7 ms·
There is no substitute for you, the person reading these words, to stop accepting plastic bags and as much similar things -- coffee cups, utensils, etc. Each r
by spodek 8y ago
There is no substitute for you, the person reading these words, to stop accepting plastic bags and as much similar things -- coffee cups, utensils, etc.
Each reduction makes the next easier and simpler. Eventually you work up to fewer cars and bigger reductions.
Most importantly, you find the reductions improve your life. Most Americans could probably cut 75% with zero problem. More likely increased self-awareness, community, savings, health.
I cut out about 95% of packaged food about 3 years ago. The last time I had to empty my trash was June 2017.
More importantly, I've never eaten more delicious (nor saved as much time and money). The success led to reductions in other areas and I keep finding more because I look because it improves my life. There's nothing special about me. Anyone can do the same.
- drderidder 8y agoThanks for saying that. Somewhat related, inspired by John Robbin's "Diet for a New America" [1], since 2015 going mostly vegetarian for breakfast/lunch was one of the better ways for me to reduce my footprint. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_for_a_New_America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_for_a_New_America
- rland 8y agoThey call it Reduce, Re-use, Recycle. There's a reason Reduce is first in line. I think many people stop at Recycle and call it a day.
- newnewpdro 8y agoI believe you meant to say "I think many people start at Recycle and call it a day."
- yostrovs 8y agoOceans are big and mysterious, but land is right here and if you go to just about any forest from California to Vermont, you'll stumble on human garbage about roughly every thirty steps. Cans, bags, shotgun shells, shoes, buckets, really just about anything. And same for inland waterways. And yet besides Earth Day, it doesn't get cleaned up. I put fault on the abstract environmentalism we practice. This is easily done with cheap resources, yet so much is spent on meetings, treaties, awareness and education, science and studies, etc. Edit: To make things less abstract, I now tend to bring a plastic bag on walks in the woods to collect the litter.
- dsfyu404ed 8y agoOn average maybe. Trash drops off sharply once you get beyond what's a reasonable day trip from a major urban area.
- yostrovs 8y agoTrash being so close to so many people should be even more reason for it to be picked up. You don't have to travel to the middle of the Pacific to collect it. Yet old cans with pull off tops are still common in the ground in popular outdoors areas.
- house9-2 8y ago> I now tend to bring a plastic bag on walks in the woods to collect the litter. wear gloves
- astura 8y agoBetter yet, get a grabber.
- jdblair 8y agoI disagree that individual action will ever move the needle on use of plastic. Policies set and enforced by governments is what is necessary. This can take the form of rules and bans for packaging itself or taxes that drive up the cost of plastic. So we can all do our part by advocating for these rules.
- noobermin 8y agoSeriously. While certain local actions can help on a local level, serious solutions to global problems require more than individual action.
- seanp2k2 8y agoAlso, making machines that do the work in bulk is IMO a much better use of time than e.g. organizing beach cleanup efforts where a dozen people come out with grabbers: https://youtu.be/A_ESkZmbL2c https://youtu.be/A_ESkZmbL2c What would also be neat would be something like an organization that operates these on beaches across a state / country. Even better: get the government to do it. Even better than that: outlaw production of the kinds of junk that ends up on beaches. Start doing takeaway food in glass lock containers and bags that are actually reusable (not paper or thicker plastic or cotton) and charge deposits for them. Sure, it creates other problems, but those are usually better problems to be solving.
- DanBC 8y agoThat machine looks like an excellent way to take in macro plastic and convert some of it into micro plastic, and then redistribute it onto the beach, where it'll be impossible to remove.
- slg 8y agoAnd it isn't as simple as banning plastic bags and then patting ourselves on the back for solving this issue. Society functions as an ecosystem like any you would find in nature and removing plastic bags has consequences that need to be addressed as part of any government action. For example, plastic bags are an important resource for homeless people. Banning plastic bags resulted in a large hepatitis outbreak in San Diego among the homeless population that quickly spread and resulted in over 20 deaths.
- beevai142 8y ago> There is no substitute for you, the person reading these words, to stop accepting plastic bags and as much similar things -- coffee cups, utensils, etc. There is: regulation by the government, restricting use of items harmful to the environment. It appears naive to suggest that the tragedy of the commons can be avoided by individual action, when the financial interests are not aligned.
- ajeet_dhaliwal 8y agoThe convenience and value of plastic bags and paper cups is huge. I try to remember to take a bag with me to the grocery store, especially here in the U.K. since a cost is levied now but I do often forget. I think rather than try to not use this stuff it’s better to create incentives to do more research into creating biodegradable versions. The incentives have never been there before.
- Skunkleton 8y ago> The last time I had to empty my trash was June 2017. I would like to know more. What sorts of things have you eliminated? What are you recycling/composting that normally is deemed trash? How do handle things like greasy cardboard?
- unit91 8y agoAlso, does he brush his teeth? Or buy anything? There's a lot of trash that isn't food packaging.
- fetbaffe 8y agoTo be fair, we don't know the size of his trash bin.
- Skunkleton 8y agoSometimes I end up with an apartment size trash bin :)
- always_good 8y agoBrushing teeth is the best inquiry you could come up with for waste generation? How many tubes of toothpaste do you use per year? Sounds like you're using far, far more than necessary. Though you can also just brush your teeth with baking soda and go tubeless if you wanted to.
- unit91 8y agoWow you've read a lot into that comment (and hyper-literally). My point was that the "little" things we overlook add up to a lot of trash. My question is not "how about his toothpaste?" but rather "how does he live his life?" Thinking back over the last week, I've bought grass seed, a dehumidifier, paper, toiletries, and some toys for my kids. All of those are easily overlooked but add up to me not being able to go a year without emptying my trash, even if all my food waste and packaging were removed.
- 8y ago
- toopsss 8y agoThere are plenty of substitutes for things that may feel good but are ultimately useless.
- Karishma1234 8y agoWell all these things are luxuries that techies in bay area can afford with their high salaries but what about the single moms, disabled people, old people and many more who are struggling to just live by ? And wait a minute what if a plastic bottle was found at the bottom of the ocean ? We need to work better on our landfill systems. P.S. USA has enough landfill sites to landfill garbage we will generate over next 50 years. You can use plastic bottles and they need not end in the ocean. So please stop spreading tinfoil type suggestions.
- ballenf 8y agoI asked for a mug at my local suburban Starbucks and got a blank look in return for a few seconds while the request registered. Finally they found one on a shelf out of reach of all but the tallest staff member. There were 3-4 on that shelf and I've never seen anyone else ask for or use one despite the place being filled with seated customers at most hours. I also was unable despite 15 minutes of searching to select a mug on their online ordering app on iOS. Think of the ecological impact if Starbucks just asked patrons whether they would like a to-go cup or mug when they order inside.
- pbhjpbhj 8y agoBut washing up will cut in to the private profits of the owners, that's why it's not offered.
- ThePadawan 8y agoCan I ask which country that was in? I am a European Starbucks regular and IIRC whenever you order inside here, you will get a mug unless you answer the question "To go?" in the positive.
- ksk 8y ago>I cut out about 95% of packaged food about 3 years ago. The last time I had to empty my trash was June 2017. This is something I want to do as well. How did you manage to do it?
- spodek 8y agoI write about it a lot in my blog. Here's a collection of posts to start: http://joshuaspodek.com/js_blogseries/avoiding-food-packaging http://joshuaspodek.com/js_blogseries/avoiding-food-packagin....
- ataturk 8y agoI can maybe do that, but I can't make that Chinese bag disappear from the bottom of the ocean any more than I can make 2 billion people disappear.