I opened a container of spools and realized they looked… different, in a good way.  Most of the spools were made out of wood!

Finding non-plastic materials from someone I knew as a child reminded me that plastic is a very recent material.  At the very least, the excessive and cheap uses of plastic are very recent.  We don’t need plastic.  Products as simple as spools can be manufactured from wood.  And look, it’s beautiful!

I realize that wood is not the all-wonderful-solution-without-negative-consequences.  However, plastic is clearly not the solution.  By considering that plastic does not biodegrade, that plastic is accumulating to the detriment of ecosystems and that oil resources are inevitably dwindling (peak oil) how can we possibly continue to depend on plastic?

I’m currently reading the book, “Plastic Ocean” by Captain Charles Moore, founder of the Algalita Marine Research Institute.  I was stunned by this quote, “Current estimates put worldwide plastics production at 300 million tons a year, fifteen million tons more than the annual world consumption of meat, an almost inconceivable amount, especially when you consider that meat is eaten and digested, but plastic decays very, very slowly and is constantly accumulating.”

When you think about it, we are surrounded by plastic nowadays. Spools are made out of plastic.

Yes, wooden spools were a great find!

Do I want to avoid plastic? Absolutely.

Okay, I’ll admit that I’m a bit late in the gardening season to start growing seeds.  No matter, every day counts so I’m going to plant them anyway.  It’s not crucial to start seeds indoors but I think the herbs will benefit by taking advantage of my predictable indoor “weather”.

I trekked all over my house looking for containers.  I have plenty of glass jars but the lack of drainage holes would result in a disastrous mini-bog.  So, glass is not an option unless a diamond drill happens to fall into my possession.  I wondered if I should buy cardboard or ceramic containers.  Then I remembered they would likely be packaged in plastic or discouragingly expensive.

SOLUTION: I’ve got the perfect container!  Look at my beautiful cardboard egg carton!

I poked a small hole into the bottom of each segment for drainage.  Then I placed the egg carton on a glass tray which would catch the water.

Ten minutes worth of dilemmas:

Soy or dairy?  Is soy milk more environmentally friendly than dairy milk?
This article explores the issue.   Soy is supposedly better in terms of fossil fuel energy consumption.  However, soy milk still has many downfalls which are discussed in the article.

Organic or conventional?
This could be a completely separate topic of its own so I am not going to elaborate.  There are pros and cons to each side.  Personally I am in favour of individual “Forest Gardening.”  Forest gardening is a leap forward from industrial systems but it requires everyone to participate.  For more information I recommend this free documentary: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/farm-for-the-future/

Avoiding the plastic lid?
The plastic lid was my main concern.  Plastic can only be down-cycled.  Also, once created… plastic will last for many years.  Plastic lids, specifically, are consumed by wildlife.  On the remote island called “Midway,” Albatross birds are directly affected by plastic lids.  Plastic lids are a serious issue.  Unfortunately, ALL of the 2L milk products had a plastic lid.  When did this happen?!?!?

1L or 2L?
Do I buy two 1L cartons to avoid the plastic lid?  If so, then this is more carton packaging per litre of milk.  To make things worse, sometimes the cartons are lined with plastic.

By the end of this experience I was thinking, the average consumer just doesn’t have time for these dilemmas.  I wish for manufacturers who are responsible and produce as sustainably as possible.

What is the best decision?  I still don’t have an answer.  However, instead of staring at the aisle trying to make an impossible decision, I think we should pressure companies to abandon plastic lids, a solution!

Almost one year ago I emailed a soy milk company.  The soy milk companies claim to care, so I figured they would understand my concerns:

So Good: “Canada’s leading soy beverage brand, empowers consumers to make smart choices for a healthy lifestyle.”
Silk: “We have a strong commitment to our customers, and we want to know what you think. Please share any comments or questions you may have about our products, Web site, promotions, or company.”
So Nice: Project So Nice – Buy foods with less packaging “Choose the food item that has less packaging to it as there’s less waste to recycle or put into the garbage”

My email included:

“If I purchase your soy milk and soy creamer, I will unnecessarily discard 8 plastic bottle caps per month.  96 bottle caps per year for one person.”

I spoke about plastic lids in terms of ocean pollution and the negative consequences to wildlife (Source).

The company response included:

We use plastic lids on our beverages in order to maintain product integrity and help extend shelf life.  Also, this type of closure has been proved to be consumers’ preference over gable top closures.

We suggest contacting your local recycling agency and encouraging them to start accepting these lids in their program.

We are always looking for ways to reduce our footprint. For information on how we are doing this in other areas of our business, please visit our website.

Please do let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

The email was very friendly, and I did have other questions and concerns, so I carried on:

1. I asked how long the shelf life was extended by using plastic lids.
2. I suggested that consumers may be attracted to a more “environmentally friendly package.”
3. I stressed that reducing is much more effective than recycling.  This included three main points.  First, recycling consumes energy and produces pollutants which could otherwise be avoided by reducing.  Second, plastic is only down-cycled, never recycled.  This transition to lower quality plastic means that its chemical composition cannot be changed again; making it destined for a landfill.  Third, recycling is an industry, therefore the companies require profit.  Some plastics are not economical to down-cycle because the low quality plastic is simply not valuable.
4. I said, “While consumer convenience is a laudable goal, the price should not be environmental damage.  Both consumer happiness and environmental sustainability goals can and should be achieved.”

The company failed to respond.  They don’t plan to respond, unless they are almost a year behind in email.

Regarding their concerns about consumer preference, it is interesting to note that a quick internet search reveals people who are upset about plastic caps… not happy about it.  I’ve never heard anyone say, “wow, how did we ever live without plastic lids?”  Have consumers even noticed a difference with shelf life?  I even know people who have difficulty opening the lids.

One company has decided to start using bioplastic.  Is plastic manufactured from sugar cane a solution?  Sugar cane may be a renewable resource, but production is a form of agriculture and it is thus energy-demanding and land-consuming (scarce agricultural soil).  The crop must be planted, protected from diseases and pests, then harvested, transported, and processed.  I do not support alternative plastics as an option, why can’t we just reduce?

My goals include:

• avoiding plastic lids in my purchases
• reminding people that their individual choices matter! The soy milk company specifically said that they use plastic lids because consumers prefer them.
• contacting a number of organizations and people so that we can collectively express our concerns to all the companies (including dairy milk companies).  This attempt will hopefully not be ignored.  If you would like to be part of this email, please contact me (under “FAQ”) with your name, city of residence, and occupation/title (optional).  Maybe it will also be necessary to contact CEOs directly.

Here’s an activity… lets see how you do!

 Quickly: What is in this picture?

Quickly: What is in this picture?

The first picture:

In your answer, did you include “trees”?  If so, was “tree” the first answer that came to your mind?  Meaning, did you think it was an important part of the scene?

I recently read about the term, “Plant blindness [defined] as: the inability to see or notice the plants in one’s own environment.”¹  Possible symptoms of plant blindness include:

(a) failing to see, take notice of, or even focus attention on the plants in one’s daily life;

(b) thinking that plants are merely the backdrop for animal life;

(c) misunderstanding what kinds of matter and energy plants require to stay alive;

(d) overlooking the importance of plants to one’s daily affairs;

etc…¹

Plant blindness is an interesting observation.  Could this idea of ‘blindness’ be applied to … plastic?

The second picture:

In your answer, did you include “plastic”?  If so, was “plastic” the first answer that came to your mind?   Meaning, did you think it was an important part of the scene?

I am going to compare the research on “plant blindness” with my own theory of “plastic blindness.”  I am proposing that people LOOK at plastic without SEEING or devoting thought to plastic.

Here are my proposed symptoms for, “Plastic blindness“:

(a) failing to see, take notice of, or even focus attention on the environmental and health consequences of plastic;

(b) thinking that plastic is merely a harmless material that packages food and products;

(c) misunderstanding what kinds of matter are used to create plastic (oil) and the energy requirement to manufacture and transport plastic

Whether it be plants or plastic, why are people “blind”?  Maybe we should blame the brain!

1.  We are limited to seeing what we expect to see. ¹

PLANTS: By quickly seeing a scene the way we expect to see it,  we may not see the appreciable details of plants.

PLASTIC: If we are in a grocery store aisle and we are looking for individual items, do we fail to realize that plastic is everywhere?  If the problem with plastic is successfully brought to peoples attention, will they begin to see the excessiveness of plastic and avoid it?

2.  Apparently if it’s not a threat it’s not worth a thought.  

The human brain pays more attention to threatening situations.¹

PLANTS: Conveniently, ignoring plants does not result in harmful consequences whereas other situations (animal interaction) require more attention.

PLASTIC: Plastic does not seem threatening. Is this a reason why it is difficult to bring plastic to public attention?  But wait…  studies show that the invisible compounds can in fact be harmful to human health.²  BPA is a well-known example.²

3. Grouping similar objects.

Humans have a tendency to group objects for visual recognition.¹ This may occur if the objects are unmoving and look the same.

PLANTS: Plants grow in groups, they are mostly all green and they do not move.  Groups of plants are easily labelled, “plants,” by the mind and details are left out.

PLASTIC: When people are presented with aisles of plastic packaging, do their brains simply group them as, “products” without further thought on the topic of packaging?

4.  Same, same, DIFFERENT, same, same, same, same.

The brain notices differences.¹

PLANTS: Plants are slow to change so they do not capture our attention frequently.

PLASTIC: Hasn’t plastic become the normal type of packaging? Is it difficult for plastic to capture human attention because there IS so much?  Example: “Well, this supermarket shelf looks exactly as it did last time.  Nothing to worry about.  No need to change my perception.”

In conclusion, we can keep on living life being controlled by the evolutionary decisions of the brain or we can decide to take control and be conscious of our surroundings.  “Without our conscious intention, attention, and effort to preserve it, most of the visual data our brain receives about plants is likely to be discarded.”¹ 

Is most of the visual information about plastic being discarded?  I am suggesting that we are accidentally ignoring plastic.

Solutions:

• Try learning about plants and how cool they really are!  An easy way to get involved is to grow food.  An interest in food may lead to an interest in plants in general!
  Example: Mmm, tomatoes

• Go for a walk with the intention of LOOKING at individual features of the landscape.  Notice the similarities and differences of plant species.
  Example: look at how the inside of this flower sparkles

• Shop around in a grocery store THINKING about plastic.  Once you take note of where the plastic is and how much is in the store, you may be more likely to pay attention to it in the future.  You will be “un-clumping” plastic from the visual category.
  Example: look at all of the unnecessary packaging! Choose individual apples and place them in a reusable cloth produce bag instead.
  

References:

1. Wandersee, James. “Plant Science Bulletin.” Botanical Society of America. 27.1 (2001): 2-6. Web. 20 Apr. 2012. <http://www.botany.org/bsa/psb/2001/psb47-1.pdf>.

2. Talsness, Chris E., Anderson J.M. Andrade, Sergio N. Kuriyama, Julia A. Taylor, and Frederick S. vom Saal. “Components of plastic: experimental studies in animals and relevance for human health.” Royal Society. 364. (2009): 2079-2096. Print. <http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/364/1526.toc>.

We are all aware of landfills but why don’t we critically examine the idea?  Landfills are sacrificed patches of land.  They ARE land.  They ARE part of nature.  A landfill is one big pile of litter.  An area where biodegradable and toxic waste become a mishmash of stuff.  Landfills may contribute to the loss of biodiversity ¹, accumulation of methane in the atmosphere¹, loss of arable land, degradation of water quality by landfill effluent², and a slew of other problems.

Now that you are staring at the stark contrast between the pile of litter and the natural environment, don’t you feel like thinking about solutions? I know I do.

But first a few more dirty details…

A little bit of waste adds up:

A Canadian produces 894 kg of municipal waste per year¹.  It is no wonder Canada gets a “D” grade in terms of municipal waste generation¹.  Yikes, maybe it’s time to reconsider our actions.

So, why single-use?

Whether it be single-use or use-a-few-times, these items are most likely destine for a landfill.  Why do you use these items? Are they convenient? Have you been influenced by manufactured demand (whoa, keyword)?  In other words, have you been encouraged to use a product you do not need… but you feel like you need it, at least, you have been told that you need it ³.  These products include plastic shopping bags, plastic water bottles, disposable pens, disposable dish ware, plastic cutlery etc.  More recently as demand is falling for unsustainable products, industries continue to fight for manufactured demand.  Literally resist and debate.  For instance, there has been much opposition to plastic bag bans from plastic industries who argue that consumers require plastic shopping bags (I was even contacted with regard to my campaign for a city of 8000 people!  Yeah, they’re worried).

Rest assured, the movement away from disposable items is very important!

Think about the entire production cycle of a disposable product… extraction of the resources (in the case of plastic this requires oil), transport of the raw materials, industrial processes to convert the materials into products, transport of the products to stores, transport home by the consumer then disposal in a landfill.

Plastic recycling… is unfortunately not the solution:

Why?  Plastics recycling is very misleading.  The swirl of arrows in a triangle looks very sustainable, it is amazingly luring for conscious consumers.  Plastic recycling, however, is not a form of recycling.  It is actually called down-cycling³.  Doesn’t sound as nice does it?  Unlike glass and aluminum recycling which works very well⁴, plastics have a very short cycle.  For example, plastic water bottles which are often made from new plastic are converted to a secondary plastic which takes on the form of plastic lumber or carpet.  The secondary products cannot be further recycled and are thus destine for the landfill! ³  Furthermore, even if you put something in your recycle bin… it is not guaranteed to be recycled because the recycling company may not have a market for reselling it!⁵  Don’t get me wrong, recycling is not a bad idea and people should continue to recycle their plastic items, my point is that there is a better solution.

PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS!  How to avoid contributing to landfill waste.

If you want to see results, reducing is the way to go!  Reducing avoids the entire production cycle of waste.

More specific ideas:

• Reuse a reusable water bottle! (aluminum or steel)
  How can you teach yourself to remember? If you forget to bring it with you one day, don’t default to a plastic water bottle, restrict yourself to water fountains!  Water fountains are less convenient so the experience of being limited to fountains may help you become more dependent on your reusable water bottle so you will be less likely to forget to bring it in the future!
  p.s. Are you afraid of tap water? Do you think bottled water is a safer alternative?  Most of the time it is not.  Check out this video.
• Re-use those reusable bags… for everything you purchase!
  Be sure to hang reusable bags on your house doorknob, or in an obvious location, after the bag is emptied. This way you are likely to put it back in your car or grab it on your way out the door.  An even easier idea is to buy compact reusable bags which fold into a little square, they fit in a purse!
  What if you forget reusable bags one day? It is very easy to carry your items in your arms or to roll them out in a cart (if you’re worried about looking like a thief, just hold the receipt in plain view).  An experience such as this will help you remember reusable bags, whereas, giving in to plastic bags will just encourage the bad habit of forgetting.
• Put produce in reusable bags.  Use small bags or you might not even need a bag at all! Don’t worry, your bananas will be fine.
• Avoid plastic by buying the same item… but in a beautiful glass jar! Old-time ketchup, jam in jars.
• Glass jars are perfect for storing fridge foods, so plastic zip-up bags have met their match.  Where do these wonderful glass jars come from? They are free by pulling labels off from pickle jars, jam jars, pasta jars etc.
• Try sticking to homemade meals instead of takeout or prepared meals. Check out some online recipes, they’re great!
• If the above is a crazy suggestion for you, how about bringing your own containers with you to a restaurant?  This way you will avoid styrofoam take-out containers.
• Fill glass jars with food from bulk food stores by washing and reusing plastic bags.
• Use toilet paper bags (or any other essential product bags) as garbage bags to avoid purchasing garbage bags.
• Female? Check out Lunapads.

It’s a small challenge, but we can do it.

References:

1. The Conference Board of Canada. “Municipal Waste Generation.” July 2011. Web. 18 Mar 2012. <http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/environment/municipal-waste-generation.aspx>
2. Teuten, Emma et al. “Transport and release of chemicals from plastics to the environment and to wildlife.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of Biological Sciences. 364. (2009): 2027-2045. <http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/364/1526/2027.full.pdf html>.
3. Leonard, Annie. “Movies – The story of bottled water.” The Story of Stuff. N.p., 22 March 2010. Web. 18 Mar 2012. <http://www.storyofstuff.org/movies-all/>.
4. Kazmeyer, Milton. “Energy to Recycle Glass Bottles vs. Aluminum Cans vs. Plastic.” Green Living. National Geographic, 2011. Web. 8 Mar 2012. <http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/energy-recycle-glass-bottles-vs-aluminum-cans-vs-plastic-2376.html>.
5. Southeastern Chester County Refuse Authority. “Why can’t I recycle everything?.” 2010. Web. 19 Mar 2012. <http://seccra.org/why-we-cantdont-recycle-everyt/>.

From the TED talks website, “Statistician Nic Marks asks why we measure a nation’s success by its productivity — instead of by the happiness and well-being of its people. He introduces the Happy Planet Index, which tracks national well-being against resource use (because a happy life doesn’t have to cost the earth). Which countries rank highest in the HPI? You might be surprised.”

“Use of plastic materials reached approximately 100 kg per year per capita in North America and Western Europe in 2005 and is expected to increase to 140 kg by 2015.”

“Every year large amounts of plastic debris enter the ocean, where it slowly fragments and accumulates in convergence zones. Scientists are concerned about the possible impacts of small plastic fragments— microplastics—in the environment.”

A single person can make a substantial difference by limiting their use of plastic!

Some sweet suggestions to help you on your way to a personal plastic ban include:

• using glass containers and bringing these containers when you purchase bulk foods (or even bakery bread!)
• save glass jars (they are perfect for storing foods in the fridge!  Goodbye, toot-a-loo… Ziploc).
• if you decide to eat in a restaurant and would like to take leftovers home, bring your own container instead of using a styrofoam container
• using (and re-using) reusable cloth bags for groceries and ANYTHING you buy!
• using reusable cloth produce bags or not putting produce in bags at all
• buy local food (normally requires less packaging and you can also convince the vendor that you have your own container and cloth bag)
  
• avoiding products that are packaged in plastic – there are so many products which are identical yet available in different packaging! – example = ketchup in plastic or ketchup in glass? Glass is natural and easily recyclable.
• plastic bags that are unavoidable, like toilet paper bags, are great to us as garbage bags
• buying second hand clothes… you’ll be surprised by the awesome finds!
• baking and cooking as much as possible
  
• eat less meat! Just think of the plastic material and energy wasted due to the production of meat! It requires the growth of animal feed, methods to grow the animal (including production and use of hormones and antibiotics), slaughtering of the animal, packaging of the meat, transportation of the meat, disposal of packaging. Beans are cheaper and have a lot of protein – they are a delicious alternative.  Beans can be purchased bulk or in recyclable aluminum cans.
  
• instead of chewing gum (which is packaged in plastic and gum itself contains plastic) eat a mint leaf.  Mint leaves are actually really delicious – chocolate mint leaves are my favourite.
  
• plant a garden outdoors or invest in a heat lamp to care for an indoor garden (uber fun to eat the product of gardening!)
• find a toothbrush that has a replaceable “head” so that the handle can be reused
• make your own art (photography, drawing, painting?) its so much more fun and meaningful anyway!

.

Always question plastic that is associated with your lifestyle! I bet you’ll figure out a way to replace it, resulting in less of an environmentally devastating impact

Thank you for using less plastic!

I was listening to a podcast called “Skeptically Speaking” and an interesting point about industry bias was mentioned regarding bisphenol A (BPA).  You’ve likely heard about BPA when it was widely popular in the media since “Canada was the first country in the world to declare that it intended to label BPA a toxic substance.”  Scientific studies (examples on PubMed and by the Endocrine Society) on this plastic ingredient showed negative human health effects; BPA is an endocrine (hormone) disrupter.

Conversely, independent studies conducted by chemical industries showed results with insignificant BPA effects.  Clever. Worrisome.

Janet Stemwedel, Associate Professor of Philosophy at San Jose State University, and author of the blog Adventures in Ethics and Science identified the following in a Skeptically Speaking interview:

“Every now and then you get the feeling that animal models are chosen intentionally but not correctly.  One of the examples I’ve become aware of recently is in testing of the safety of the chemical Bisphenol A which is often called BPA.  It is a compound used to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins.  There’s been worries about the safety of BPA because it’s similar to the hormone estrogen in its structure.  So if you look at mass media reports on the research on BPA safety; the mass media usually says that there are mixed results, some studies indicate significant impacts on health and others not so much.  But it turns out, if you unmix those studies, 90% of government studies on the safety of BPA have found evidence that BPA has significant health impacts.

Of the industry studies, on the safety of BPA, none of them in this group found evidence that BPA had significant health impacts.  It turns out that this may have been because these industry studies used a strain of rat that was known to be insensitive to estrogen.  So that’s an example of choosing an animal model that shows, perhaps, the result that industries who profit by selling a certain kind of chemical might want to find in their research.”

What happens when powerful chemical industries oppose a BPA ban?  The ban becomes limited to… baby bottles.  It’s a start; however, this will obviously “result in ongoing human exposure and environmental damage.”

Speaking of human exposure, “BPA was detected in the urine of 91% of the population aged 6 to 79 years.”
Bisphenol A concentrations in the Canadian population, 2007 to 2009

The deliberate avoidance of true results outlines the importance of looking at numerous scientific trails and also paying attention to who funds a certain scientific study since it may be biased. If BPA studies are biased… could other studies by chemical companies regarding plastic be biased? This is a reason to question the safety of plastic.

I ere on the side of caution and avoid using plastic for health and environmental reasons. I buy bulk food, prepare food and choose glass packaging as an alternative.

“We are at a mid-way place. On a remote and isolated island in the middle of the Pacific, twelve-hundred miles northwest of Hawaii.

This is a moment in time, a chance to witness and understand our role in an astonishing environmental tragedy. This is a place that provides context. Here, reflected in the beauty of the Albatross, is an unfolding horror. Yet it is a horror in which we see our own lives, a snapshot of our impact on the planet that challenges us to consider how to move forward.

Join us, on a breathtaking and emotional journey, into the heart of the Pacific, and into the heart of ourselves.

Production of the feature film “Midway” continues through 2011.”