TwXLB “Changes” - Waste Not, Want Not: Relational Summary 8

Inspired by the Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard and the Entropy Law, I have taken a good look at consumerism in general as well as my own consumption of Stuff.  I have asked myself what I could do better and why I buy what I buy. It has been interesting, eye-opening and definitely uncomfortable.  As I was reading about entropy as it relates to sustainability and petroleum products, I started researching plastics, specifically plastic grocery bags. It only takes a few minutes to realize how ridiculously unneeded the bags are and how harmful they can be. People tend to forget something exists if they cannot see it. A plastic bag might rip apart and break down in a few months to the point of not being an obvious eyesore on a landscape, yet none of the plastic really went away or disappeared. The plastic breaks down into something called micro plastics and they get into waterways, animals and living organisms and work their way up the food chain until we also consume them (not to mention they are in our soaps, shampoos and lotions, but that is entirely another story). What I want to think about here is how the breaking down and spreading out of particles is a different distribution of those particles but there is not any less of them. If we think about all of the plastic bags that were ever made still being in existence, it is staggering. Now we know better, so as the saying goes, we should do better.

I got called out last week for not doing enough to be sustainable. The person who called me out was the most unlikely one on the planet: my own boyfriend. Why is it so unlikely that he would call me out? Because he is not into the same things that I am when it comes to preserving the planet. It’s not that we don’t see eye to eye, it’s just all new concepts for him and it takes a lot to convince him that changes in behavior only are needed. He’s stubborn, set in his ways and does not like change. I mean he really does. Not. Like. Change.

Declining to use plastic bags even without reusable bags!

When I got the text message from him pictured in the photo, my jaw literally dropped and I almost fell out of my chair. Whatever it was that made him tell the cashier that on that specific day he didn’t want to use any more plastic bags, I will never now.  But I do know that if my boyfriend can learn to load all of his things in his vehicle without any bags, then surely anybody can do it. And I did promise to help him get some reusable bags to keep with him. But then he called me out…

 He said that just us refusing to use plastic bags was not enough. He said he could understand the need but would be a lot more motivated if I were making a bigger change then just my own habits.  Well, that motivated me to go home and start a Facebook page to inspire and encourage people to ban plastic bags from the grocery store. You can find a link to that pageHERE. I put some facts about plastic bags, such as the average length that  they are used as a matter of seconds yet it takes hundreds and hundreds of years for them to biodegrade. I sent out invites to a bunch of friends and asked people to share their stories. So far I have almost 20 people who follow the page and about five people who have committed to not using plastic bags anymore.

And I’ve been thinking how I could do more. There are a number of cities and states who have banned plastic bags and/or single use plastic.  Shouldn’t Florida be one of those? One of the reasons of plastic bags are so bad is because of the harm that they do to sealife. Shouldn’t a state that has such an immense coastline and is famous for its beaches be a leader in protecting its environment? I would love to help get laws passed to ban plastic bags, and ultimately single use plastics, from the whole state of Florida.  They are just not necessary. With a few changes in our behavior we can quite easily and quickly adjust to a different lifestyle that makes all the difference in the world to the animals, the sea life, the beautiful natural environment of Florida and it’s future generations.

 Research on how to go about banning plastic bags has helped me understand what has been successful in the past and how to start taking steps in the right direction. One thing that I’m going to try, partly in the name of sustainability but also partly due to my own curiosity, is to write a few letters to local businesses.  I had one success so far, at my own place of employment. When I talk to my manager about our place of work supporting sustainable agriculture it was easy to point out the hypocrisy of the amount of plastic bags that we went through. The management agreed to take all plastic bags out of the organization almost immediately.  Maybe because of this, I feel fairly confident calling out other “sustainable” business to do the same.  I’m not sure how well this would go over with other businesses, but if it takes a letter then I don’t really have much to lose by asking. I mean, why do they ask “Is plastic OK? when you check out at Publix? Why not say “Is paper ok?” Or “Do you need bags today?” Or even “Paper or plastic?”. By saying “Is plastic OK? they are automatically making plastic bags the default option for everybody.

Example letters, steps and guidance for cutting back on plastic bags!
https://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/pft/2015/8/15/ban-the-bag-in-your-town