shop smarter and label your food with dates to monitor your food consumption. even with a perfect harvest or shopping list, there inevitably will be leftover inedible parts — and that’s where the sustainable practice of composting comes in. the resulting nutrient-rich amendment regenerates soil, optimizes the taste of the crops, and can decrease pathogens. 

womack finds composting “very solution-based … you are a single ambassador and if we have enough people — more than enough — ambassadors doing that activity, we’ll start to see a lot more change.” 

composting is a quick change one can make at home that truly benefits the earth and improves soil health, with options to dedicate as much or as little time as you have. 

these thoughts were expressed by three journalists at the event, “conversations in science communication: news, journalism and a global pandemic”, hosted by the george washington university school of media and public affairs. panelists were laura helmuth, the editor-in-chief of scientific american, mark johnson, a science reporter for the milwaukee journal sentinel, and nancy lapid, editor at reuters health medical news.

smpa director silvio waisbord delivered opening remarks to 100 attendees on webex and lisa palmer, the national geographic visiting professor of science communication, moderated the discussion.  

covid-19 has infected 7,168,077 individuals since january 21 and caused 205,372 deaths, according to the cdc covid-19 data tracker. the virus upended the entire world, causing everyone to demand answers from the scientific community. 

johnson spoke on the difficulties of reporting accurate science because research papers are being published so quickly.

“i kind of made a decision early on that i felt it was more important to tell people what the scientists were doing than to take too much of a paternalistic approach and say nothing is a story until it’s been peer-reviewed,” he said.  

as information spreads rapidly, it is more difficult for journalists to speak to their audiences. 

“it’s scary – it’s really hard to communicate with people when they are scared and confused, and that means we’re using all of our skills and experimenting in real-time to figure out how to get messages across in a way that people can hear and comprehend,” helmuth said.

helmuth acknowledged the coronavirus “landed in a massive moment of misinformation and disinformation,” adding that elaborate conspiracy theories have been released even from the president of the united states. 

the misinformation became so dangerous that the magazine endorsed a political candidate for the first time. 

“we felt it was our responsibility to use our platform to urge people to vote for joe biden,” helmuth said.

she claims that the trump administration is harming science and especially public health. 

lapid said that reuters, the news organization where she works, declared a news emergency during covid-19 and rearranged their reporting staff to involve the medical health news team more broadly. 

“reuters quickly realized the general news team needed help from my team who know the difference between dna and rna,” lapid said. 

event attendee heidi estrada, a junior at gwu majoring in international affairs, was surprised to hear about the struggles journalists faced. 

“i feel like journalists were often battling two different battles… the simple battle of understanding the science and the virus itself, and then fighting another battle of fighting the misinformation that was spread online,” she said. 

reflecting upon these times, each panelist shared a key takeaway learned from covering the pandemic. 

helmuth said it’s important to call out racism and lies and to not “give climate science skeptics a platform,” she said. johnson shared that this profession is “endlessly humbling” and you will always be learning something new. lapid encouraged students to develop sources and gain an understanding of basic science to support themselves.

the complete event is archived on gwu school of media and public affairs’s youtube channel. 

this past may, wright was stand up paddling, suping, when he first noticed the amount of waste in the potomac river. he picked up some trash and took it out of the water. the next time, he brought a crate for collection. that filled up quickly. when he returned again, more crates came with him. now wright’s set up includes specific crates organized by the types of litter he finds. following a picking session, he sorts through the findings and recycles anything he can in fairfax county. 

wright hopes to inspire others to pick up trash and goes out on the water as often as he can. today he documents his passion for litter picking to share with others on instagram, @sup.garbage.man. as of november 2019, wright has removed over 450 cubic feet of litter from the dmv’s water. that amount of trash could nearly fill a 1960’s vw bus. 

in the future, wright hopes to organize clean up events and invite others to come pick litter with him. joseph also has a road adopted in fairfax county which he cleans regularly. 

i stumbled upon wright’s page on ig while researching for a photo series featuring environmental activists.