Hope is believing that something you do today, no matter how small, will make a positive difference in the days, week, years and generations to come. Hope and vision for a better future has always been at the foundation of all we do at New Morning Market. From our earliest years we believed that bringing healthy food to our town would spread wellness throughout our communities. We believed that investing in our local farmers was the key to preserving local land and traditions. We believed that building a store, from the ground up, using reclaimed materials and architectural design supporting the ecosystem of native pollinator plants would sustain our community in a whole new way for generations to come.

We’ve been called hippies – we’ve been called nuts. It’s ok. We know what it means. It means that sometimes it takes a while for the impact of little changes to be seen.

As we’ve shared with you all, our next little change is to eliminate all single use grocery bags in the store. This means that starting on June 30th, we will no longer have paper grocery bags to offer at check out. In encouraging our community to bring their own reusable we stand in the hope that this little change will result in a big environmental impact in the years to come.

To celebrate little changes, we’ve compiled some of favorite “daily little changes” that are fun, affordable and easy breezy.

#1 Save Money & Support a Cleaner Environment: Shop Second Hand

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution are being driven in part by people’s ever-growing use of materials. The Nature Communications Journal states that more than half of all greenhouse gas emissions are embodied in the things we consume.

This is leading to the fact that secondhand shopping helps us shift into a world where humans and wildlife thrive.

The Sustainable Jungle posted this list of the 9 Best Thrift Stores in CT – check it out!

#2 Borrow don’t Buy! Support Your Local Library

#3 Get Clever with Food Waste – We Love Leftovers!

According to the Move for Hunger, 38% of food grown, processed and transported in the US will go to landfills. Not only does food waste that ends up in landfills produce a large amount of methane – a more powerful greenhouse gas than even CO2. The later the food is wasted along the chain, the greater its environmental impact because then we also must take into consideration the energy and natural resources expended in processing, transporting, storing, and cooking it.

#4 Use Reusable Whenever Possible

#5 Join Your Town’s Buy Nothing Group

A Buy Nothing group is a hyper-local online community where members give, receive, share, and lend items to each other for free. It’s a way for neighbors to reduce waste, connect, exchange items, and build community, all without the exchange of money.

#6 Buy Organic Whenever Possible

Organic Voices reports that organic farming supports carbon sequestration, which helps to mitigate rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. The primary benefit of organic crop and livestock production, compared to conventional agriculture, is that it is focused on soil-based production with underlying principles of maintaining or improving soil quality. Healthy soil counteracts climate change by pulling carbon out of the atmosphere. This is similar to how native ecosystems, including prairies and forests, act as carbon sinks in nature.

Tip from John Pittari: Grow food you love and use it, even if it’s just a tomato in a pot. Growing food is an act of hope and a good skill to have.

Thank you for being on this journey with us!