The BIG three

I have generated a short list of 'the BIG three' wasteful plastic items that really get to me-grrr!

1. plastic bags
2. plastic water bottles
3. plastic straws

I see these items EVERYWHERE! You will too, just take a look.
Just yesterday I turned down 6 plastic bags. Someone even tried to give me two plastic bags at once (double bagged! NO THANK YOU). If you have been reading along you already know of my despise for plastic water bottles and how flabbergasted I am by the number of plastic straws there are in the world...really if we needed straws so badly we would have evolved to have trunks!
I know there are other plastic culprits out there (many, many more) but it is the prevalence of these three that disturbs me and the careless, wasteful, wistful nature which they are used by everyone. These three items are nothing more than waste! Some plastic lives a long helpful life--I will not deny this--but these plastic items do not live such a life.
Here is my challenge to you: Go one day, two days, a whole week without using any of the BIG three. Turn them down every chance you get and do so with gusto--make me proud :)
Let me know how it goes.

reusable bags are the way forward!

I am so unimpressed by the New York Times and John Tierney's article, 10 Things to Scratch From Your Worry List.

Read #5 on the list:

5. Evil plastic bags. Take it from the Environmental Protection Agency : paper bags are not better for the environment than plastic bags. If anything, the evidence from life-cycle analyses favors plastic bags. They require much less energy — and greenhouse emissions — to manufacture, ship and recycle. They generate less air and water pollution. And they take up much less space in landfills.

False--we still need to do something about evil plastic bags! Just ask any sea turtle. Just ask the Pacific Garbage Patch. Why they set this item up as a an either/or scenario between paper and plastic is beyond me.

Reusable bags are the way forward! get with the program!

Sushi, say it aint so!

Eating out can at times be a nice way to stay on the plastic diet when the grocery store lets you down--oh and how the grocery store lets you down--it is simply so overwhelmingly plastic. Of course eating out only works if you go to a restaurant that doesn't serve on plastic plates, use plastic utensils, plastic cups, etc. I know the eating out thing is all a façade, there is plenty of plastic back there in that kitchen, but if it doesn't come out on my plate, as my plate or in some other disposable form to my table then I can't really count it now can I? If I were to count all that plastic back in the kitchen and how it contributed to my food I would certainly starve to death leaving Kerry all alone to carry on the plastic diet torch. It's already a lonely plastic diet world out there so there is no need to make it more lonely. Well, my blissful restaurant going was shattered recently when I read how much plastic is used in the seemingly nonplastic world of sushi! I almost cried sake tears. And I quote: "In the old days, sushi chefs wrapped their fillets of fish in kelp [go kelp!]. Now sushi chefs enclose blocks of neta tightly in plastic wrap [booo!] so they don't dry out in refrigeration. At Hama Hermosa, the chefs went through a mile and a half of plastic wrap every month [yikes!]."(The Zen of Fish, by Trevor Corson). I love sushi and I'm not giving it up, but I won't take it for granted anymore either! Oh sushi why do you do me like you do?

Do something drastic.. cut the plastic!

Hello, dear reader.

Are you at work?

Is your boss lurking about?

Well, you're in luck. I have a four-minute youtube video about plastic bags for you to watch. It has subtitles and it's not set to music, thus making it cubicle-friendly.

Enjoy and namaste.

Sneaky, sneaky...putting plastic in my food!

So I was eating my lunch today: rice, beans, tomatoes, beef, corn & cheese quiche, plastic...! There was a little piece of plastic in my quiche! Yuck-o. I didn't eat it (the plastic that is), buy it , use it, or consume it in anyway so it doesn't count! And I stopped eating the quiche too.
Then later I really wanted to buy some yummy chocolate wafer cookies with plastic packaging for my long bus trip back to the Campo Grande ( i.e. civilization and my next hostel) but NO I choose a banana instead.
Hooray plastic waste averted again! I could hear a round of applause from plastic hater everywhere as I walked off to my bus sans plastic waste. Thank you, thank you, yes it was a zero plastic day :)
Indecently bananas are so wonderful. They are the perfect nonplastic snack, but sadly I can't recommend you eat them over other fruit...why not? The problem is bananas aren't grown commercially in America-boooo! In fact I don't eat them at all in the US (I have a thing about buying food that is better/more traveled than I am and flying bananas in refrigerated containers to the US is just so wasteful.) I gave up bananas before I gave up plastic--maybe I wouldn't have made such a rash move if I had contemplated the beauty of the banana's natural packaging a bit more or if I had my own banana tree (and if I had a banana tree I'd need a monkey too!!!!)
At any rate I have been eating a WHOLE LOT A bananas in Brazil and they are sooo goood! Might I suggest oranges (grown commercially in California and Florida) or apples (grown just about everywhere) and many other wonderfully naturally plastic free fruits to those of you cutting down on your plastic. As I am sure you are aware plastic sadly rears it's ugly head A LOT in the snack food section and you must be careful.

adventures on the high plastic seas

Oh boy has everyone heard about these guys who made a raft out of 15,000 plastic bottles?

And they're sailing from LA to Hawaii? and eating Mahi Mahi Jerky?

Why?

To raise awareness about the plastic soup in our oceans!

how cool is that!?

http://junkraft.blogspot.com/

Sometimes plastic can be fun

Let me tell you: this plastic diet is TOUGH!

The first few weeks were about setting up systems to avoid plastic in everyday life, such as bringing my own coffee mug and water bottle and keeping a spoon in my purse. That went well.

Then during the three weeks in Greece I let my guard down.. I mean look how much fun my friends are having with plastic in those pictures! For me the hardest part is not wanting to impose my plastic zealousness on others.. for example, we used tons of plastic to make punch for a party. What's a girl to do? Outlaw punch? I made some good choices though to eat fruits instead of snacks wrapped in plastic, and using my Sigg saved tons of money and plastic.

Now it's week 7 and I'm back in the States and re-committed to the diet. So far today I haven't used plastic, although the temptations abound! Especially in the form of hummus!