52 Weeks of Impact

Yes, I know, Week 45 has long come and gone. The plan was to try to extract as much plastic from our lives during that week. We succeeded in many ways, but we needed to know that what we achieved were things we could make sustainable. It’s taken us two weeks to figure out what we can and cannot do, what is realistic today versus potential for tomorrow.

Sadly, we found that extraction of some plastic was tantamount to “plastic surgery.” But, we are willing, able and enthusiastic to take up the following pledge:

We invite you to take up the pledge, too. And, if you believe you can do more by Refusing all single use and disposable plastic, we encourage you to take up the pledge with the Plastic Pollution Coalition (unfortunately, at this time, we cannot honestly say we will Refuse in all circumstances; we will do our best).

Why This Now?

I do believe it started with our Summer Effort participating in Beth Terry’s Plastic Collection Challenge, it was eye-opening to see how much plastic we really contributed. Then came TEDX The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, (on Saturday, November 6th) an inspiring and further motivating event that really got me thinking and angry. And then, what followed could have me almost believing in conspiracy theories:

The next Monday, I went out to run my usual errands. I walked out the front door of our building, took a left toward the bus stop, and luckily was fast-footed enough to do a quick two-step to avoid tripping over a pile of (not one, but three!) crushed plastic water bottles in my path. I cursed as I twisted an ankle, and I nearly just kicked them aside. But, I reminded myself that there was a recycling bin down the street, so I took out a tissue, picked up the dirt encrusted bottles (gross!), gingerly carried them a half-block, and dropped them in the recycling bin.

Further along, just before I reached the grocery store, a slightly soggy plastic produce bag came dancing toward me and adhered itself to my left pant leg and boot. I shook my leg vigorously, which merely encouraged it to wrap around my leg. That soggy tissue I’d redeposited in my coat pocket came in handy again. I picked up that plastic bag, and while I know I should’ve deposited it properly, it was just too disgusting, so I dropped it to the ground and used my foot to push it into the gutter where I hoped the morning street cleaners would take it away.

That filthy, waltzing plastic bag transported my mind to think of a friend in S. Africa. She and her husband run a lodge and a farm where she raises a myriad domestic animals, mostly as pets. Amongst her menagerie is a herd of sheep. Last year, she lost her ram. Why? It was initially thought to be “natural causes,” but she was curious what happened, and requested an autopsy. The poor animal died as a result of ingesting a plastic bag which had clogged up his digestive system. Someone had carelessly dumped their grocery bag and it found its way onto their property, and into the mouth of her ram.

The remains of a Laysan Albatross chick which was fed plastic by its parents resulting in death

And that, of course, reminded me of the thousands of albatross who died each year by ingesting plastics.

My week continued on in much that same vein. Every which way I turned, there was plastic. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to make all plastic products evil, but the amount of disposable plastic that we use every single solitary day, is unconscionable.

What We Can Do

1) As a beginning, I committed to finding a solution to one of my major pet peeves: produce bags!  As we’ve mentioned before, both Nils and I (with few exceptions) shop with cloth or reusable bags. But unless we shop at the farmers’ market, we’re forced to use plastic produce bags for individual items. And, I really despise those!

No more. I’ve now gone from:

From This

To This

These bags (right) are 100% cotton extra thin material that weigh less than 1/2 an ounce (or approx 14 grams). I wouldn’t use them if I were buying white truffles for $600 U.S. per oz., but for the vegetables and fruits that we buy, the weight difference is negligible. I made them in about 30 minutes and I’m NOT a seamstress. They also cost very little to make.

If you’re even less of a seamstress than I, you can google “produce bags cotton” which will give several results including Amazon, EcoBags, ReUseit, and others. (NOTE: we have no affiliation with any of these companies, we post these links merely as a courtesy to our friends and followers).

Now, you might say, “what’s the big deal? I recycle all my plastic bags.” But, please consider that:

• it takes 12 million barrels of oil to produce the amount of plastic bags the US uses per year — a huge drain on our natural resources.
• Only about 12% of plastic bags get recycled.
• Recycling is a good start, but add up the energy, time, resources, water, space, and emissions, and recycling becomes an environmental burden, not a solution.
• Very true: “What IS the big deal?” Why not use reusable bags when it’s simple, clean, safe (we’re unlikely to discover some day that a cotton produce bag has carcinogens — unlike what we’re discovering about all different types of plastics) and cost effective.
• An average American uses (in the grocery store and the shopping mall) anywhere from 400 to 600 plastic bags per year. That’s how many you alone could save!

3) My purchases of produce will NOT include those packaged like this (see photo). While this grocery store is the closest to home, I have other options of stores at which to shop. I will not buy my produce packaged like this!

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