Photo courtesy of @Surfrider
This week’s Breast Cancer Prevention post comes from our girl Megan Pischke. She discusses with us the huge impact that plastic has on our bodies and our environments. She’s got tons of great tips on how we can help reduce our use of plastic items and truly make a difference!
I love water! I have said it before, and will preach all the benefits again and again as water is essential to our being. When I started to become aware of my environmental footprint in my twenties, it was kind of scary (and at times it still is). Knowing that there are potential poisons in my water and plastics that may leak chemicals into my food and water is unsettling. Even worse, there is a massive plastic island the size of Manhattan out in the South Pacific. A recently published field study tracked and measured the 269,000 tons of plastic that pollutes our oceans. Unfortunately, this is affecting marine life and their fragile environments. Scientists warn that much more plastic needs to be recycled, noting that only 5% of the world’s plastic is currently being recycled. According to the Surfrider Foundation, this number may be as low as 2-3%, because of the high costs of recycling plastic and the limited market for products made of recycled plastic.
This information made me take a good look at how I consumed, what I was using, and what I was throwing away when I was done with it. The most common single-use plastics are grocery bags and plastic water bottles. For me it wasn’t either of those. Instead, it was the packaging on foods and plastic utensils I used while traveling that I wanted to really work on eliminating.
Photo courtesy of @Surfrider
There are tons of ways we can work to minimize, if not eliminate, our use of single-use plastic. Here are just a few:
Shop at your local farmers market. When you return the following week, bring back your plastic berry containers to reuse or recycle.
Carry your own containers to a restaurant for take out.
Bring your own utensils while traveling. (I found chopsticks to be easy!)
Choose reusable cloth snack and sandwich bags. I use these for my kids, and they are quite easy to clean and have cute little prints on them.
Buy from bulk bins as often as possible. I bring in my own containers and have them weighed before I fill them to offset the price.
Use washcloths/organic fabrics to wash dishes instead of plastic scrubbers or synthetic sponges. An added bonus? My mother Susie Sprinkle says they will hold less germs than a sponge!
Use bar soap instead of liquid hand soap. You can place it in a cute shell or jar.
When traveling, bring your own snacks, travel mug, water bottle AND headphones.
Instead of buying pet food in plastic lined cans and bags, make your own! It is slightly time consuming, but from watching my sister do it for years, you get a system down. Watch as your dog starts to eat meals that look better than your own.
Buy second hand. You will be surprised at what you can find on craigslist and in local ads. Don’t be afraid to buy second hand plastic; it’s better to use it as much as possible before it hits the landfill.
I recently had a conversation with my good friend Jussi Oksanen; a pro snowboarder, skateboarder, surfer, father and a passionate, earth-loving hippie. His company, Mizu, is the original action sports water bottle. The idea for Mizu was sparked by what Jussi and his friends saw as a need and a way to protect everything they lived for, the great outdoors.
“How much plastic do we need to use until we realize the devastating effects it has on us physically and the damage it does to our planet? I just don’t think you can trust or know the life cycle of that plastic bottle you’re purchasing. Our goal for Mizu is to stay on track with our original mission – to reduce single used plastic – by creating reusable water containers that you can use for a lifetime.”
I also asked Jussi what it was like to live in a drought stricken area. “Water is a huge concern in Southern California and the current situation has forced us all to make some serious changes. Unfortunately, the snow pack from previous years is getting slimmer and slimmer every year. This is just a small part of the problem. I do think we are finally taking the right steps towards reserving water. For example, recycling city water that is in turn used for landscaping. Many people are even xeriscaping their yards and only planting native California plants that are drought resistant.”
There are a tons of ways people can contribute and help, but it all starts with being interested. From this perspective, understanding the life cycle of plastic bottles (and plastic in general) is detrimental to us conserving water, our health, and the health of our planet and it’s oceans and inhabitants.
We were lucky enough to have Mizu create custom water bottles that help save our planet and support B4BC at the same time! If you’re interested in purchasing a B4BC x Mizu bottle, head over to our shop to pick up one of your own!
Sources:
CBC News
My Plastic Free Life
