Hi there! I’m Janell, founder of Clam & Clasp. You may have already heard my story and why I founded C&C, but if not you can read more about that here. My mission for the company is to speak for the sea and share its beautiful creations while inspiring wearers to safeguard the world’s oceans and spread awareness of the threats facing them. As a part of working towards that mission, I’ve started this new blog series about creating achievable and realistic eco-friendly lifestyles.
Since diving into the world of ocean conservation, I’ve become much more aware of my personal ecological footprint. There are so many resources and people out there trying to live more eco-friendly, and I’ll admit it was overwhelming to even start thinking about changing my lifestyles. Where do I start? Do I need to go cold-turkey on all things that negatively impact the environment? Sell my car, stop using my washing machine, eat only plant-based foods? Even though the idea of “going green” sounds amazing, in reality, it’s pretty challenging. There are ways of life that I’ve gotten so accustomed to, and that until recently I had no idea could be negatively affecting not only my personal health, but the health of our planet. I knew that as much as I would love to, I couldn’t just change my entire lifestyle overnight. I needed a transition period, somewhere to start.
Let’s get a few things out of the way...
What I’m NOT:
- Waste-Free
- Vegan
- Living a perfect eco-friendly lifestyle
- A green-living expert
What I AM:
- Environmentally Conscious
- Constantly learning about dangers affecting our planet
- Willing to try “green” changes in my lifestyles
- A realist about incorporating achievable, practical eco-friendly practices into everyday life
Throughout this journey of quitting my job and starting my own company, I’ve found it’s been easy to get lost in the minutiae of daily stresses. There have been times when I forget the “why” behind the company, when my mission of not only spreading awareness of the dangers facing our planet but also DOING something about it gets lost in inventory calculations, sales numbers and social media posts.
So, I’ve decided to hold myself more accountable and to start documenting my journey to be a little nicer to my body and our planet. I’ll be sharing my personal experiences and experiments with eco-friendly lifestyles, and will be totally real and honest about the difficulties they may entail. If you’re like me, and the cold-turkey approach is not for you, follow along and we’ll struggle and have some fun together as we strive to be our best green selves.
I plan to have a new post up every couple weeks, and my first post tackles the single-use plastic dilemma along with some simple changes and suggestions I've been able to incorporate to help reduce my personal plastic footprint.
Talk soon! - Janell
P.S. You can learn more about Clam & Clasp and check out our products here. We donate 20% of profits from each purchase of our handcrafted seashell jewelry to organizations focused on ocean conservation and keeping our earth healthy.
There are some tough decisions and some easy ones- tough one, I want to recycle my microwaved food plastic trays, but I have to wash them first and I live in California where water is precious. Which do I choose? Easy one – my wife and I are avoiding using straws because though they are plastic, they can’t be recycled. So we’re looking at not using them at restaurants and buying our own for times at fast food.
I love this Janell! It can be totally overwhelming to live a “greener” lifestyle when you try to do it all at once. It’s way more fun and achievable when you’re doing it with someone, holding each other accountable, and taking baby steps!