Over on the BBC website, reporter Chris Jeavans is blogging about her August challenge: to live a month without buying or accepting anything wrapped in or made with plastic. Why? Because even though we’re all repeatedly implored to reduce, reuse and recycle, plastics are still one of the most common things to make it into our trash, our landfills, and our oceans. So she wanted to track exactly how life would change if she gave up plastics – first, of course, tracking how much plastics she and her family used over the course of one month.
The numbers were surprising…click to continue reading
That is quite an undertaking. I am pretty eco-conscious, but I wouldn’t say I greatly inconvenience myself for the benefit of the earth. The environmental waste was a big part of why I went vegetarian, and I recycle, drive a fuel-efficient car, and use CFL’s and canvas bags to shop, etc….but I’m pretty sure giving up plastics would be impossible. This will need to come from higher up. If we’re going to eliminate (or even reduce) plastic waste, companies need to stop using so much of it for packaging. There is no reason why my makeup (or a banana, or anything else) needs to come in 7 yards of saran wrap, plus a box and a little styrofoam tray.
It was really interesting to me to see how differently food is packaged on the east coast than the west – the styrofoam trays, excess plastic, etc. My ex-SIL and sister, who had lived back here before me, both mentioned it several times in a “you won’t believe your eyes” sort of way… and they were right. But as I understand it, that’s a byproduct of living in an area where a lot of produce does have to be shipped in to us.
Every year, about this time of year, I contemplate macrobiotic local diets, eating only what can be grown and bought locally. …and then I think about how very tired I would be of root veggies by spring, and am thankful that there’s shipping from other states.
But it’s a conflict, because eating that fresh tomato means gas, transport, plastic, etc… and certainly contributes to an overall addition to several different problems.