Plastic-Free Presentations in Greensboro & Wilmington, NC

For the past several years, I have been striving to reduce the amount of plastic that my family uses, recycles and throws away.  It's something that I was motivated to do after reading the article "Our Oceans are Turning Into Plastic... Are We?".  And then once I began doing consistent beach clean ups and documenting the (mostly plastic) litter I found on my local beach, my commitment to eliminating plastics strengthened even more.  I've been sharing bits of what I do to reduce our plastic usage and this week, I will be sharing my story and personal tips to using less plastic at two different presentations-- Greensboro & Wilmington, NC-- with author Beth Terry and plastic researcher Bonnie Monteleone!

About the presentations:

Author Beth Terry will share her journey from self-confessed plastic addict to empowered plastic-free activist and explain why we can't just recycle our way out of this mess.  She'll be joined by Wilmington mom Danielle Richardet, whose own quest to live a more plastic-free life led her to become involved in a successful campaign to keep cigarette butts off her local beach.  Danielle will tell her story and share tips on ways to get kids involved in reducing plastic use.  Special guest Bonnie Monteleone will briefly share her findings and experiences from traveling nearly 10,000 nm collecting over 200 ocean surface samples looking for plastics in four oceans.  With scientists and activists, her research looks at plastics floating in some of the most remote regions in the world and why it matters.  Beth Terry's book, Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too will be available for purchase and signing at the end of the event.

Ready to learn what one person can do to be part of the solution?  Join us!

March 9: Greensboro, NC at Kathleen Clay Library from 10am - noon 

March 11: Wilmington, NC at UNCW Lumina Theater from 7-9pm

Also, the opening reception for Bonnie's art exhibit What Goes Around, Comes Around is on March 8 from 7-8 at Guilford College in Greensboro.  I saw Bonnie's exhibit back in 2011, and was completely in awe of what she created.  Read more here.

Get Involved! Ban the Bag!

I am by every account the type of person that believes my choices matter.  I don't know how long I've been this way, but I suppose it's been so long that I can't quite remember when I wasn't.  My choices span from choosing to have a positive outlook and to such things as refusing single use plastics.  When it comes to refusing plastics... one of simplest things we can all do is to stop using plastic bags.

Long before I had a blog and long before I started down the path to using less plastic... I gave up using plastic bags.  Here's the plain and simple truth:  60,000 plastic bags are used EVERY 5 seconds in the US.  That's A LOT of plastic bags... and of all those plastic bags only a small percentage (between 3-5%) are even recycled.  SO... where do the other 95-97% of plastic bags end up? .

The majority of plastic bags used either end up in a landfill or worse littered in our environment-- roadways, parks, trees, beaches and oceans.  Because of plastic bags being so lightweight, there isn't a place that a plastic bag can't go.  Over the past couple of years, I have taken the time to document (as much as possible) plastic bags that have been (for the most part) unintentionally littered in our world.  I document their presence at the beach, I snap pictures of them in trees, and I even chase them down as they blow in the wind.  I do this all to bring awareness to this huge problem because from my personal experience I know that once I'm aware of a problem... I can no longer look away and I look to find solutions to the problem.

I used to think recycling was the answer... or at least part of it.  But, it's not.  Recycling is NOT the answer.  There are several things that we as individuals can do to begin to create change and begin to rid our world of the ubiquitous plastic bag.

1.  Use reusable bags.  Make the decision to never accept plastic bags.  Forget your reusable bags? Get resourceful and rethink how to get your purchases out of the store without plastic bags.  I've been known to use my shirt, pile items in my hands or even push a cart full of groceries to my car without bags.  ;)

2. Document: See a littered plastic bag?  Pick it up, document and share what you find!

3. Sign petitions to ban the bag in your area.  Locally Cape Fear Surfrider has a petition for Ban the Bag New Hanover County.  Please add your name to the petition here: Ban the Bag!  

Want to get more involved in the local movement to ban the bag in NHC, contact Ethan: secretary@capefearsurfrider.org

4. Stretch your activist muscles and get involved in the Ban the Bag movement.  Factory Direct Promos recently created an interactive global map that highlights plastic bag bans and legislation limiting their use.  It's a great resource to see how other places have succeeded in implementing legislation-- whether bans or fees-- to limit the use of single-use plastic bags.  No plastic bag legislation in your area? Do some research, connect to the community and start a petition!

Our Daily Ocean: Day 164

With fall in full swing and knowing that warm days won't be around too much longer, this past Sunday, my family and I made a spur of the moment decision to grab some dinner from Lovey's and head to Wrightsville Beach.  Eating a picnic dinner at the beach is one of the best things to do...

When I take dinner to the beach, I come prepared with our own reusable water bottles, to-go ware, and napkins.  And when we're done, I put all of our scraps back into the cooler to take home to compost. I'm big into composting whatever and whenever I can... it's important.  I like to call it giving back to the Earth :)

Through composting is where I first recognized the problematic relationship between plastics and our environment.  Whenever plastics got into my compost bin, they lingered... everything around them would be broken down... while the plastic remained nearly unchanged.  The thing is... nature just doesn't know what to do with plastic.  It's foreign in a system that works so flawlessly...  Our world is filling up with plastic-- landfills packed full, plastic covered beaches, plastic oceans...-- it's obvious that as part of nature... we don't really know what to do with plastic either.  

Well, there is one thing we can do with plastic:  Refuse

(Do what you can when you can... just start because something that has been made to last forever shouldn't be used once or twice and thrown away.)

20 minutes on October 21, 2012 at Access 39

Litter by weight: 11.8 oz
Cigarette butts: 199
Straws: 9
Caps: 12  

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 164 days:

51,755

Our Daily Ocean: Day 135

This afternoon, I met a couple of moms from Mother's United at Wrightsville Beach.  Mother's United is a group of moms that are taking an active role in causes that impact the health of their (our) children because as they say "sometimes being a good mom means being an active citizen."

...and we're all learning.  Being an active citizen takes time and effort... and everyone knows that when you have kids, the amount of time you have to give (which usually isn't much) has to be spent wisely.  As much as I try to be an active and engaged citizen.... sometimes I fall short of what I want to be involved in.  I constantly have to remind myself that I can only do so much and that my first priority is being a mom to my three amazing kids.  BUT.  There are times when I personally push myself past the "I have kids, I can't do that"... "I can't attend that with my kids"... "I don't have time" lines and remind myself that because I HAVE kids is one of the main reasons that I NEED to show up... I have to make the time.  Thursday evening was one of those instances.  

Last night (April 26), my family and I attended the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management hearing for public comments regarding seismic testing off the Atlantic coast.  I am concerned about this on so many different levels... one being the negative impact that seismic testing has on marine mammals and other aquatic marine life.  AND... Let's just get it out there.  If they take the time to test for oil and natural gas reserves in the Atlantic Ocean... then it's obvious the next step would be to drill.  Drilling = spilling

I spend so much time at the beach... giving what I can to help keep it clean and beautiful because I love it so much.  I hate to think about the negative impacts that seismic testing has on all marine life... and it pains me to imagine the possibility of drilling for oil (or greenwashed "natural" gas) off our coast.  So we went to the hearing, because it was important.  I have to say being at the hearing was really really awesome.  Seeing the community come out and rally together in support of our oceans, beaches, marine life and ecosystems, marine fisheries, environment, economy and a sustainable future was an inspiring thing to see... and once again made me so proud of our community.  My husband along with 27 other people spoke out against seismic testing and in favor of Alternative C-- no action.  NC Senators Thom Goolsby and Bill Rabon along with another person (who appeared to work for the oil industry) commented in favor of seismic testing and off-shore drilling in the Atlantic.  28-3 against off-shore drilling!!

But while it felt good to be at the meeting and witness the community come together.  That meeting wasn't the end.  The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is accepting public comment until May 30. I cannot stress enough how important it is for everyone (including YOU) to take the time to send a public comment opposing seismic testing off the Atlantic coast and in support of Alternative C.  This is the only time we have a chance to say anything... don't sit back thinking someone else has it under control... this isn't a someone else thing.. this is a "WE'RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER" event!!

Please send written comments to ggeis@boem.gov by May 30, 2012

For more information, visit: 

Atlantic Geological and Geophysical (G&G) Activities Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS)

20 minutes on April 27, 2012 at Access 29

Litter by weight: 8.1 oz

Cigarette butts: 159

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach, NC in 135 days:

44,582

Our Daily Ocean: Day 110

When I first started this beach clean up project in August of 2010, I set a "goal" to do at least two beach clean ups a week.  Some weeks I have done way over two and others... well... not so much.  As the end of 2011 is approaching quickly, I'm attempting to do my best and get out to Wrightsville Beach more often.  With us having a beautifully mild winter this should be easy!

We made it out yesterday on Christmas Eve and found the usual amount of litter-- caps, straws, wrappers and cigarette butts.  Now that the beach is less busy, I haven't found many plastic bags in a LONG time. That's a good thing, but just because I'm not finding them on the beach doesn't mean that I'm not finding/seeing them elsewhere.  In fact, I'm seeing them EVERYWHERE.  I often wonder if I decided to clean up a section on the side of the road how many plastic bags I would find.  Not long ago, my friend Bonnie decided to do just that.  A small stretch on the side of the road with too many littered plastic bags.



Bag Bans are popping up all over the country and our world.  We're ready to Ban The Bag Wilmington!!  Want to help?  Join us at Cape Fear Surfrider :)

20 minutes on December 24, 2011 at Access 16

Litter by weight: 5.2 oz
Cigarette butts: 301

Total amount of cigarette butts removed from Wrightsville Beach in 110 days:

37,050

More Than Resolutions.

Last January, I made my first real New Year's Resolution.... however, I didn't call it a New Year's Resolution... I called it a Life Resolution.

This year... I'm going to keep on keeping on with that Life Resolution, my cigarette butt litter project (including getting The Bait Tank's installed on Wrightsville Beach) and plastic-free food.  But it's not going to end there.  Nope.  I'm also going to make some commitments right here right now:

1. Join of Surfrider.  (Done!  My husband just joined!)

2. Collect our plastic waste EVERY week for 2011 and share it on "My Plastic Free Life" (the blog formerly known as Fake Plastic Fish) for the Show Your Plastic Challenge.  I'm hoping that by showing off our plastic waste for 52 weeks, that we'll have lots of epiphanies on how to reduce our plastic usage!!!  (This will start on Sunday January 2.)

This is our plastic waste from December 19-25, 2010

3. Continue to support the efforts of Bonnie Monteleone with The Plastic Ocean.

4. Become one of Wallace J. Nichols 100 Blue Angels to allow him to have one true employer-- the ocean.

5. Plastic bag ban in Wilmington.  I can't stop thinking about it.  So...Yeah, we're going to do it... and Bonnie's on board... who else wants to help???

Oh yeah... and I'm totally going to learn how to surf. ;)