Fake Plastic Wannabe
April 9th, 2008. Filed under: Wednesday's Wonders.I admire what Beth at Fake Plastic Fish is accomplishing in her quest to live a plastic free life. She began June 16, 2007 and is in week 42 in the attempt to no longer purchase any items made of or containing plastic. It’s amazing just how little plastic trash Beth accumulates in a week – or 42 for that matter. In Beth’s words, these are her goals.
There are basically 4 goals:
- To reduce the need for new plastic to be produced since petroleum is a non-renewable, polluting resource, and the production of plastic wreaks havoc on our eco-system.
- To keep existing plastic out of our waterways and landfills where it can cause further harm.
- To limit my exposure to toxins that can leach from certain types of plastic.
- To educate others about these issues so that my actions can have a farther-reaching impact than those of a single individual acting alone.
This is not a project with an end. Beth is making permanent lifestyle changes to meet these goals. She has inspired me to attempt to make changes in my life as well. My changes are baby steps compared to Beth’s life. But even baby steps can still have a major impact on how people think about our resources and the need to be responsible consumers. I’m now taking my own cloth bags when I go shopping and have started to look at plastic in a new way. I no longer buy cases of individual bottles of water. I’m using my filter pitcher to refill my bottles and will be buying a metal bottle to carry with me. I think now would be a good to time to make a list of all the changes I could make. I challenge everyone who reads this to make just two or three changes and watch the ripples as others see and do. Change can be contagious. I don’t know how many changes I can make on my own since I’m the only member of my household interested in this commitment, but I’ll keep chipping away at it a little at a time. Pop on over to Beth’s place and then come back and let me know what areas of your life you are willing to change to make life better for all of us who live here on planet earth.
April 9th, 2008 at 21:21
Hi. Thanks for the link! Good luck with your de-plasticking!
Beth
April 10th, 2008 at 00:05
I definitely agree about change being contagious. I started writing a blog about giving up plastic several months ago and have seen several family members and friends make changes in their lifestyles since. My mom, for example, started bringing her own bags to the grocery store and a friend started doing all his cleaning with vinegar and baking soda. It’s truly inspirational to see that I have been able to influence the people around me for the better. It is definitely a feel-good thing, and I think it is something we can all do.
Good luck on using less plastic. I am sure you will do great.
May 16th, 2008 at 13:14
[…] of any kind of plastic that comes into my home and recycling as much as possible. If you read Fake Plastic Wannabe, you already know I started becoming more aware of the danger of plastic and really want to […]