I'm now convinced there's only one solution to plastics -- refuse them. I just saw a clip from a movie-in-the-making by photographic journalist/artist Chris Jordan, he documented the tens-of-thousands of baby albatrosses that are dying this breeding season, because their parents feed them from the Pacific plastic gyre. It's horrific: http://www.midwayjourney.com/. What he says is so true, "can we allow ourselves to feel deeply enough that it transforms us and our future?" It does take FEELING into a change to make it last. I can not express to you the impact he had on the 120 people sitting in the room listening to him talk - and cry - about his journey to witness what we are wreaking, so far out of sight. It made me feel, "if he can do this, if he can hold this horrific reality up so close to his heart, the LEAST I can do is try to eliminate plastics in my life!"
Care to join me in this challenge?
My SO and I are now trying to eliminate both the acquiring and the disposing of plastic as much as possible... week two just completed. (We are re-using to the maximum the plastic we already have.) It's really just applying the Financial Integrity practices to our material lives -- only the "three questions" are a little different:
1) Can we solve/get/receive this in something NOT plastic?
2) Can we create a solution to this packaging problem that is solution-oriented and in partnership with the giver/seller?
3) Can we just do without this item?
Is it possible to eliminate plastics in modern life? We're going to see... So far this week, we've acquired a very few plastic items:
1) a friend gave us low-sugar, home-made zucchini muffins in a sandwich bag. We were so thrilled about the low-sugar, (they were delicious too) we forgot to hand back the bag until we had already left with it in hand!
2) lineman's pliers -- why in the world do these need to be encased in plastic? I was in a hurry and didn't notice when the store guy handed them to me as the solution to my fence-cutting conundrum. Didn't notice until I was in the car.
3) vinegar -- bought it to can veggies so I wouldn't buy tin-canned veggies from the store (which are lined with BPA - a toxic plastic!) Bought two big bulk containers, which at least should last a long time and be re-usable as slug-fence/mini-cloches in the garden next spring.
4) our deli gave me sliced meat in plastic-lined deli paper -- when the heck did they change to that? It used to be just waxed paper.
5) one time going out we forgot to bring our to-go bamboo silverware, and had to partake of one plastic fork, which we shared, and brought home to add to our party supplies.
On the positive change side:
1) Getting goat milk from a local farmer in mason jars, so we don't have to worry about the plastic caps on the glass jugs. (Actually, we used to do nut milks -- that's some BAD packaging there!) We'll use this to make our own yoghurt, which we will start from someone else's fresh batch, as opposed to buying a single-serving portion like usual.
2) I didn't get a milk shake, because I could not figure out how to ingest it without using a straw. (My pancreas is very happy about this.)
3) We're buying more melons, and no small, packaged fruit - yum!
4) Time to go ask our local shampoo maker if she'll re-fill our bottles...
... and many other daily decisions that just aren't coming to mind at this late time of the night.
We're actually finding it fun to stretch in this way, and work on further embodying our "living simply so others can simply live" values.
Do you have ideas or tips to share?