Learning to Sleep

Why would anyone have to learn to sleep? The body does it naturally. When the lights go down, melatonin kicks in and we get sleepy. Then, we go to bed, right? Except, in this day and age with computers and artificial light, melatonin doesn't necessarily kick in. And when you've got genes like mine (father, sisters who stay up all night) the sleep deck is stacked even further against you.

Clif has ocassionally noticed the time stamp on my posts. Yeah, I am usually up until at least 2am. But lately, I've found myself crawling into bed past 4am and even still been up at 5:30 just when Michael is starting his day.

So I'm going to learn to sleep because I'm becoming less and less effective when I'm awake and more and more cranky with the people I care the most about. In the meantime, posts on this blog might be a bit sporadic.

But that's okay, because I'd really like to hear from you for a change. How do you feel about plastic? Is reducing it in your life a priority? Why or why not? And if so, what steps have you taken so far? What's the biggest challenge? And what alternatives to plastic have you found that I might not have yet?

Remember, I'm a child-free 43-year old female urbanite in the SF Bay Area using my own life as a model, so of course I haven't addressed issues faced by those who have kids or live in the suburbs or out on the country or in places that have actual seasons or are older or younger.

What questions do you have about plastic that Fake Plastic Fish has not addressed? Please let me know.

Oh, and remember, plastic will still be an issue after this freaking election is over, no matter who wins. And it will still be an issue no matter what happens to the economy. How can we take care of the short-term without losing sight of the big picture?
 

 

Quest for Questions

I got an e-mail today from a new reader who wanted the answers to some basic questions: What's the goal of Fake Plastic Fish? Why am I doing this? When does the project end? What's been the most difficult lifestyle change I've had to make so far?

I realize that unlike EnviroWoman's plastic-free blog, Fake Plastic Fish's goals have been less clearly defined, mainly because as I stated at the outset, this is a place for me to learn and to share what I learn with others. In the beginning, I really had no idea how much plastic I was consuming or how much I'd be able or willing to give up.

Anyway, it just so happens that I was thinking of writing up a FAQ for people who are new to this blog, so the reader's questions came at a perfect time. As I mentioned a few days ago, Blogger's capabilities don't allow me to make the site as easy to navigate as I'd like, so I think a page answering basic questions would be helpful.

Please help me come up with the questions for the FAQ. If you are new here, what are you wondering? If you've been reading this blog for a while, what questions do you have that are still unanswered? Any and all questions are welcome. (I may not know the answers, but having the questions might motivate me to find them!)

Oh, and Michael's and my 3-year wedding anniversary is coming up on Monday, but we'll be celebrating this Sunday at The Mint karaoke lounge where we had our wedding reception. Come out and get your sing on with us! (I did not just write that.)
 

 

Rethinking Plastics

No, I'm not rethinking whether or not to buy or use plastic. That's just the title of the class I started tonight through Green Sangha. During the course, we not only learn a lot about plastic, its properties and problems, but also the best ways to present the issue to others. Next week, we'll have a special guest chemist who can explain the science behind different plastics. Having received one of the only D's of my life in this subject, I really need this one!

What I was left with tonight was the Green Sangha principle that everyone does the best they can with the knowledge they have. In presenting the history of plastic, Stuart Moody, the instructor, said some very nice things about some of the inventors of early plastic, praising the developers of Tupperware and saying they were people we'd enjoy having over for dinner. They didn't know what problems their products would cause in the long run. If they had known, they probably would have acted differently.

I said that whereas I could feel compassion for those early pioneers because they were acting out of ignorance, I have a very difficult time finding any compassion for the people that do have the information about the harmfulness of their products and push them anyway. And Stuart reminded me that those out there doing harm to our environment in the face of this information are also acting out of ignorance and illusion, the illusion of separateness.

Of course they are. Of course. Who would pollute a river if they truly felt that the river was part of themselves? Who would operate a factory in which their workers were exposed to toxic chemicals if they understood that they and the workers are all part of the same world body? Who would engage in a business that caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of creatures if they realized the connection between themselves and all other life forms on the planet?

Stuart's presentation began with what I recognized from my Mormon upbringing as a conversion story, a testimony. He talked about the night that he woke up to how much plastic there is in our everyday lives. I've been meaning to write my own conversion story in a post on this blog, but just haven't yet found the words to do it because in many ways, I don't understand how it happened. A series of factors came together, I heard and saw the right things at the right time, and all of a sudden, I was an activist.

But maybe some of you do have the words to explain how it was you first became aware of either the problems of plastic or environmental issues in general. Please share. I'd love to hear your stories.
 

 

Weekend Challenge: Pick Up Some Plastic

As I walked around my neighborhood today doing errands (I don't go to work most Fridays), I noticed a lot of trash, mostly plastic, along the sidewalks and in the gutters. And with that photo of the dead albatross whose stomach is full of plastic pieces burned into my brain these days, it's physically hard for me not to reach down and start picking it up.

I wrote about "eco-running" in the beginning of August, where runners carry bags and pick up trash on the route. And Scott from Least Footprint set up a Google Group called PUP (Pick Up Plastic) Brigade to organize folks to pick up plastic in their neighborhoods.

I picked up a lot of plastic today (bottle caps, plastic bags, drink lids, straws, snack bags, even the face plate from a cell phone and a toothbrush) and used one of the dirty plastic bags I picked up to carry it all and dump it in the trash. And yes, I washed my hands afterwards! I know I've said I don't like to throw away plastic bags, but these were already garbage in the street. The landfill is better than the storm drains leading to the bay.

I also scored a bag of sunflower seed shells for my compost!

So instead of a discussion question, I have a challenge. Go out and pick up some plastic in your neighborhood this weekend. If you live in a fairly urban place like I do, it won't take long to gather a bagful. Spend as much or as little time on this as you want. It doesn't have to take up much of your weekend.

And you're allowed to wear gloves if you feel you need to. I did the first time I went eco-running, but on today's walk the dirt didn't bother me as much. Maybe because I'd been listening to Barbara Kingsolver talk about dirt in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Hands are washable.

When you're done, come back and report what you found. If you are able to upload pictures, even better!

And here's today's update on the Trash Challenge.

P.S. I'm so excited. I think it's started to rain finally!

P.P.S. I almost forgot. I and a member from Green Sangha will be tabling at the Temescal Farmer's Market this Sunday with a big display called "Rethinking Plastics." This display usually lives in Marin, but the Marin chapter has been kind enough to lend it to us for this weekend. If you live anywhere near Oakland, CA, please come out and visit us. The Temescal farmer's market is at the bottom of Claremont Avenue near Telegraph in the DMV parking lot. The hours are 9am - 1pm. Hope to see you.
 

 

Weekend Discussion Question: How Far Would You Go?

Today (Saturday, 9/8/07) at noon, Egan Sanders, the "Bagonaut," will be lowered by crane into a canvas bag 8' tall by 6' wide outside the Sam’s Club in San Angelo, TX. He will remain there for 24 hours "to raise awareness of the environmental challenges that plastic shopping bags present." Volunteers at the event will hand out free canvas shopping bags in exchange for non-perishable food donations for the local food bank. At 7pm, movies will be projected using the giant canvas bag as a screen.

If you live near San Angelo, TX, please stop by and say hi. I've communicated with Egan, and he seems like a down-to-earth guy with real concern for the environment and a great sense of humor. He also espouses a philosophy which I heartily endorse:

Plastic is not the enemy; it is a useful material that has created many products for our society. Plastic bags are not the problem - it is how we use and dispose of them that is the issue. With our increasing population and worldwide industrialization we need to face the fact that unless we make changes we will create environmental problems. We are the solution.

What I like about his sentiment is that he chooses not to demonize plastic itself, which is an inanimate material, but instead to focus on the choices and actions of the human beings that created the plastic and have the power to change the way it is used and disposed of. This idea has created some controversy for him, which can be a good thing if it gets people thinking!

Which leads me to this week's question. How far have you gone or would you go to bring awareness to an issue that is really important to you? Have you ever been outrageous, ever demonstrated in public, or participated in any kind of consciousness-raising event? If not, what do you secretly dream of doing, even if you might feel you are too shy or not in a position to actually do it?

Just how far would you go?
 

 

Weekend Discussion Question: The Crazy, The Weird, & The Just Plain Useless

I'm getting ready to pack up and leave for Anaheim, CA. By the time you read this, I should already be there. Please send me some nice thoughts on Monday as I am doing my little experiment to see just how much punishment an insufficiently trained body can endure during a half marathon. I'm taking bets. Who thinks I'll still be able to walk around Disneyland afterwards and who thinks I'll need to be pushed in a wheelchair?

Who thinks ibuprofen is a good thing even if it comes in a plastic bottle?

I probably won't blog while I'm down there, but I'll be taking all kinds of notes on plastics while traveling, plastics in theme parks, plastics in hotels, etc. I'll post my weekly tally some time on Tuesday after I get back.

So for now, I leave you with the weekend discussion question. Here's the setup: this week, Michael forwarded me an article from the San Francisco Chronicle, written by a guy so flabbergasted by a certain useless plastic item that he actually contacted the marketing person who dreamed it up and interviewed her. Perhaps by now, you've already read about the Neosporin travel tote. Several eco-bloggers have already picked up on it. If not, click to read "The Neosporin travel tote: Tracking down the human behind the crap we have to buy."

The article got me thinking about all the many useless plastic items that are manufactured each year. At least, plastic bags and bottles serve some purpose. But many plastic items serve no other purpose than to make somebody else richer. So I looked around my house for the most outrageous plastic item I could find, and I came up empty-handed. (Granted, I didn't climb up into the attic. I'll bet there's some worthless crap up there. If it was useful, it would be down here being used.)

I guess I just don't hang onto junk. Life is too short and the house is too small. But I did think of an item that I saw in the toothpaste aisle of Elephant Pharmacy a while back that just had me rolling my eyes. It's the Tube Wringer, a chunk of plastic bigger than the toothpaste tube itself that you use to get out the last of the toothpaste. It comes in a plastic bag, of course. And at first, it may seem like a good idea, this contraption. But have these people never heard of the back of a comb? That's what I used (back before I started brushing with baking soda) to squeeze out the last of the tube. And where in my bathroom would I store such a thing anyway?

Okay, I'll admit that's not even close to the craziest or weirdest thing out there by far. But it's the only thing I can think of at 2:30am while my mind is preoccupied with remembering everything I need to pack. I could have listed my plastic Bill Clinton penis pen instead, but that at least makes me laugh. So the question for this Labor Day weekend is: What is the weirdest, craziest, most useless plastic thing in your house? The thing that makes you go, "Wow. Someone actually got paid to come up with that." And if you, like me, don't tend to accumulate that kind of stuff, what is the most ridiculous thing you've seen in a store lately?

Have a great weekend, and I'll be back next week.
 

 

Weekend Discussion Question

For which plastic item are you having the hardest time finding an alternative?

My biggest challenge at the moment is to find a replacement for our Brita faucet filter. We are on our last plastic cartridge. Recall my unsatisfying e-mail exchange with Brita. Their cartridges are recyclable in Europe but not in the U.S., where presumably there is no legal pressure to recycle them.

What is your biggest challenge?
 

 

Weekend Poll & Question

I want to try a new thing on the weekends, but first, I need to know how many people actually check this blog on the weekends. (My stats page shows that readership goes down somewhat on the weekends, so I'm not sure if I should blog on those days or give it a rest.) So part 1 of this post is a little poll:



If there is enough interest, I'd like to pose a discussion question each weekend. I've been getting great comments from readers, both in the comments section of the blog and also through private email. I wonder if we could expand the discussion to create more of a forum?

The main criterion for participating would be that you need to write your answers as a comment that others can read rather than emailing me privately. I understand that many folks don't want to provide Blogger with their personal information, and you don't have to. You can click "Anonymous." But there is an even better way. If you click "Other," you'll have the opportunity to type in any screen name that you want without having to enter any other info about yourself. That way, others can respond to your comment by name.

So here goes: I've received some terrific comments from people about actions that they have taken. The question is, besides making changes in your personal life, tell us about an action that you have taken in the world (no matter how large or small) to spread awareness of a plastic issue, and what results have you seen from that action?

I look forward to hearing from you this weekend. And if you're not reading this until Monday, feel free to chime in. We can all learn from each other.