Back in January, I made a commitment to take the My Plastic Free Life: Show Us Your Plastic Challenge for 52 weeks straight. When I made the decision to take the challenge for the entire year, I thought: "no big deal... I'll collect our plastic... I learn." Of course, I'm learning... but collecting plastic is a big deal. Seeing every week how much plastic we're using and striving to stay focused takes effort.... and sometimes makes me feel overwhelmed. Some weeks I just want to throw in the towel and go back to "not thinking" about plastic... but the truth is: I couldn't go back to "not thinking"... even if I tried. I'm too aware now. I'm too aware of the negative impacts that plastics have on our environment, I'm too aware of the recycling myth, I'm too aware of the adverse health effects of plastics... I'm aware that there is absolutely no such thing as away. I know too much to turn back now...
So... while this is the halfway point, I'm still learning and figuring out how to get around using plastic. I still purchase things in plastic... I'm not perfect, but I'm not striving for perfection. I'm striving for better. I was talking to my friend about this whole "better" concept. It goes like this. I look at what I buy and then make a decision to buy it less. If I buy something every week, I push it to every other week... then once a month and so on. Sometimes I give up a product-- like plastic bags, straws, & bottled water-- completely. It's one of those, could you imagine if everybody took the same approach things?? Individual actions-- good or bad-- when multiplied bring change. I want my change to be part of reducing the need for landfills and not trashing or poisoning our world....
To learn more about my weekly collection, go here.
To see my first 13 weeks, go here.
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