Enjoy the bar!

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Bar soap or liquid soap?  We know that liquid soap depends on plastic dispensers (not good for the environment) and takes much more water than bar soap to produce.  But doesn't bar soap carry germs?  Nope.  Check out this article in Tree Hugger that explains why bar soap gets you just as clean as the liquid stuff.  What about anti-bacterial liquid soaps?  Also not very helpful. 

Now that you've decided to go green with bar soap,why not try one of my favorite producers of bar soap, Parsonage Soaps!  Give them a try, or investigate your local soap producer -- feel free to share here!

Have you seen this film where a plastic bag is the star?

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Is watching more movies one of your New Year's resolutions?  Then check out this fascinating short film:

The last straw!

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After my lecture today, I decided that I deserved a little treat.   I headed over to McDonald's to get myself a Coke (and yes, Coke does taste better from McDonald's than anywhere else).  Once I filled up my cup, I dug into my purse to pull out my reusable metal straw.  It's finally a habit!

The Washington Post today included a great article on disposable straws, calling them the "gateway plastic" that numbs us to the ubiquitous use of "disposable" plastic in our everyday lives.  Did you know that Americans dispose of 500 million straws each day?  Think about all of the other plastics we also use and throw away each day.  These plastics are made with fossil fuels and don't biodegrade.  So what's a greenmomster to do?

• Read the Washington Post article for a little background on the topic
• Check out greenmomster's post on my plastic challenge
• Get yourself some reusable plastic straws (they're easy to find online!) and start using them.  Just say no to disposable straws, like the one above.  It'll become a habit before you know it.

Think of substituting reusable straws for disposable straws as your "gateway sustainability!"  Next stop -- meat-free Fridays, public transportation, and thrifting!

The Plastic Challenge!

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There's a new documentary out called STRAWS.  I'm hoping to see it soon -- here's the trailer:

This trailer inspired me! I love a good challenge, so my son and I decided to challenge one another this summer.  His weakness is single-use plastic bottles.  My weakness is straws.  So we bet one another that I'd give up straws and he'd give up single-use plastic water bottles.  The first one to break has to treat the other one to lunch at a favorite restaurant.

I think my son has it pretty easy.  All he has to do is fill one of our numerous water bottles in the morning and he's off!  So far so good!

For my challenge, I decided to start by buying some reusable straws -- I found them (where else?) on Amazon!

 

I put a couple of these in my purse and headed off, confident that I'd soon be enjoying a nice lunch with my son picking up the check!  Iced tea tasted great through my new reusable straw.

My first challenge came when I ordered a nice, thick chocolate milkshake. My straw was a little too thin for the thick, frosty treat.  What's a greenmomster to do?  Eat it with a spoon! OK, it wasn't the ideal solution, since the spoon was made of plastic, but I'm going with the letter of the law, rather than the spirit on this one.

Still glowing from my straw superiority, I started getting a little cocky.  With my trusty reusable straw, I knew I wouldn't be stopped by a simple iced tea, water, or soda.  But as they say, pride goeth before a fall.  And here's what led to my downfall:

Sadly, my trusty reusable straw was just too thin to allow me to suck up the bubbles in my boba tea.  And I love my milk green tea with boba.  I guess I'm buying lunch, but it was so worth it.  And the bet is back on -- I'm going to win the next round!

Washed Ashore

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I strolled around the National Zoo last week, a place that I've visited hundreds of times, and had a very pleasant surprise.  Unlike my past visits, it wasn't the live animals that I found so fascinating -- it was an art exhibit!  This exhibit, called Washed Ashore, is presented by a non-profit organization "whose mission is to use the arts to educate a global audience about plastic pollution in oceans and waterways and to spark positive changes in consumer habits."

This powerful exhibit does a terrific job of demonstrating the type of trash found in the sea and explaining its impact on marine life.  The sculptures, built totally out of trash from the sea, are beautiful,  Each sculpture is accompanied by an interpretive sign to help the public understand the exhibit and learn how they can change their behavior to protect the oceans.

Be sure to visit this exhibit when it comes to your area for a moving and educational experience for all ages.  Here's a little more of what you'll see:

We’re not getting any younger…

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If you’re like me, hope springs eternal!  I’d like to believe that with a little more maintenance, this

could look like this

Who doesn’t want to look younger, more shiny and beautiful, or at least as good as you can look?  You may have heard of magic “microbeads” that are guaranteed to make us look younger and brighter.  These tiny scrubbers promise to brighten our skin and teeth gently!  What’s a microbead? According to Plastic Free Seas, “Microbeads are tiny particles of plastic less than 1mm in size that can be spherical or irregular in shape and produced in a multitude of colours.  Microbeads  are manufactured for use in consumer products such as body and face scrubs to produce a “feel good factor”.  The types of plastic most commonly used as microbeads are: polyethylene (PE), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), nylon polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polypropylene (PP).”  What could be better than gentle scrubbing? (photo credit:  Steven Davy)

Well, there’s an environmental downside to these plastic microbeads.  Check out this video to understand why you might want to remove a few of these products from your beauty regimen.  According to PRI, New York State dumps 19 tons of microbeads down the drain every year!  We all want to look good, but maybe the price for this beauty tool is a little too high.

Canada is moving toward banning microbeads and several U.S. states are planning to ban their sale by 2018.  Want to try to avoid microbeads?  Here’s a helpful list of products containing microbeads.  And oh yeah, there’s an app for that!

More Island Getaways

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In keeping with last week’s post on island getaways, this week let’s take a look at trash islands! 

In both the Atlantic and Pacific we see HUGE islands or patches of garbage made up of small pieces of plastic and other waste.  The patches in the Pacific can be as big as the state of Texas!  Where does all this garbage come from?  The vast majority (80%) comes from land – it’s blown off beaches, washes through storm drains, or washes into rivers and streams.  The rest comes from cruise ships and cargo ships.  Be sure to watch this Discovery video to see what a garbage patch/island looks like.

How can you help?  There’s not a practical way to clean up these islands, yet.  Our best action is prevention:

1. Never litter or throw trash into a storm drain
2. Recycle whenever possible.  Yes, there is some dispute about the effectiveness of some methods of collecting and recycling plastic, but one thing’s for sure – recycled plastic doesn’t create trash islands
3. Reduce and reuse!  The more trash you can keep out of the waste stream, the less chance of it ending up in the ocean!

What you do on the land affects our oceans!

Source:  Miller, G.T. and S.E. Spoolman. 2015.  Living in the Environment, Eighteenth Edition.  Stamford CT, Cengage Learning.  pg. 560.

Plastic, plastic everywhere

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Have you ever lamented the numerous plastic baggies that end up in the trash at your house?  Just one brown bag lunch can produce 2 or 3 dirty baggies that end up in the trash.  What’s a greenmomster to do?  You can’t really switch everything to washable glass or plastic containers; they could break and they take up too much space in the lunch box.  Why not try washing out those plastic baggies and reusing them?  I’ve been using this cool baggie drying rack for quite some time and it really comes in handy.  I just wash the baggies out like I would dishes, and they can be used many times before they wear out.  Check out amazon.com to find several manufacturers of the baggie drying racks.

My husband says the fact that I use this drying rack proves that I’m either crazy,or cheap, or both (he says this in the most loving way…), but I say that the simple fact that these racks exist proves that there are a lot of greenmomsters out there!

Mother Nature News recently issued 16 more ways for you to reduce your plastic consumption – check them out! (photo from Mother Nature News)

Interested in a substitution for those produce bags mentioned by Mother Nature News?  Check out Marna’s easy solution!