No Technology is Truly Green: A guest post from Alyssa J. Pasquale

Before you invest in that new "green" computer or purchase those fun solar deck lights, read this insider's perspective from Fake Plastic Fish reader Alyssa J. Pasquale and consider whether buying new technology is ever truly green. If you have an idea for a guest post, please email me at beth[at]fakeplasticfish[dot]com and let me know. I'd love to feature more of your ideas here!

I would first like to thank Beth for allowing me to write this guest post. My name is Alyssa and I am a PhD candidate at a very large university in Boston. I work in electrical engineering and have a focus on photonic devices. These are generally nanometer-scale devices that use light to do something cool. Some people in my department work on biological sensors, some on solar cells, some on lasers, and some on LEDs.

I’ve been doing research for a long time (I started as an undergrad) and one thing that’s prevalent in my work is lots and lots of waste. As I told Beth, I find it awfully ironic that the technology that is being hailed by many as able to save the world is such a large producer of toxic waste. And people who don’t work in R&D or in high tech industry might not be aware of what goes into your LED flashlight or the laser that does your eye surgery.

Being a PhD candidate can be disillusioning in many ways. Not only are you constantly surrounded by many of extremely intelligent people who know more than you, but you learn about all of the limitations of everything. LEDs will always consume power. Solar cells will never be 100% efficient. Lasers will never be perfectly coherent. In other words, nothing comes for free.

My work brings me into a class 1000 clean room quite often. (A class 1000 clean room means that there are 1000 particles of dust allowed in any cubic foot of airspace. It doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s clean!) This is probably the area of my research that creates the most waste, and much of it is plastic. What follows is a list of the plastic things that I interact with in the clean room, as well as whether or not it’s reusable, disposable, or can be reused.


(Shown in photo: two bouffant caps, four nitrile gloves, a few strips of Parafilm, one small wiper, one petri dish with lid, one gel pack sample holder.)

REUSABLE (Routinely reused.)

o Gowns, booties & hoods – It is mandatory to wear a gown when you enter a clean room. It is not to protect you from chemicals; it is to protect the clean room from all of your skin cells! The ones in my lab are made of 99% polyester and 1% carbon. (I don’t know why they have carbon in them.) These are washed once a week and are returned individually shrink-wrapped in plastic disposable baggies (to keep dust out during transit, presumably).

o Goggles – These are likely made from polycarbonate.

o Face shield – Probably made from polycarbonate, these are important to wear when working with dangerous chemicals. The last thing you want to get is acid splashing on your face. They’re also a joy to wear when you have on glasses and goggles and your glasses start sliding down and you can’t touch your face. (Not.)

o PTFE tweezers – When working with acids and bases, you need an inert material to use as a tweezer because metal will corrode. PTFE is polytetrafluroethylene, better known as Teflon.

o Beakers – As I said before, some chemicals etch glass, so if you have to pour them out it has to be into a plastic jar.

MIGHT BE REUSED

o Sample holders – These can be simple like plastic petri dishes or more complicated gel packs that have a layer of sticky gel to keep samples from sliding around.

o Protective equipment covers – These are like the film that comes over your cell phone screens. I’m not sure what exactly it’s made of but I’d be shocked if it’s not plastic. These are to protect equipment from any chemicals that may be on our nitrile gloves.

o Heavy duty chemical gloves – These are for when you work with heavy duty chemicals. The plastic it’s made of depends on which you buy. Some can be PVC, Neoprene or heavy duty latex. Nitrile gloves are thin and easily eaten by acids. Heavy duty gloves can generally be reused until they start to break down after too much chemical exposure.

o Chemical jugs – Most chemicals we buy are in plastic jugs, some in glass. Some chemicals (such as HF) absolutely have to be in plastic because they etch glass. There are only two chemicals (out of many) that I use in glass jars, most come in plastic. We reuse them as waste jars but I honestly have no idea what happens to them after that.

DISPOSABLE

o Pipettes & wrappers

o Clean room wipers – These are pieces of “paper” that we use to wipe up chemicals, or write notes about things as we’re working. I was astonished to find out that they are not really paper, but a mix of 55% cellulose and 45% polyester. They are not supposed to release any fibers (dust) into the air, and cannot be easily ripped (if you do manage to rip one, no fibers are released, unlike what happens when you rip paper).

o Bouffant caps – Made from 100% polypropylene, these protect the clean room from hair. (They are like hair nets that food service workers use.)

o Nitrile gloves – The clean room uses nitrile gloves. Other facilities use latex gloves but I’m not sure if they are natural or synthetic. Nitrile gloves are a synthetic rubber copolymer.

o Parafilm – This is a thermoplastic used to seal jars and bottles.

o Tape – We use a lot of plastic tape in the lab. Vacuum tape and double sided tape are very popular.

That list just encompasses the plastic that is generated due to clean room work. It doesn’t consider any of the other waste, such as the HUGE amounts of chemical waste. (In one day I can easily use acetone, methanol, isopropanol, polymer resins, methyl isobutyl ketone, tetramethyl ammonium hydroxide, hydrochloric acid, hydrogen peroxide, potassium iodide, hydrofluoric acid, and a lot of de-ionized water. Not to mention the gases – sulfur hexafluoride, methane, nitrogen, oxygen, argon, tri-fluoromethane, etc. etc.)

There is also a lot of plastic that comes with the life of a grad student. We’re constantly buying supplies, and most of the time they come in plastic. Chemicals especially need a lot of isolation in shipping and will generally have many layers of foam, plastic, vermiculite, and lots of warning labels to keep upright. Computers come with plastic towers (and we use a lot of computers).

Seminars and other such meetings are held an awful lot in my building, and there is also plastic waste related with this. The department provides bottled water and sodas at some events (fortunately, some events have reusable beverage urns). For some strange reason the lemons for the tea are always wrapped in plastic wrap. The food is put on plastic trays (which I assume are reused). Crackers are sometimes served and they come in plastic sleeves.

Not to mention the lifestyle of being a grad student. While I personally use my flexible hours to ensure that I have enough time to home cook all of my meals (and I always bring in lunch in a glass container with a plastic – oops – lid), many grad students opt for take-out. There’s a Subway that’s not far from my building, and many students come in between noon and one with a plastic bag holding a giant sandwich. Lots of students consume lots of bottled water. I know of a few students with Nalgene bottles or reusable coffee mugs. I have a SIGG bottle. One of my office-mates actually keeps a Brita filter on his desk. But most opt for bottled water even though we have perfectly good water fountains on every floor.

So next time you buy or read about a newly engineered “green” product – such as an LED lighting device – think about what went into it. While better than older alternatives, I wouldn’t call most technology “green” at all. Although it may sound hypocritical coming from an engineer, there’s a lot to be said for old-fashioned technology.
 

Captain Moore has one word for you on World Oceans Day: Refuse!

Captain Charles Moore is one of my personal heroes and the man whose work discovering, studying, and bringing the world's attention to plastics in the oceans changed my own life completely two years ago. So you can bet that when I was invited to attend his presentation at Google in Mountain View last week, I rearranged my work schedule, rented a Zip Car, and got my butt down there.

Captain Moore's story is the subject of the article commonly known as Plastic Ocean. If you haven't read it yet, stop what you're doing and read it now! But be sure to return to this page afterwards to listen to his important message for all of us.

Moore is not much taller than I, but his presence is captivating and the force of his conviction, palpable. Wearing a necklace made of plastic found out in the North Pacific Gyre, he is a man who has looked into the abyss, not once but repeatedly, and returned to warn us about it. His eyes twinkle, but they also look deeply tired. He has been trying to get us to wake up to the the damage we're doing to our precious planet for over ten years, and the world is just now starting to listen.

Moore's presentation included many samples of the types of plastics found in the Pacific Ocean and that wash up daily on the world's beaches, as well as a hat knitted out of some of that plastic, which he sometimes wears.




And he is a living testament to his convictions. His bag, knitted from plastic grocery bags, is a reminder of plastic in the environment, while his naturally-corked stainless steel water bottle demonstrates his dedication to reducing his own personal consumption of plastic. I must say, I've taken many, many steps to lower my plastic footprint, but seeing that cork in his Klean Kanteen blew me away.



Natural alternatives to plastic may be well and good to an extent. But Charles Moore's message is not about running out and buying "green" products. Just the opposite. In fact, from the things he said during his presentation and in the meeting with him afterwards, I don't believe Charles Moore believes that plastic itself is the main problem in the first place.

The plastic pollution problem is the visible manifestation of the crisis of our civilization. (There's so much more that is invisible.) Progress is not what we're after here. Everything has to be redesigned. We need a new paradigm that subtracts from the consumer lifestyle rather than adding to it. We're after difference. The Great Refusal.

I asked Captain Moore what he thought was the most important thing we as individuals can do. Here is what he said:


Click here to view the video on YouTube, where I've also posted a complete transcript.

Today is World Oceans Day. But according to Moore, the crisis we are facing is about more than the oceans or plastic or pollution. Plastic pollution is a symptom of a way of life that is completely unsustainable.

Today, I plan to get still and meditate. How about you?

Read/view the group's statement on plastic pollution developed by activists, artists, and evironmentalists after Moore's presentation at Google.
 

My Video Thank You to Oprah. Please join me!

Did any of you catch Oprah's Earth Day show?

After interviewing Fabien Cousteau about plastic in the oceans, she had a few "Aha! moments":

Oprah will think differently about using plastic things: http://www.oprah.com/media/20090422-tows-oprah-plastic

Oprah wants to go beyond washing out her zip lock bags: http://www.oprah.com/media/20090422-tows-oprah-aha-moment

I was excited and moved to see this issue garnering the attention of an audience as large as Oprah's. So moved, in fact, that I wrote her a letter... and then recorded it on video. Now I just have to figure out the best way to reach her with it:



To see a better version, and to leave comments on the video, please click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae0nXDRVnjk

My belief is that once audiences see the horrific images of what plastic does to the environment, they will want to know what they can do. Let's let Oprah know that there are many of us out here already going beyond washing out plastic bags.

Please feel free to forward this video or embed on your own web site. Leave a comment. Better still, how about recording your own video response? The more the better. Let's help her see that this movement is vast and growing and full of ordinary people who care.

And if you know anyone connected to the Oprah team, do let me know. I've already received some great suggestions this weekend from people who saw the video through Twitter or Facebook. But the more avenues, the better.

I have to admit, making the video was easy. Once they idea came, it pretty much made itself. Posting it publicly, however, has been a little scary. Honestly, I feel kinda naked. But the letter represents the truth of the moment. I don't think it's actually mine to hold back.

Will you share your truth, too?

For those unable to hear the video message, here is a transcript:

April 24, 2009

Dear Oprah,

Thank you so much for your beautiful Earth Day show bringing awareness to the problems of plastic in our oceans. This issue first touched me personally about two years ago, and I feel compelled to share with you my story and also to make a request.

Back in June of 2007, I was at home recovering from a hysterectomy. Realizing that I would never have my own children, I wondered what other positive thing I could birth into the world instead. I had tried all sorts of things in my life, and that winter I had actually trained for and run a marathon. But at this point, lying on the couch, unable to exercise or do anything else, I felt kind of lost.

And then one night, I was at my computer and stumbled upon an article about plastic in the ocean and the photo that would change my life forever: the carcass of a dead albatross chick, its belly full of plastic – bottle caps, cigarette lighters, fragments of bags and containers, even a toothbrush – out there in the middle of the Pacific where few humans have contact. I looked at my life and realized that I was contributing to the pain of other creatures without even knowing it.

That night, something new did come into the world. I started a blog, Fake Plastic Fish (www.fakeplasticfish.com) and began collecting and tallying my own plastic waste each week and analyzing it to see what plastic I was using and what I could do without. Once I had recuperated physically, I started making field trips to stores, recycling centers, anywhere I could learn about what our options are for reducing our plastic consumption and plastic waste. Everything I learned, I shared on the blog.

At first, reducing was difficult. All of our convenience foods – energy bars, frozen dinners, whole roasted chickens – come packaged in plastic. I had to develop a different mindset and turn from what was fast and easy to foods that were more wholesome and came in less packaging. I started shopping stores like Whole Foods and local natural food stores where I could fill up my cloth bags from their bulk bins instead of buying prepackaged foods. And I learned to carry my own bottles, containers, utensils, and even glass drinking straw with me to avoid disposables.

I went beyond bottles and bags to making my own cat food, washing my hair with baking soda and water (it really does work!), cleaning with vinegar in glass bottles, lemon juice, baking soda, and composting all my food waste to avoid plastic garbage bags. I drove my friends crazy, but I never told them what to do.

And then I broadened my reach. Finding that some things, like my plastic Brita water filter cartridge, could not be recycled, I started a campaign to urge Brita to take back and recycle its filter cartridges (Take Back the Filter at www.takebackthefilter.org). This January, Brita developed a plan to do just that. And I was privileged to deliver over 600 used Brita filters entrusted to me by supporters all over the U.S. and Canada to Brita reps in Oakland for recycling.

Sending back unwanted plastic packaging to manufacturers, writing letters to companies asking for less plastic, joining with environmental group Green Sangha (http://greensangha.org/Plastics-Campaign/) to promote healthy alternatives to plastic, connecting with other bloggers, such as the women of the Green Moms Carnival (http://organicmania.com/green-moms-carnival/) who have accepted me for being a “mother of the earth” even though I don’t have my own children, and urging other bloggers to take on the No Plastic challenge and help spread the word, I am doing the most I can with the little time I have.

It’s a full time job. But I already have a full time job – as an accountant for a local Bay Area home care agency. And this is where my story takes a turn. Because one night, walking home exhausted from work and realizing that I had many hours of work ahead of me to prepare for Oakland’s Earth Expo the next day -- I had promised a display and a costume about plastic – it crossed my mind, as it has many times in two years since I started this project, that I could just stop. Quit. I could give up the blogging and activism and reaching out to strangers. I could just stop doing it. I could go back to my private little life of watching movies, playing with my kitties, and hanging out with my husband. What's wrong with that?

But no sooner did the thought cross my mind, than I was stopped dead in my tracks by an inner voice that said,

"You can't quit because none of this belongs to you. The activism... the blogging… the reaching out... you don't do them; they do you."

Eckhart Tolle speaks of awakening to your life’s true purpose. In that moment, I knew that I had. Nothing had changed. And everything had changed. I will continue to do the actions I need to do to spread the word about plastic in our environment. But now with the certain knowledge that these actions are not mine. They are, rather, an expression of my true place and purpose in this world.

Oprah, I don’t remember ever making the decision to start Fake Plastic Fish. One day, I saw that photo, and the next day I was creating a blog and tallying my plastic. Our left brains want to claim credit for the things we do. But truly, the universe works through us to get its work done, not the other way around.

I’m writing to you now not only to share my story but also to make a request. I will continue to do the work that needs to be done, but I don’t have the audience that you do. Will you help me reach more people to show them the possibilities of living mindfully with less plastic by mentioning my story and Fake Plastic Fish on your show, web site, or magazine?

I want to help people go beyond bottles and bags. I want to help people be mindful of the materials of the world that come into their lives, to think about what they purchase and to know where it comes from and where it goes.

Ultimately, my purpose is not plastic. It’s to be an example and an inspiration to others. Just as you do every day.

Sincerely,

Beth Terry
Oakland, CA
http://www.fakeplasticfish.com

 

New FPF Video & Volunteers needed for Bay to Breakers!

Remember last year when I dressed as a Brita filter for the Bay to Breakers to promote the Take Back The Filter Campaign? And remember how I said I wouldn't do it without at least one volunteer? Tanya and Christa accepted the challenge and were awesome!


This year, I would love to find more volunteers to help me bring the North Pacific Gyre (aka Pacific Garbage Patch) to San Francisco to let people know about the problem with plastic.

As you know, for almost two years now I have been hoarding my own plastic waste. In fact, I've amassed quite a collection, as you'll see in the most recent Fake Plastic Fish video:


(If you're viewing this post via email or reader, you'll probably need to click onto the blog to see the video.)

My idea: I envision us in beautiful plastic costumes, created from as much of this plastic collection as possible, twirling together across San Francisco, imitating the motion of the Gyre. (I'm inspired by all the episodes of Project Runway I've watched recently.) I see some fish and birds and sea turtles caught up in the mass of plastic somehow. We're handing out small fliers printed on recycled paper, providing facts and resource information. And we're probably wearing signs, either in our hands or attached to our bodies in some way.

Each year, Bay to Breakers holds a costume contest. Last year, they had a green category. I don't know what the categories will be this year, but I'm hoping for another green one. I believe that in order to participate in the costume contest, you must be a registered participant. This means paying the entry fee of $44 ($48 after April 30.)

Anyone know of an organization that would sponsor us?

We'll need not only volunteers to show up on that day (Sunday, May 17, 2009) but also smart, creative people to offer advice, suggestions, crafty ideas. In other words, you don't have to live in the Bay Area to help out.

I'm going to start on costume design this weekend. Anyone else in?
 

Plastics in the Sargasso Sea. Researchers knew about this... WHEN?!

It's Science Wednesday here at Fake Plastic Fish! Thanks to Wallace "J." Nichols for forwarding the following article to me. Nichols is the Founder/Co-Director of OceanRevolution.org.

Here's a summary of the article. Based on what we know about marine plastic, can you guess when it was written?

ABSTRACT Plastic particles, in concentrations averaging 3500 pieces and 290 grams per square kilometer, are widespread in the western Sargasso Sea. Pieces are brittle, apparently due to the weathering of the plasticizers, and many are in a pellet shape about 0.25 to 0.5 centimeters in diameter. the particles are surfaces for the attachment of diatoms and hydroids. Increasing production of plastics, combined with present waste-disposal practices, will undoubtedly lead to increases in the concentrations of these particles. Plastics could be a source of some of the polychlorinated biphenyls recently observed in oceanic organisms.

Did you guess? Now click here for the full article (PDF) or here for the full citation. Be sure and check out the date.

Don't have time to read the whole thing? Here's the key point:

Many plastics contain considerable concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's) as plasticizers. If the plasticizers have been lost to seawater, as suggested above, the incorporation of PCB's by marine organisms is possible. Polychlorinated biphenyls have recently been observed in pelagic Sargassum and oceanic animals.

Here are a few definitions, for those who might not be familiar with all these words:

Pelagic means "Of, relating to, or living in open oceans or seas rather than waters adjacent to land or inland waters."

Sargassum are "brown algae with rounded bladders forming dense floating masses in tropical Atlantic waters as in the Sargasso Sea."

PCB's are persisten organic pollutants which bioaccumulate in animals and make their way up the food chain to poison us. Before they were banned, they were used as an additive in PVC.

Makes you want sushi, doesn't it? What each of us should be asking is, if scientists have known about the problem of plastics in the ocean for so long, why are most of us just learning about it now? My first exposure to this issue was in 2007 upon reading the article, Plastic Ocean.

When did you first hear about it?
 

Plastic into Oil? What do you think?

This just in: Oregon plastics recycler, Agri-Plas, has begun converting plastic waste back into crude oil. According to Businesswire, "the company recently delivered its first full tanker (8,200 gallons) of oil to a refinery in Tacoma, Wash., which translates to a final delivery of 196 barrels of oil."

The method was developed by Plas2Fuel, a Kelso, Washington alternative energy company.

Until now, Agri-Plas has been a conventional plastics recycler, focusing on agricultural waste such as greenhouse film, nursery pots and plastic binder twine, as well as limited amounts of household plastic waste, which it recycles into other plastic products.

Now, the company is collecting dirty plastic materials which are unsuitable for traditional recycling for the plastic to oil process. And the state of Oregon has been a major supporter of the project, giving financial assistance through the Oregon Business Energy Tax Credit.

Right now, my head is swimming with all kinds of pros and cons. Here are the ramifications that occur to me. Maybe you guys can think of more.

First, the pros:

1) Whether we like it or not, our landfills are already chock full of dirty plastic, possibly leaching chemicals. Perhaps this material doesn't have to go to waste.

2) It does seem preferable to use our own domestic waste to create petroleum rather than importing it from the Middle East or extracting it through offshore drilling.

Next, the cons:

1) Burning petroleum for fuel produces the greenhouse gases related to global climate change. (I know at least one FPF reader will disagree with that statement.)

2) Finding uses for our plastic waste could support the creation of more plastic waste. Will consumers feel relieved of their burden of responsibility? Will they continue to support the manufacture of new plastic products?

As I've pointed out before, plastic is fraught with many other environmental problems besides the waste issue. From manufacture to transit to end use, plastic wreaks havoc in our oceans (as pre-production "nurdles") and in our bodies, leaching toxic chemicals. Will the idea that plastic can be converted to energy cause people to forget these other issues?

One paragraph in the article caused me to gasp:

The synthetic crude oil that Agri-Plas is reclaiming from unwanted plastic can be refined for a variety of uses. The oil can be refined and used in literally thousands of high-end products ranging from makeup to food items, as well as gasoline, diesel, lubricants and other petroleum-based products.

I'm sorry? Synthetic petroleum in my makeup? Synthetic petroleum in my food? WTF people? How are these uses environmentally sustainable?

Okay, just because it can be used in those ways doesn't mean it will be. And extracted petroleum is already being used to create food and cosmetic additives. Still, do we want the environmental community getting behind this dirty business?

Please let me know what you think. Do the benefits of converting plastic to oil outweigh possible concerns?
 

Healthy bodies are good for the environment

The ferocious flu that hit me several weeks ago resulted in quite a few trips to Kaiser Permanente. During one of those visits, I noticed something in the public restroom I'd never seen there before: a green bin and green liner... telltale signs of composting afoot. I moved in to take a closer look. Sure enough... compostable liner and a sign above the bin instructing users to deposit paper towel waste there.

Sick as I was, I had my camera with me and the presence of mind to snap a few shots, while curious restroom users stared. I forgot about this green moment in Kaiser until reading the Ecology Center's recent issue of Terrain Magazine on BART this morning, particularly the article, "When More then the Scrubs are Green."

The piece describes the efforts of some medical institutions, including Kaiser, to reduce waste and switch to environmentally-safer products... from the food they serve patients to the carpets and furniture installed in buildings. And it points out that while a few hospitals have made changes to lighten their ecological footprint, most go through immense amounts of waste each day, much of it toxic, in an effort to protect patients' health. Ironic, no?

But the part of the article that really hit me came towards the end (emphasis mine):

No matter what percentage of its trash a hospital recycles, or how local its food is, or how sustainable the building, the uncomfortable truth is that modern medical practices have a big impact on the environment.... Possibly the best way for each of us to reduce the impact of hospitals on the environment is to do our best to avoid using them. That means making lifestyle choices like eating well and exercising, and advocating for better access to good food and laws that clean up our air and water.

In my case, of course, it also means getting more sleep.

We often think about the relationship between ourselves and our environment in exactly the opposite way. Pollution in our air, water, and food is harmful to our bodies. This article shows one way that our sick bodies can then contribute to further degradation of our environment. It's a vicious cycle, and someone needs to stop pedaling!

I'm guilty as charged. I stay up way too late. I imbibe excessive quantities of caffeine (My dentist advised me yesterday to give up coffee and I replied, "But I have. Many, many, many times.") and sugar and baked goods. My exercise routine is suing me for neglect (I will run again, I swear!) and my ass is getting flatter by the minute from so much sitting. Many of you have heard this litany from me before.

What I'm doing to my body is not just harming me... it's harming the whole planet. Yeah, fundamentally there's no real separation between me and anything else anyway. But on the level of everyday human experience, it's good to have a concrete reminder that the excuse, "I'm only hurting myself," is ultimately meaningless. When I get sick, sickness in the world increases. Medical waste increases. Medical spending increases too! Actions become ineffective. It's all just one big FAIL.

Now, before anyone jumps on me for "blaming the victim," I'm not saying that people don't get sick for totally random (as far as we can tell) reasons or due to factors over which they had no direct control. What I am saying that wellness is the responsibility of all of us... for all of us.

Healthy choices we can make that have far-reaching environmental consequences include:

1) Buying less plastic
2) Choosing organic food
3) Eating more plants and fewer animals
4) Driving less and biking/walking more
5) Practicing relaxation techniques like meditation, stretching, & breathing
6) GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP!

What are some ways that you keep both your body and the environment healthy?
 

Katie Woollven: Plastic Warrior Extraordinaire

Katie Woollven is a Fake Plastic Fish reader who contacted me in January to say she'd begun her own No Plastic For A Year Project. What's more, she's been working in Hawaii for the Hawaii Wildlife Fund's Marine Debris Project, gathering up marine garbage, mostly plastic fishing nets.

This is a guest post from Katie, written last month, describing that project. Please check out her blog: http://noplastic365.blogspot.com. She's looking for folks to join her for 1 week of the project as her plastic-free buddy.

About 2 weeks after I met Megan Lamson, she had me lined up with a job doing exactly what I'm interested in. It's with the Hawaii Wildlife Fund's Marine Debris Project, and I'm helping her organize beach clean-ups near South Point.

These are not your typical beach clean-ups. My first one was in November and we picked up 5 TONS of garbage, mostly abandoned fishing gear. We have a truck with a winch to haul up the tangled mess of nets that wash up on shore. Each net-ball can weigh a ton, and can take 30 minutes to winch into the truck. The rope gets caught and tangled in the sharp lava rocks, and when we drag the net-ball up to the truck it leaves a trail of plastic pieces behind.

Why don't we just drive the truck closer to each pile? All our clean-ups are down by South Point and Green Sands. It is a crazy 4 wheel drive road, and everything is pretty rugged down there. We get as close as we can, and I'm amazed at how much weight we manage to drag across the rocky beach.

(Me and Bill Gillmarten, loading up nets into the truck for November's clean-up)

A few years ago NOAA did some aerial maps of marine debris in Hawaii. Basically 2 people flew around in a helicopter and marked down each time they saw these giant nets on the beach. This is the map for the Big Island, and you can see that most of the marks are near South Point- that's where the currents spit out the most debris.


The whole Hawaiian Islands archipelago acts as a comb, and sifts out lots of marine debris from the Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Gyre. This is a huge issue for Hawaii. Only a small fraction of the nets that we collect are actually used by Hawaiian fishermen... the rest travel here from other countries.

Part of my job is to try to figure out where all these nets are coming from. This weekend was my first attempt at sampling the nets. Just looking at this pile of nets was enough to make me question my sanity in accepting this challenge. We tried several different methods, involving untangling, photographing, measuring, and cutting nets. There are net ID guides where you can theoretically match up a sample of net you find with the ones in the book, based on color, mesh size, twine diameter, and other variables.

(Megan and Stacey taking samples of a gillnet. The bouy lines may help determine origin.)

(Stacey with a Fish Aggregating Device. These are left at the ocean surface, and the location is marked. Fish are attracted to the structure, and then a single fisherman knows exactly where to keep fishing.)

(Isabel, untangling nets)

(The Debris Divas! We have to wear masks so we don't breath in thousands of tiny plastic particles from the nets.)

It gets really complicated when you have a trawl net that changes mesh size several times from the front to back. If you're looking at a fragment piece of net, it can be nearly impossible to tell exactly what fishery it was used for. Each tangled ball of nets represents several fisheries. I read one report of a Humpback whale that was entangled in 22 different kinds of nets.

We will try to ID the samples we took this weekend, but I anticipate challenges. However, we also plan to use the samples for education in classrooms, to make a poster of different net types to show volunteers at future beach clean-ups, and there is a possibility of future chemical analysis.

After we finished sampling we had to load all the nets into a huge Matson shipping container. We are sending them to Oahu to be burned as electricity in a power plant. My estimate is that our container full of nets will produce enough electricity to power 20 homes for 1 year.

(Our Matson container before we started loading... that's a lot of space!)

(Me and Bill after the first load.)

The task of loading a shipping container with nets would best be carried out with a magic wand. Without this essential tool, it is backbreaking and dangerous work. Megan's friend volunteered to load nets with his tractor, and we had a pulley system rigged up to the truck to pull each load of nets to the back of the container.

(Watch the tractor swinging nets overhead, watch the truck so it doesn't run you over, watch for instructions from Isabel so no one gets squished in the Matson, don't let your fingers get caught in the line...)

Each time a potentially mouse-infested load was dropped into the Matson, we tied a rope to the front of the truck, hooked the pinchers into the nets, and drove the truck backwards. Nets were swinging around overhead, the truck was driving back and forth, we all tried to watch what was going on so that no one would get eaten by a giant net monster.



Poor Isabel (our fabulous intern) was trapped in the container almost all day, making sure the pulley was working. She said as the container filled up and J.D. brought in new piles, each time it would be pitch black for a few seconds. She couldn't see anything and just hoped that she wouldn't be smothered.

(Do you SEE Isabel inside the container?! It freaked me out to be up there, but she expertly hooked the pinchers into the nets and made sure the pulley was working.)

2 days later, my back is hurting and I have a big bruise on my leg from the pinchers. But more importantly, I am inspired to learn more about past marine debris projects on the islands. I'm trying to think of more effective ways to sample, and I want to see if we can determine where all these nets came from. We have an unofficial clean-up in a few weeks, and I can't wait to go back.

UPDATE: Great news! Hawaiian Airlines has put together a special vacation package for anyone who wants to help Katie. Check it out! (Thanks, Clif.)

 

House Cleaning, Carpet Cleaning, & Kid-Safe Chemicals

HOUSE CLEANING

I don't think our toilet was this clean when we first moved in to our apartment. I personally have scrubbed and scrubbed with a brush and been unable to remove the mineral stains. Not that I'm a great housekeeper. I'm not. In fact, I suck. And Michael does his best, but you know, we just have other priorities. So Monday, to celebrate President's Day, we had our place cleaned from top to bottom by the eco-friendly members of Natural Home Cleaning Professionals.

I say "members" because Natural Home Cleaning is a worker-owned cooperative whose goal is to support families to be economically self-sufficient. The company serves the San Francisco East Bay from Southern Richmond to Fremont. Workers are trained in natural cleaning techniques, encouraged to start with the least toxic products (like vinegar and water) and slowly work up to stronger products as needed. The strongest cleaner used is Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds. The photo on this page shows some of the other products used.

One of the company's goals is to prove to clients that natural cleaners can work every bit as well, if not better, than their harsh synthetic counterparts. And man, did they ever prove it to me! Look how the kitchen sparkles!






And the best part is that afterwards, the apartment didn't smell like chemicals. It just smelled clean.

I spoke with the scheduler about methods and products and finally... plastic. I'm not sure NHC goes out of its way to avoid plastic containers and products like I do. So I focused on sponges. The rep wasn't sure exactly what their sponges and scrubbers are made from, so I told her about Skoy cloths and expressed my hope that NHC will look into biodegradable options for wipes and scrubbers.

Natural Home Cleaners is supported by an organization called WAGES (Women's Action to Gain Economic Security), which is dedicated to empowering low-income women through cooperative businesses. The WAGES web site lists several other sister co-operatives serving different regions of the Bay Area, including San Francisco, the Peninsula, and South Bay.

For those of you who live outside the Bay Area, The Ecology Center has a great list of green home and carpet cleaning services, as does Co-op America's Green Pages.

So, how did NHC get my toilet so clean? A natural pumice stone!

CARPET CLEANING


Soots is confused. And not just because his mouth and nose disappear every time he looks at us straight on. He's concerned that the dirt and fleas have disappeared from the carpet and that the place smells like oranges.

The day following our house cleaning, we had our carpets professionally cleaned. I chose a company called Chem-Dry which, despite its name, uses very few chemicals. Chem-Dry's process relies on the power of carbonated water (about 1/5th to 1/10th as much water as traditional steam cleaners, they claim), heat, orange oil, and a heavy duty machine that scrubs the carpet into submission. OMG, as the texters say. You should have seen the hunks of black cat hair that thing sucked out. And we do, in fact, vacuum! (Well, Michael does.)

Chem-Dry offers stain protection treatment as well as carpet sanitizer, both of which I refused. I'm happy with carbonated water. I almost wish I could have skipped the orange pre-treatment, but it was on before I knew it. For protecting the legs of furniture, Chem-Dry normally offers Styrofoam blocks. This time, the technician had run out of Styrofoam, which I would have refused anyway. We substituted aluminum foil, which worked just fine.


Both the Ecology Center directory and Green Pages list eco-friendly carpet cleaners. Chem-dry, which has recently been purchased by Home Depot, is not one of them. But since California is in the middle of a major drought right now, I feel pretty good about choosing a company that uses much less water than most.

KID-SAFE CHEMICALS ACT

After my experiences with green cleaning this week, it was appropriate that I listened in on the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act conference call this morning. Presented by the Environmental Working Group, the call highlighted all the ways that our current Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), passed in 1976, has failed to protect us and why we need stronger legislation to require manufacturers of chemicals to prove that they are safe.

When TSCA was passed, 62,000 industrial chemicals were grandfathered in, meaning they were never required to be tested for safety. Since then, another 20,000-30,000 chemicals have gone on the market. In 30 years, only 5 have been banned. The law is so weak, that the EPA has not even been able to ban asbestos.

The Kid-Safe Chemicals Act would require manufacturers to pay for safety assessments of chemicals before they go on the market, and they must prove reasonable certainty that chemicals will not cause harm from aggregate exposure, meaning that if a chemical is found in formula cans and baby bottles and sippy cups (I'm thinking of BPA here), manufacturers must consider its cumulative effect from all sources, not just individual products.

This Act is not yet law. In fact, it hasn't even been introduced yet in the legislature. Environmental Working Group is asking for your help to show support for the measure. What you can do:

1) Read all about the Act on EWG's web site.
2) Add your name to the declaration showing support for the Act.
3) Sign up for email updates to learn the status of the act and additional measures you can take in the coming months.

I'm hoping a law like this will help to reduce the harm we are seeing from many plastics, including BPA and phthalates, as well as those in fragrances, dyes, and preservatives that manufacturers are not even required to list on labels at this point. If the chemicals are found to be unsafe and removed from the market, there will be nothing to reveal on labels in the first place.

This post will be included in the Green Mom's Carnival, hosted at Tiny Choices on March 10. Please stop over there and read more ideas for green cleaning.
 

What the Fark?

This Monday, I was happy to be the subject of an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer by Green Space columnist Sandy Bauers and quite pleased with her article, "She wants to say 2 words: No Plastics," and followup blog post, "Purging the Plastics." I was especially honored to be interviewed by Bauers because she "gets it." Green Space is her column about how to reduce your carbon footprint in everyday life. It appears every other Monday in Health & Science. I stumbled upon Sandy's year-end article, "Doing The Little Things That Will Save The World," and was particularly delighted that her #1 and #2 steps were plastic-related: Shop with reusable bags and Drink tap water.

Well, the thrill of the article lasted through this morning when I got an email from Michael telling me that Sandy's piece had made the front page of Fark.com. Now, I had never heard of Fark until this morning, and based on what I've seen there, I don't think my life has been any less rich for the lack. Still, as I read each mostly negative comment, my heart sank progressively lower. Not because I took the comments personally. How can I? Their authors don't know me. The comments are a reflection of the writers, really. But it's just so disheartening to know that such hatred and bitterness and plain ignorance exist in this world.

So, okay, I'm done whining. Some of the comments are actually pretty funny in their caustic way, especially if I imagine they are directed at some other plastic-free blogger who is not me. Love the photos of and references to plastic blow-up dolls, although Michael wasn't so thrilled about them. (My knight.)

If you have followed the links from Fark.com and found your way to this blog, I'd like to try and answer some of the more glaring misperceptions.

First, many people seem to believe that recycling plastic will solve the problem. Recycling plastic is important, but it's better referred to as downcycling. Plastic containers, for example, are not recycled into new containers but into other products like lumber or outdoor furniture. Even the plastic yogurt containers recycled by responsible companies like Recycline into toothbrushes and cutting boards are actually downcycled, since the manufacturers of the yogurt containers continue to extract virgin materials for their disposable products.

Furthermore, recycling is a business like any other. Curbside recyclers must find markets for the materials they collect. The biggest market for plastics is China, so most of our plastic is shipped overseas. Unfortunately, China doesn’t necessarily have the same standards of worker and community safety as we do, and towns like Lian Jiao have become toxic waste dumps for our plastic “recycling.” Sky News recently released a video showing the heartbreaking condition of this town that has become the waste bin of the western world. But with the recent downturn in the economy, the Chinese market has dried up, and as the NY Times reported in December 2008, much of our recycling is actually ending up in the landfill.

What’s the solution? Reducing our consumption of disposable plastic! Finding plastic-free alternatives to plastic and switching to reusable bags, bottles and containers are first steps to solving the plastic problem.

Second, there is a common misperception that if the plastic Garbage Patch in the North Pacific Gyre were such a problem, we should be able to see it from space. Unfortunately, this is not the case. I say unfortunately because if it were so visible, it would probably generate much more attention. In reality, the particles of plastic are so small and extend to such a wide area that they are nearly impossible to clean up. Expedition crews have collected fragments using trawls that skim the surface of the ocean. So what's the big deal about such tiny pieces of plastic?

Sadly, they are entering our food chain as they are caught in the zoo plankton, the lowest level of the food chain, and are then eaten by bigger and bigger fish. There are also pre-production plastic particles, sometimes referred to as "nurdles" that resemble the fish eggs that are food for many marine creatures. According to researchers who studied the gyre this past winter, there are areas in which the ratio of plastic to plankton is 46:1. A great article to read for an introduction to the problems of plastic in the marine environment is "Plastic Ocean".

Third, many commenters had funny things to say about the first sentences of the article which referred to my making homemade mustard to avoid plastic mustard containers. First of all, I am well aware that there are brands of mustard that come in glass jars. The real point is to avoid all types of unnecessary packaging. Here's the recipe. The mustard powder and seeds are sold in bulk bins at Whole Foods with zero packaging if you bring your own container. Just mix with vinegar and spices. Easy easy. Many folks do it from scratch just because it tastes better.

Fourth, "She's dumb. I hate her." I just wanted to copy that one because it makes me smile. Reminds me of my brother, and that's all I'm going to say.

Fifth, "I often wonder what I could do to make the world a litle better, just as this woman is trying to do. Then I realize that I don't really give a rats ass about any of it." Okay, that one makes me laugh and cry at the same time.

Sixth, getting serious again. Chemicals leaching from plastics into our food is indeed a problem. In addition to phthalates from PVC, styrene from polystyrene, and Bisphenol-A from polycarbonate, there are other possible leaching problems associated with PET and PP plastics (#1 and #5). Please check out the full article I published on the Sustainlane web site for an explanation of some of these issues and why it's wise to limit the amount of contact plastic has with our food.

Seventh, glad some of you are worried about the glass straws breaking. Actually, they are made from a super strong glass that is guaranteed not to break. The company is called GlassDharma, and they are actually very cool.

Eighth, regarding plastic for medical reasons. Obviously, if I needed a blood transfusion, I would be grateful for the plastic blood bag. I would not, however, be thrilled about the DEHP leaching from the bag into the blood and into me. There are safer plastics for medical uses, and many hospitals are switching to them.

Ninth, regarding the "bareback" comment. Don't do it. I've addressed that issue here. Enough said.

Tenth, oh forget it. I'm tired and have to go to bed. I haven't even reached the second page of comments. Questions? Please ask me directly. Or ask some of the authors of the blogs linked on my sidebar. Happily, I am not the only plastic-free "complete nutter" out here. Our numbers are growing!

Oh, and P.S. There were a few very nice comments. Thank you. You know who you are.
 

Fake Plastic Wishbones?

Turns out the cold I thought I had is actually a mild case of pneumonia. Thanks very much to blogger Rejin Leys from Urban Botany who filled in for me tonight with a post about a crazy new plastic product being promoted by, of all organizations, PETA.

This week, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) held a contest and awarded 5 lucky winners each a package of 10 "vegan" wishbones, so they can fully participate in Thanksgiving Day festivities without having to touch "the awful real thing."

Regular readers of FPF will immediately spot the problem with this, right? Fake Plastic Wishbones? As Beth and other anti-plastic pollution activists have pointed out so many times, the world is already drowning in useless plastic crap. Why do companies keep dreaming up and producing more? And most perplexingly, what is an animal rights advocacy organization doing marketing that plastic crap for the Lucky Break Wishbone Corporation?

Because isn't that what a contest like this is all about? Ad agencies dream of finding high profile organizations that will promote all kinds of products to their members, listeners or followers. It is effective advertising, and its absolutely free. PETA even obligingly links to the company's website, so that all the people who didn't win, but who are now convinced that they need fake plastic wishbones to make their holiday experience more authentic (!) can click right over and order them online.

While this one contest represents a pretty trivial amount of plastic (50 wishbones plus 5 packages), it also represents a very simplistic approach to defending the rights of animals. By ignoring the pollution spewed by factories that make things like plastic wishbones, PETA is prioritizing the rights of livestock animals over the rights of animals in their natural habitats, that are harder to quantify and relate to. The plastics that end up in the ocean kill many animals and damage the habitats of more species than humans have yet encountered. The toxic soup that leaches out of plastic-filled landfills poisons groundwater and flows into waterways - killing more animals. When incinerated, plastics release poisonous gases into the air - killing more animals. Even recycling plastics creates toxic by-products.

Sometimes it is hard to see the connections between different issues. But this one should be easy: finding ways to protect the environment, such as reducing our use of useless plastic crap, is also a way to protect the rights and lives of animals.

And as Rejin suggested in her own blog entry on this topic, why do we need wishbones for making wishes in the first place? "How about creating a new tradition where everyone goes around the table and makes a wish? There, no dead turkeys and no plastic factories spewing hazardous wastes that kill other animals. Problem solved."
 

More sad plastic news. Plus Year 2, Week 21 Results: .05 oz of plastic waste.

The format of this post will be a little different from most of my weekly tallies because I want to emphasize three stories in the news this week which illustrate more of the problems with plastic and plastic recycling.

First: I learned from JessTrev of The Green Phone Booth (via Twitter) that one of the few plastics we had thought was fairly safe might not be so. According to Toronto's Globe and Mail on Friday, medical researchers at the University of Alberta have found chemicals leaching from polypropylene (#5 plastic), the type of plastic used for many, many food uses, including yogurt tubs and laptop lunch containers, which parents purchase as an alternative to disposable food containers for children. Preserve toothbrushes (the kind I use) are also made from recycled polypropylene.

Not enough is know at this time about the two chemicals found to leach from the plastic, quaternary ammonium biocides and oleamide, to determine whether or not the leaching poses health risks, but Rebecca Sutton, senior scientist with Environmental Working Group, says, "We simply don't want these chemicals getting into our bodies."

When asked which plastics are safe for food, I've always replied that #2, #4, and #5 are the safest as far as we know, but the fact that they haven't really been studied as thoroughly as other plastics means that we don't know for sure if they are actually safe. As it turns out, we're now even less sure. My opinion? Why store food in plastic when we can use glass and other safer alternatives?

Second: Saturday afternoon, a massive fire broke out at a plastics manufacturing plant in Channelview, Texas. View video and news coverage of the fire here. According to an article on Click2Houston.com, the plant manufactured polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products. Ironically, according to the news story, city officials claim the smoke was non-toxic.

Really? Non-toxic PVC smoke? According to Greenpeace, smoldering PVC gives off hydrogen chloride, "a corrosive, highly toxic gas that can cause skin burns and severe long-term respiratory damage," as well as dioxin, which has been found to cause cancer and reproductive disorders. How is it possible that the smoke from a burning PVC plant can be considered safe for any town?

Third: Tonight, FPF reader Christy B alerted me to a 60 Minutes story that aired today revealing a terrible reality of electronics and plastic "recycling" that will turn your stomach. You already saw the Sky News story about plastic recycling in China. This one is even worse. Watch it below or view it on the 60 Minutes site. This story illustrates why cutting our consumption and requiring manufacturers to produce less toxic, longer-lasting products is essential.


Watch CBS Videos Online

And now that you've had your fill of reasons to cut out plastic, here's my tally for the week.



All new plastic waste:

• 1 plastic envelope window. From Financial West Group, which does not yet offer electronic statements.


• 1 plastic seal from a carton of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey. This happened Tuesday night. I blame election anxiety. What a rush!

And that's it. I actually did also receive a free T-shirt in a bubble mailer with plastic tape, but I returned it to the sender after sending an email explaining why. I also received one of those plastic pizza inserts, but I'm planning to take it back to the pizzeria and ask them to reuse it. It's actually unnecessary. I usually remember to request no plastic thingie, and the pizza arrives just fine.
 

Report from the North Pacific Gyre. Join the Posse!

Monday night, researchers Dr. Marcus Ericksen and Anna Cummins from the Algalita Marine Research Foundation brought their presentation to the Marin Humane Society to share with us their findings from several trips out to the North Pacific Gyre, aka the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. To the left is a photo of actual objects removed from the carcasses of dead Laysan albatrosses. How a bird eats a toothbrush, I don't know. But it truly saddens me.

Green Sangha's Stuart Moody wrote up a terrific summary of the information presented, which I share with you here:

Waste & Recycling
Half of the plastic made every year goes to landfill. One quarter of it is "unaccounted for" (litter, blow-away, and otherwise lost). What about the 5% that gets recycled ? At Puente Hills, the nation's largest landfill, located in LA County, all of the baled plastic gets sent to China for recycling.

Plastic soup
Algalita estimates 2.5 million tons of plastic are circulating in the North Pacific Gyre. This gyre is one of 9 such systems on the earth's oceans. In 1999, Algalita discovered a ratio of 6:1 plastic to zooplankton in the gyre. This year, they found 46:1. This measure, though, is an imperfect one, as zooplankton populations can vary greatly, with bloom-bust fluctuations. Surface density of plastics is a more accurate count. From 2000 to 2008 the concentration has doubled, from .002 g/m2 to .004.

Not a small matter
Particulate pollution is a special concern because although particles become invisible they still affect the ecosystem. The second most observed form of marine plastic litter is plastic sheeting, from bags or other plastic film. This suggests that plastic bags and wrappers degrading in the ocean could be one of the chief sources of plastic pollution in the food chain, as filter feeders will ingest these particles in their processing of sea water.

Networks of trash
Not all marine debris has been degraded to dust, filament, and fiber. On Hawaii's Kamilo Beach, probably the dirtiest beach in the world, the plastic litter can be waist-high. Out on the ocean, Algalita researchers find "net boluses" -- great tangles of lost or discarded fishing net sometimes as big as a van. These can weigh up to 2 tons, and entrap many creatures (as well as providing a living space!).

Marine impacts
On the Junk's summer voyage to Hawaii, 1/3 of 500 lantern fish sampled had plastic pieces in their bodies, averaging about 13/specimen. The record holder had 84 pieces. The lantern fish is prey for swordfish, salmon, and tuna, meaning that plastics are getting into our food supply. In total, over 267 marine animal species have been documented ingesting or getting entangled in plastic debris.

Making a clean sweep
Can't we just trawl the ocean and pick up all the litter? The affected area, in the No. Pacific Gyre alone, is twice the size of the United States -- the equivalent of about 9 million football fields. How practical can it be to drag nets across such a vast territory? Tankers, for example, get about 60 feet/gallon of fuel. Do we want to burn more fuels trying to make up for the mis-spending of fuels in the production of waste? And what would happen to all the biomass captured in such a massive sweep of the ocean's surface? Clearly other ideas are needed.

I say, how a Plastic-free Posse?

Let's grow a group of bloggers who care about the issue of plastics and are willing to write about it on their blogs. As I said two days ago, we need more plastic-free voices. How about starting with the folks who came to the presentation Monday night?

Katrina from Kale For Sale was there, and she has become the first member of the Plastic-free Posse. (See my right sidebar.)

Ian, aka Nolij was there too, despite a fractured foot, requiring him to get around on this ingenious scooter. What do you say, Nolij? Want to join the Posse?

So this is how it can work. You don't have to blog about plastic all the time. If plastic is simply one part of your blogging universe, then be willing to label or tag your plastic-related posts with one word: Plastic. Check out Kale For Sale to see how it's done. Then, let me know, and I'll link to your plastic-labeled posts on my sidebar. That way, many more voices can be heard from folks who aren't as singly-focused as I am.

Simply creating Plastic labels and tags can create ripples in the blogosphere which, I hope, will then make their way out into the real world. Who's on board?
 

Blog Action Day 2008: Plastic Pollution & Poverty

Reuters: A rubbish collector carries his baby as he walks amid plastic waste at a garbage dump site in Guiyang, Guizhou province June 3, 2008.

Today is Blog Action Day. Thousands of bloggers have united to discuss a single issue - poverty. The aim is to raise awareness and initiate action.

Honestly, I signed up to participate without giving the topic much thought, and now that I must come up with a blog post on the issue of poverty, I am nearly struck dumb. What can I possibly say about such enormous suffering?

So my contribution will simply be to show some of the plastic pollution all over the world, pollution which ends up in the world's poorest regions because, like the plastic floating out in the North Pacific Gyre, these regions are to the Global Rich, out of sight and out of mind.

Reuters: A garbage collector transports plastic bags to recycle at a construction site in Xiangfan, Hubei province, March 16, 2008.

Reuters: Boys collects plastic materials as boats dock near a polluted coastline in Manila April 9, 2008.

Reuters: A woman washes plastic products on an algae-filled river in Tianjin municipality, September 13, 2007.

Reuters: A girl searches for plastic waste at a garbage dump site in Thailand's Ayutthaya province, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Bangkok, May 1, 2007.

And of course, if you haven't seen the Sky News video of what happens to much of the plastic "recycling" waste we ship to China, now's a good time:



But these kinds of things aren't just happening in developing countries. Here in the United States, PVC plants in Louisiana pump out toxic emissions daily to poor communities with some of the highest cancer rates.

I just finished reading Van Jones's new book, Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems, which urges a merging of the environmental and social justice movements. He argues that because the environmental movement for so long has overlooked poor and minority communities, focusing primarily on whales and polar bears, alliances have formed between the polluters and the poor.

What can we do to lift us all up out of this mess we have created for ourselves, both environmentally and economically? It's a big question and Van Jones has some hopeful answers:

The best answer to our ecological crisis also responds to our socioeconomic crisis. The surest path to safe streets and peaceful communities is not more police and prisons, but ecologically sound economic development. And that same path can lead us to a new, green economy -- one with the power to lift people out of poverty while respecting and repairing the environment.

Please read the book. And then let's work to see that whoever is elected in November take these ideas to heart.
 

Announcements: Van Jones, No Plastic Left Behind, & Message In A Bottle

I have a trio of exciting announcements, so please be sure and read the whole post.

1) Britt Bravo of Have Fun * Do Good emailed me a few days ago to help spread the word about Van Jones's new book, Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems, which is being released on October 7. If you don't know who Van Jones is, you should! Ten years ago, he founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights here in Oakland to promote positive alternatives to violence and incarceration through efforts which include the Green Collar Jobs Campaign to create opportunities in the green economy for poor people and people of color. And he was recently named a Time Magazine Hero of the Environment.

I heard Van Jones interviewed several months ago on Britt's Big Vision podcast and was blown away by this man who is able to bridge many different communities and make the links between environmental and social justice. This book is just what our country needs right now. And the campaign is urging folks to pre-order the book NOW before it releases Oct 7 so that it has a chance on the Best Seller list. All pre-orders are counted on the day the book releases, apparently. (If the previous link doesn't work, try this one.)

2) Saturday, October 11, is Earth Resource Foundation's 1st Annual "No Plastic Left Behind," A Campaign Against the Plastic Plague Conference at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, CA. I'll be participating in the 1pm panel: “Acting Out” – How activism can make a difference and also leading a break-out session on alternatives to plastic.

Do you live near Costa Mesa? Please come and join us for an entire day devoted to plastic and what we can do about it!

3) The following Monday, October 13, Anna Cummins and Dr. Marcus Eriksen will speak on marine plastics at the Marin Humane Society in Novato from 7:30 - 8:50pm. Anna and Marcus are about to begin the third leg of their "Message In A Bottle" tour which began last winter aboard the Alguita research vessel, on which they sailed out to study the plastic in the North Pacific Gyre; continued with Marcus's journey aboard the Junk, a raft made of plastic bottles; and will finish up with an amphibious bicycle trip from Vancouver to Mexico during which they'll give presentations about plastic marine debris and deliver samples of the plastic soup directly to educators, organizations, and policymakers.

I'm excited to finally meet Anna and Marcus in person after emails and phone conversations with Anna. The Algalita Marine Research Foundation's efforts to bring the "Pacific Garbage Patch" to the world's attention was the original impetus for Fake Plastic Fish! So of course I jumped at the opportunity to make a few introductory remarks before the presentation, which is being sponsored in part by Green Sangha. Green Sangha will also have its plastics display on view. If you're in Marin and you're free that night, please come and hear about what plastic is doing to our marine environments from a couple of people who have seen it with their own eyes.

That's all for now. I leave for a weekend meditation retreat tomorrow afternoon and will be gone until Sunday night. Perhaps another zero plastic week?
 

"We can either have plastic toy sharks or real sharks, not both."

The above quote sounds almost like the tagline for this blog, doesn't it? In fact, it is from a letter to the Monterey Bay Aquarium written by Erica Etelson, a friend of one of my Green Sangha friends. Erica visited the aquarium with her family a few months ago and was disappointed by all the plastic and other petroleum-based items for sale in the gift shop, as well as food packaging in the cafe.

Now, we're used to seeing gift shops at zoos and museums. It's one of the ways these places bring in cash to fund their educational work. However, the mission of the Monterey Bay Aquarium is special. Their purpose is to educate the public about the health of our oceans. They are the folks who publish the Seafood Watch sustainable seafood guides each year. And through their Center for the Future of the Oceans, they "champion policies that conserve and restore threatened marine wildlife on the California coast and in the northern Pacific, including the southern sea otter, sharks, tunas and sea turtles." So to Erica, it was ironic that they would offer for sale so many items that are actually contributing to the sickness of marine eco-systems.

My Green Sangha group saw the irony in the situation too when we read Erica's letter and the response she received, and so as a group action we all handwrote our own letters to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Below I have reprinted the full exchange: Erica's initial letter, the response from the gift shop manager, and Erica's follow-up letter. Included is the contact info for the aquarium gift shop manager if after reading this exchange you feel inspired to send your own message.

----- Original Message -----
From: Erica Etelson
To: jpackard@mbayaq.org ; jhekkers@mbayaq.org ; caslanian@mbayaq.org ; msutton@mbayaq.org
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 3:14 PM
Subject: ocean-friendly concessions


Dear M-Bay Aquarium Friends:

My family recently enjoyed its first trip to the aquarium and were particularly impressed with your efforts to educate guests about sustainable seafood--efforts that were in evidence on the menus of several of the local seafood restaurants. The flush toilets are great too!

But I have to tell you how dismayed I was by the volume of petroleum-based items for sale in your gift shop and cafe. Plastic toys, synthetic clothing, plastic beverage bottles and food containers--how ironic it was to see a display of books all on the theme of averting climate catastrophe right next to a rack of fleece jackets made in Guatemala.

You folks surely know better than I do how much damage plastic debris and the burning of fossil fuels do to the health of the oceans. We can either have plastic toy sharks or real sharks, not both.

I'm actually writing a book about how to transition to greener lifestyle choices so, if you're interested, I'd be happy to go into further details about some of the problems I observed and can even come down again and do a more complete audit. I know how devoted you are to your mission of protecting marine species and so I hope you will take my comments in the spirit of promoting our mutual goals. If the aquarium blazed the trail on greening its operations, surely other museums and aquariums would follow, not to mention the thousands of visitors who would receive a firsthand education.

Sincerely,

Erica Etelson
Berkeley, CA

----- Original Message -----
From: Andrew Fischer afischer@mbayaq.org
To: Erica Etelson
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2008 3:58 PM
Subject: Monterey Bay Aquarium Guest Feedback Response


Dear Ms. Etelson

My name is Andrew Fischer , General Manager of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Gift and Bookstore. I received your comment regarding us offering products that are manufactured in other countries and therefore may contradict the message of conservation, and I wanted to get back to you with a response.

I personally appreciate feedback from guests like you. We can only improve our operation with comments such as these.

The concerns you raised regarding the origin of our products is a challenge for my team on many levels as we strive to provide our 1.8 Million visitors a special selection of quality items at an affordable price.

Our buying team is addressing the concerns that you noted by reevaluating each category in our stores. What we face is that in many areas (such as giftware, key chains, mugs, magnets, apparel, plush, and many toys) there are no options to purchase at the quantity, quality, and selection as what overseas production offers.

In fact, almost all of the books we offer on the topic of environmental concerns are printed on non-recycled paper and in other countries. If we chose to offer only domestically printed book publications, our selection would be minimal at best.

My staff and I are prepared to make a major shift in our business practices in certain categories, but it will be a challenge to do this overnight. We are working with our vendors on sourcing products from within North America , but as of this moment, we are limited.

We will be looking to offer a consistent message by presenting a permanent Think Green section of the Main Gift and Bookstore. This will officially start on Earth Day (April 22nd). The items will include many of the books you noted, as well as organic cotton shirts, actual trees that you can plant, recycled pencils and glass, as well as other aquarium themed recycled items. We will add to this department over the coming months.

We are also very proud to be the exclusive location to offer an Organic Plush Penguin (made with Soy and the fiber from the Kapok seed). This hypoallergenic Penguin is however manufactured in Indonesia . The Penguin is a great example of the challenges I noted above. No US manufacturer of quality plush exists, let alone one that would go to this length to produce an earth friendly product.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s mission is to inspire conservation of the oceans, as well as to educate on environmental and ecological concerns. The Gift and Bookstore helps contribute funds to achieve this mission, and should follow the path set-forth by the dedicated staff and founders. It is my job to find options, and to take the right direction to better match this mission.

I thank you for your focus on this very important area of our operation.

If you have any further questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me at 831-645-4945 or via my e-mail at afischer@mbayaq.org

I have also sent a copy of this response to Ed Prohaska , our Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Enterprise Development.

Sincerely yours,

Andrew Fischer
General Manager of Merchandising
Monterey Bay Aquarium
831-648-4945 P
831-648-4989 F
afischer@mbayaq.org

----- Original Message -----
From: Erica Etelson
To: Andrew Fischer
Cc: eprohaska@mbayaq.org
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 12:36 PM
Subject: Re: Monterey Bay Aquarium Guest Feedback Response


Dear Andrew,

Thanks for your response. I do understand the challenge you're facing and am glad to hear of the initiation of the Think Green section. But I still want to challenge the assumption that the aquarium's mission includes providing your visitors with affordable products. I think that's Wal-Mart's mission. The aquarium's mission, on the other hand, is to promote the protection of marine life by educating the public about the dire environmental threats to the oceans. I don't see how encouraging your visitors to buy petroleum-based products manufactured by exploited workers in countries with lax environmental standards and shipped across the globe is anything other than a direct contradiction of your mission.

Part of environmental education includes challenging consumers to forego their entitlement to products that have cheap price tags but come with hidden environmental costs. It is far better to buy nothing than to buy a product whose manufacture damaged the environment. I imagine that the bookstore provides the aquarium with needed revenue but I would guess that that portion of the budget could be made up for by a fundraising campaign that highlights the aquarium's downsizing of the bookstore to a small, 100% eco-friendly selection of items. I think donors would step up to bat to help the aquarium avoid the hypocrisy of selling plastic fish and other items that often wind up as ocean debris that kill real fish.

I'd also encourage you to inventory the items sold in your cafe, most of which are non-organic and many of which are excessively packaged in plastic. There is absolutely no need for plastic water bottles or beverages of any kind. Nutritious, organic food and drinks should be sold on washable or at least bio-degradable plates and cups. Chips can be purchased in bulk and sold by the handful or by weight to avoid the packaging of single-serving snacks. There's a lot to look at here, and I hope you'll take the bull by the horns.

Thanks,
Erica Etelson

Besides being a kindred spirit, Erica Etelson is a terrific writer whose articles have appeared in the SF Chronicle. The world needs more people like her.
 

Junk floating in the ocean

By now, most readers of this blog have read about the swirling plastic soup in the North Pacific Gyre and learned about the harm to marine life as well as the bioaccumulation of toxic chemicals that are attracted to these tiny plastic pieces. This coming Sunday, June 1, a couple of intrepid adventurers will sail their own Junk out into the Pacific carrying a large plastic bottle filled with messages from students and individuals across the nation. The bottle of messages will eventually be delivered to state and federal legislators.

The Junk is actually a raft made with 15,000 plastic bottles. The journey is part of an educational effort called Message in a Bottle, and the adventurers are some of the same members of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation (AMRF) who made the trip out to the North Pacific Gyre this past winter and brought back samples of the plastic foating out there.

If you enjoyed following the blog of the Alguita on its voyage this winter, you might want to subscribe to the Junk's blog this time around. And also consider making a donation to support the work of the AMRF and including your own message in the bottle.

I feel very privileged this week to be able to support the campaigns of No Impact Man yesterday and AMRF today because it was through information from these two sources that my own awareness of the problems of plastic came into being and Fake Plastic Fish was born nearly a year ago. We've come so far, and yet there is still so far to go.
 

Dear Santa Sabina,

The following is a letter that I am sending off tonight to the Santa Sabina Retreat Center, where I spent this past weekend, and about 12 previous weekends since 2000, sitting in silence. I share this letter here only to demonstrate that we can have a voice, write our letters and make our calls, and do it all in a spirit of sharing and love rather than confrontation or hostility. I love Santa Sabina. I truly do. Here's the letter:

Dear Santa Sabina Center:

As a participant in Jon Bernie’s meditation retreat this past weekend, I write this letter in a spirit of gratitude for the beautiful space that you provide for rest and silence. This note is meant to thank you and also to offer some suggestions.

I’ve been attending Jon Bernie’s retreats at Santa Sabina ever since the very first one in 2000. Every time I come back, I feel like I’m returning to a loving home. From the care taken for the lovely gardens to the wholesome meals to the little bits of poetry and flowers placed in unexpected places, Santa Sabina helps retreatants feel safe and nurtured during our stay.

Given this attention to detail, then, it is a bit ironic to find certain personal care products, such as antibacterial soaps (Soft Soap antibacterial liquid hand soap) and synthetic air fresheners (Oust Air Sanitizer and Glade Neutralizer) offered for guests’ use. And since Santa Sabina is all about caring for the health of the planet and the creatures that dwell here, I assume that these products are offered without knowledge of the harm that they are currently causing to our environment.

First, Oust Air Sanitizer contains an additional active ingredient called Triethylene Glycol, which can be a strong allergen and hazard for asthma sufferers. In fact, the label on the can states: “Asthma and allergy sufferers: Consult your physician before using this product in your home.” It contains a further warning: “Before spraying, remove birds. After using, ventilate normally prior to returning birds to treated areas.” I discovered cans of this Oust Air Sanitizer on the backs of several toilets for retreatants to spray after using the facilities. And whereas I don’t personally suffer from allergies or asthma, I would be very careful what I sprayed into the air that all of us share.

In addition to that particular chemical in the Oust spray, there are other chemicals in synthetic air fresheners (like Glade) which are hazardous to humans and wildlife. I’ve enclosed a couple of pieces of information with this letter. The first is a press release on a study of air fresheners by the Natural Resources Defense Council. One of the issues with air fresheners is that companies who make them are not required to list all of their ingredients on the label of the can. What NRDC found in their study is that most commercial air fresheners contain chemicals called phthalates, which are reproductive toxins.

Phthalates are generally found in any product that simply lists “fragrance” as an ingredient on the label. Air fresheners and soaps that do not contain phthalates will be more specific about their ingredients. For example, the air freshener I use at home is Ecco Mist by Ecco Bella which contains only essential oils, emulsifier and water and comes in a recyclable aluminum can. Another option is Citrus Magic (Ingredients: 100% Pure & Natural, specially formulated citrus fragrance oils from oranges, lemons, limes, tangerines and grapefruits.)

I’ve also enclosed the Environmental Working Group’s report, “Down The Drain,” which discusses the problems caused by washing chemicals such as phthalates and Triclosan, the active ingredient in antibacterial soaps, down the drain and into the San Francisco Bay. Triclosan is a thyroid disruptor and is also thought to contribute to the problem of resistant bacteria. There are many natural soaps that do not contain Triclosan or synthetic fragrances or colors.

I would be happy to help you find environmentally-preferable soaps and air fresheners. And if cost is an issue, perhaps spending a bit more for natural soap and giving up the air freshener entirely might be an option. The bathrooms have windows that can be opened for air freshening. Might the sprays be unnecessary?

Thanks so much for your time. I love Santa Sabina and only wish for it to be as gentle on the earth as is possible. Please let me know what I can do to help.

Sincerely,

Beth Terry

This is what I meant yesterday by "perfectly imperfect." But one of our practice instructions is to move towards that which is difficult. I think it was good for me to sit with the seeming irony of this natural, beautiful place and the moderately hazardous chemicals in its midst. My mind kept crying out, "I don't understand! I don't understand!" Sitting with confusion instead of fighting it can open us into compassion. For ourselves and the rest of this crazy world.
 

Environmental Children's Books, Part 2: Teach Them To Recycle and Bring Their Own Bag

Here are the next two environmental kids' books, as promised.

Michael Recycle, by Ellie Bethel, illustrated by Alexandra Colombo. Green Bean may think that my Michael is a super hero for encouraging his firm to stop buying bottled water. But this big picture book is about a new super hero, Michael Recycle, who flies into trashy towns in his green cape and colander hat and, in Suess-like rhyme, teaches everyone to recycle and garden and collect rainwater. Then, when the town is sparkling again, they throw a big old party to celebrate. In fact, instead of buying streamers,

They covered the town
In green toilet paper
Then rolled it back up
To use again later.

You may think that's yucky
But these folks don't agree
In Abberdoo-Rimey
Recycling is key!

While the pictures in this book are fantastic fun and the Go Green Tips at the end are useful, I would have liked to have seen more emphasis on waste reduction and reuse before recycling.

They recycled their paper,
Their plastic and cans,
And even old junk
Like used pots and pans!

I'm not crazy about the word "junk" used to describe stuff that we may not need to keep for ourselves anymore. And recycling pots and pans? Doesn't Michael know about Freecycle? He is, after all, a super hero. But maybe I've become more hardcore than the average bear. And from what I see on the streets of Oakland, it's challenging enough to get kids to put their trash in a garbage can, much less recycle it. This book is a good start for getting the environmental message across.

I'll be donating it to the Oakland library this weekend, per Burbanmom's Giving Challenge.

Oh, and yesterday, when reviewing the two animal books, I forgot to talk about the production of the books themselves. One was printed in Mexico and the other in Singapore. Michael Recycle was printed in Korea. And, for a book about recycling, I was surprised that it's not itself printed on recycled paper. Or if it is, that fact was not mentioned anywhere in the book or press materials I received. Hmm... sort of like the seminar on "greening your law firm" that Michael and I attended where bottled water and plastic-wrapped sandwiches were served while the panelists talked about eliminating plastic bottles from the workplace. There are the ideals that we espouse, but if they don't translate into concrete changes, what good are they?

Okay, enough soap box. Michael Recycle is a really cute book and I think it would be a good addition to any school library.

The next book, which coincidentally organicneedle mentioned in a comment on my post yesterday, is My Bag and Me!, by Karen Farmer, illustrated by Gary Grant. It doesn't say what ages it's geared toward, but the heavy cardboard pages and pictures of the little boy suggest to me (a non-parent) that it's for small children. This book encourages kids not only to recycle, but to refuse disposable bags in the first place:

Let's take a trip
to our favorite store,
where My Bag and Me say,
"Paper and plastic no more!"

The secret to My Bag And Me is the hidden pull-out tray in the back that contains a child-sized resuable bag they can take to the store with them. I love the idea of this, not to mention the cuteness. But I'm less enthusiastic about the materials.

The reusable bag is made of Dupont Tyvek, the type of plastic that many large postal envelopes are made from. The cover of the book states, "This book and the reusable Tyvek bag are 100% recyclable!" What you don't realize until you read the fine print (if you read the fine print) is that Tyvek is only recyclable by mailing it back to Dupont. I devoted a whole post to Tyvek in October of last. It's worthwhile to read if you haven't already.

And notice that the book is advertised as "recyclable" rather than being made from recycled materials. So I contacted the PR rep who sent it to me and asked about the materials used as well as the decision to have it printed in China. These were her responses:

1) On using Tyvek to make the bag: Natural fibers, like cotton or hemp, were too bulky. The book would have been enormous and very heavy, not to mention the extra amount of paper needed to create the tray cavity. There is a marking on the bottom of the bag with an 800 number for recycling Tyvek information. Our hope, however, is that these bags will have a very long life as a shopping bag.

2) On the shiny coating on the cardboard pages: The coating is a plastic film, otherwise known as PP lamination. PP, or Polypropylene lamination is non-toxic and the same goes for the glue, ink and paper used in these books. The paper is made of C1S ( coated paper, one side), and Natura board.

3) On having the book manufactured in China: Cost was the deciding factor for printing in China. We would never have been able to produce this book here, and sell it at the cover price of $10.95. The manufacturer is ICTI audited which gives credibility and they can issue a letter guaranteeing that the materials used are non-toxic and certificates for the materials themselves.

Organicneedle wrote a bit about this book back in March, and then she came up with a list of ways to make your own reusable bags for kids out of reused materials or natural fabrics. Anyway, it's a cute idea, perhaps not executed in the manner hardcore environuts like me would prefer, but useful nonetheless for getting kids accustomed to bringing their own bags.

I offer this book as another freebie to a Fake Plastic Fish reader. It's not really appropriate for donating to the library because of the bag that needs to be removed and used. So please leave a comment and let me know if you'd like it. Or email me directly at beth[at]fakeplasticfish[dot]com and let me know.

And finally, here's an ACTION ALERT for anyone concerned about keeping commercial advertising/product placements out of kids' books. Harper Collins has announced its plans to publish a series of books for young girls called MacKenzie Blue, in which, according to this New York Times article, "...product placement is very much a part of the plan. Tina Wells, chief executive of Buzz Marketing Group, which advises consumer product companies on how to sell to teenagers and preteenagers, will herself be the author of titles in the series filled with references to brands. She plans to offer the companies that make them the chance to sponsor the books."

To read about the campaign and to protest the publication of these books, please visit Commercial Alert and take action.
 

Environmental Children's Books, Part 1: A Polar Bear, A Hippo, And A 130-Year Old Tortoise

I've received 4 environmental children's books in the past month from publishers who would like me to review them on Fake Plastic Fish. Not that I know anything about children. I mean, I was one once, but I don't have or live with any now... unless you count Terrible Person and the two unruly kitty cats in our house. But I do enjoy picture books, and my brother, in fact, is a children's book illustrator, so why not? I'll talk about the first 2 tonight and the next 2 tomorrow.

Knut: How One Little Polar Bear Captivated The World, by Juliana, Isabella, and Craig Hatkoff and Dr. Gerald R. Uhlich. If you haven't heard the story of Knut, he's the little polar bear from the Berlin Zoo who was rejected by his mother at birth and raised by a human zookeeper until he was old enough to live in an enclosure and perform for an adoring public. I don't think I'm supposed to tell it that way, though. Knut's become a symbol for the global warming cause. Reading his story might help children to develop compassion for animals they wouldn't encounter in daily life and perhaps the desire to do something to protect them. In fact, the back of the book lists a few steps people can take, like riding a bike instead of driving and turning out lights when leaving a room.

I was actually moved while reading the book on BART tonight. Thomas Dorflein's (the zookeeper's) bond with the bear and desire to protect him reminded me of the feelings of protectiveness and care I myself felt the first time I saw the photo of the dead sea bird with its stomach full of plastic, the first time an animal moved me to act. And I thought, this bear is so cute, of course children will love him and be moved to care about our environment for his sake.

But when I got home, I did a little research and found out the rest of Knut's story, which is not all cute, fuzzy feelings. The title of the book is actually rather ironic because it turns out that Knut has not only captivated us, but humans have captivated and damaged him. The book ends with Knut still young and cuddly, and it speculates that one day the polar bear will grow so big that he could accidentally harm Thomas. When that time comes, they will have to separate. But it will be okay because "Adult polar bears spend most of their time alone, so Knut won't be lonely if it happens that Thomas can no longer be with him every day."

Turns out that that's not what happens when captive polar bears who have been made a spectacle for cheering audiences day after day are left alone. Not this one anyway. According to Markus Roebke, one of Knut's keepers, in this article in the Daily Mail, "He is addicted to the whole show, the human adulation. It is not healthy. He actually cries out or whimpers if he sees that there is not a spectator outside his enclosure ready to ooh and aah at him. When the zoo had to shut because of black ice everywhere he howled until staff members stood before him and calmed him down."

The Independent quotes German zoologist Peter Arras's description of Knut as a "psychopath." And a commenter in The Atlantic says, "Now that his youthful charms are fading with his white coat, he still demands constant attention from humans. They stare at him, or he screams in misery. Anyone could have guessed that the lack of same-species companionship and endless train of adoring tourists would eventually damage him, but the zoo kept him on display because apparently cuteness trumps morality." That particular writer goes on to actually suggest euthanasia as the only solution to Knut's pain.

The children's book tells a very cute and inspiring story of a man who bottle-fed and cared for a rejected bear and, I'm sure, loved him with all his heart. But the current reality is not so cute. So what do we do? Be grateful for the web, for one thing. Because, while books are static, the Internet is not. And after reading books to children, we can also do a little research and then decide how much of the cold, hard reality we want to share with them.

What would you tell your kids?

The second book, by the same authors, is a much nicer story. Owen & Mzee: The Language of Friendship, by Isabella and Craig Hatkoff and Dr. Paula Kahumbu, tells the story of a baby hippo, dubbed Owen, that was orphaned during a tsunami in Kenya and rescued to the Haller Park animal sanctuary, where he bonded with, of all creatures, a 130-year old tortoise called Mzee! Why would a baby hippo bond with a wrinkly old reptile? (Okay, I can hear the jokes coming already, so just stop it!) There seems to be some suggestion that the markings on the back of the tortoise's shell resemble a hippo face. I'm not sure I buy that theory.

Still, the story of the bond between these two very different creatures is heartwarming, and actually seems to be true! The hippo would follow the tortoise around, nipping at its heels, and following its lead in which plants to eat and how to behave. They developed a kind of strange language of sounds to communicate with each other that neither hippos nor tortoises normally make.

But following Mzee, Owen seemed to be growing into a tortoise shaped like a hippo, rather than an actual adult hippo. He would only eat the same plants Mzee ate, which were not really hippo food. And he'd had no contact with other hippos, since his rescuers were worried that introducing him to another hippo clan could be dangerous for him. So, by the end of the story in the book, they've found a female orphaned hippo that they hope will become his friend, along with Mzee and another tortoise.

Once again, the great thing about the web is that you can find out what happens next! According to the Haller Park blog, Owen and Cleo, the new hippo, bonded and became friends. But in March 2007, Mzee had to be moved away from them because Cleo was too rough and the staff were afraid she would hurt him. Oops. Maybe I should have given you a spoiler warning. But these are kids' books, and just because you know what happens, doesn't mean you have to spoil the ending for your kids!

Anyway, reading these two books lead me to think about my own relationship with certain non-human beings and the ways that I care for them and also exploit their cuteness for my own personal gain. Right here on this blog! Maybe that's just part of human nature. To marvel at how animals of completely different species can bond with one another without the slightest clue what it's actually like to be that other creature. We have to be so careful, don't we?

So... the FREEBIE! If you would like this hardback copy of Owen & Mzee, please request it in a comment. Or email me privately at beth[at]fakeplasticfish[dot]com. I'll choose the lucky recipient at random some time next week. I can't give you the polar bear book because it's already promised to Michael, who I predict is destined to be either eaten by or reincarnated as one of them, assuming they haven't become extinct.

But tomorrow, I'll be offering another free book. So stay tuned. You might like that one better.
 

Rethinking Plastics with Wells Fargo's Green Team

The photo shows a sample of water from the North Pacific Gyre, specifically Sample #23 taken at latitude 34°30.87North, longitude 158°50.93West by the researchers on the Oceanographic Research Vessel Alguita this winter. And that thumb at the bottom of the photo is mine.

Anna Cummins, part of the Alguita crew, sent me the sample to use for Rethinking Plastics presentations. When it arrived last week, I sat down for a minute and wept. Can you see the mixture of plastic and plankton? This is what we are dealing with. This is the bottom of the food chain. It's probably toxic and can probably never be cleaned up.

Here's a map showing exactly where the sample came from:


Friday morning, I took my sample with me, along with a Power Point presentation, Synthetic Sea DVD, and other items for "show and tell," to Wells Fargo Bank to co-present my very first Green Sangha Rethinking Plastics program with Solvig Palm-Nicholls. Wells Fargo has a "Green Team" that works to find ways to be more environmentally friendly in the office. We were invited by Wells Fargo employee and Fake Plastic Fish reader, Tanya (of the yummy salmon recipe), to come and present our information to the group. Not only did we have a room full of interested employees, but also several people who dialed in and logged on to NetMeeting to take part in the presentation remotely.

Here's a PDF version of the Rethinking Plastics presentation we did for Wells Fargo. We started a little late due to technical difficulties, so the first part, a short history of the invention of plastics, was skipped. We made a few other changes to customize the slide show for Wells Fargo, like removing some slides that deal with the Green Sangha practice of awareness. These slides will be included in future presentations if appropriate.

We also planned to show the 9-minute DVD, Synthetic Sea. Unfortunately, Wells Fargo's DVD player would not work. Fortunately, we were able to access this low resolution web version and play it instead. Not as beautiful, but it got the point across.

Do you work for or belong to an organization in the Bay Area that would benefit from a Rethinking Plastics presentation? Please let me know. Now that I've gotten the first one under my belt, I'm looking forward to doing more! In fact, I'm scheduled to do a presentation at a high school in a few weeks. Wish me luck on that one. Teenagers scare the crap out of me.

And in related news, another FPF reader, Alice, sent me this link to a recent BBC series on the plastic problems in the North Pacific Gyre as well as the Midway Atoll. It's well worth watching!
 

A Bittersweet Symphony called D2W

Back in September, I wrote about the plastic AT&T Yellow Pages bag that showed up on my doorstep unsolicited. Here's the update. I called the Yellow Pages, found out to whom I should write, and sent this letter (PDF file).

Not long afterwards, I actually received a telephone call from Jim Troup, the head of environmental issues for AT&T Yellow Pages. We had a long conversation about plastic bags, Yellow Pages recycling, and different types of degradable bags the company has tried. He told me he is researching alternatives to the plastic bags, and that they actually did an experiment up in Redding, California, with a bag made of a plastic called D2W. He called this plastic "chemo-degradable" rather than "bio-degradable" and said that AT&T was still looking for something fully biodegradable and would let me know when they'd made a decision.

Weeks went by, and I forgot about D2W plastic, until I received a comment and email from blogger Jessica at Bwlchyrhyd asking about this very product. So I figured I'd better look into it. D2W is a plastic made by a British company called Symphony Environmental Limited. It breaks down due to additives in the plastic that are added during the "extrusion stage of manufacture, when polymer granules are heated and melted to form packaging films." The web site calls these additives "metal salts." The metal salts cause the plastic polymers to break down to such a degree that eventually, micro-organisms can take over and finish the job biologically. The end product is "some H2O, some CO2, and a small amount of biomass." Here is a more detailed description of the degradation process.

Sounds great, right? Not so fast, pardner. Let's look at all the pieces of this description logically in light of what we know about all the problems of plastic.

First, what exactly are the "metal salts" that are added to the plastic, and can they leach out of the plastic while it's degrading? I contacted Symphony to find out the answer to this question and received this Word Document, Technical Paper “Heavy metals” and essential trace elements, which states that "the commonly used transition metal compounds in commercial oxo-biodegradable plastics are manganese, iron, cobalt and nickel." The paper goes on to explain why we should not be concerned about "heavy metals" being added to the plastic. Not being a chemist myself, I sent the paper to Solvig, a chemistry teacher I know, who wrote me the following:

The metal compounds are used to catalyze the breakdown of the plastic in the presence of light, heat and oxygen. Catalyst tends to be active in trace (extremely low) concentrations, but I don’t know if that is so in this particular product. If on the other hand there is a high concentration of nickel in the product, we will end up with high concentrations of nickel in the compost.

How would the nickel be taken up from the soil? The amount of nickel taken up by plants has little to do with its concentration in the soil. The accumulation of nickel in various parts of the plant remains constant whatever the concentration of nickel of the soil. [However,] the uptake of nickel from the soil by other organisms such as bacteria or other critters is not discussed.

They finish by saying: If you added degradable polyethylene film as mulching to the soil it would take 500 years to increase the nickel content of the soil by 1ppm. However, they don’t explain what they mean by that. How much biodegradable plastic are they talking about??? Just one little container, or a composting plant’s worth.

In an ideal world all the biodegradable plastic would be broken down in a composting plant, and the amount of nickel and cobalt released would depend on the amount of plastic in relation to the amount of other food and garden waste it is mixed with.

My feeling is that there is no danger of poisoning people when this stuff is broken down, but I don’t know since I don’t know what the concentration of metal is. Let’s stick with the precautionary principle and avoid single use items whether biodegradable or not.

So that's question #1: Will the metals present in the plastic prove toxic to us in the long run? At this point, I don't think we know. So many other additives in plastic, like phthalates and Bisphenol-A were once thought safe and are now being found to leach into our water and food.

Second, the web site description says that the metal salts are added during the "extrusion stage of manufacture, when polymer granules are heated and melted to form packaging films." Let's remember that D2W film is still being made from ordinary petroleum-based plastic granules, the same pellets commonly called "nurdles" that are being found in our oceans and taken up into the food chain. These raw plastic pellets do not contain any additive to help them break down. If they blow off a ship into the ocean, which they often do, they will remain there basically forever, attracting pollutants like PCB and DDE and concentrating them even as they enter the bodies of fish and other marine animals.

Any plastic film made from petroleum-based plastic contributes to the pollution of our oceans simply through the transportation of the raw material to the manufacturer. To state my opinion less formally, if we can't find some way to keep these little buggers from blowing about and washing down storm drains, we oughtn't be making things out of them.

Third, it takes energy and materials to create any disposable products, including products that biodegrade. Symphony's answer to the question of reusable bags (PDF) is this:

Long-term re-usable shopping bags are not the answer. They are much thicker and more expensive, and a large number of them would be required for the weekly shopping of an average family. They are not hygienic unless cleaned after each use. Whilst sometimes called “Bags for Life” they have a limited life, depending on the treatment they receive, and become a very durable form of litter when discarded.

Shoppers do not always go to the shop from home, where the re-usable bags would normally be kept, and consumers are unlikely to have a re-usable bag with them when buying on impulse items such as clothing, groceries, CDs, magazines, stationery etc.

However, for those who believe in long-term re-usable bags, they can be made from extended-life oxo-biodegradable plastic and will last for five or more years.

I disagree that long-term use reusable bags are not the answer. And the comment about reusable bags not being hygienic is just plain ridiculous. We are so germ-phobic that we can't have our produce touch material that's been previously used? Do we not realize that fruits and vegetables are plants that grow in dirt fertilized by manure?

I believe that reusable bags should be the number one alternative for carrying home purchases and perhaps some type of degradable bag could be a distant second for those who forget to bring their bags to the store and are willing to pay for a disposable one. I think we ought to be charging fees for one-time use bags and containers in the first place, which would help to remind folks to bring their bags with them.

What do you think?
 

Two very different Hawaii trips

This weekend, Anna C. of the blog BYOTalk and I will both be in Hawaii. I'll be in Waikiki kicking back for a few days visiting my parents and getting my blowdryer fixed. No big deal. I'll continue to blog while I'm away, and I'll be back on Tuesday.

Anna, on the other hand, will be joining the crew of the Alguita oceanographic research vessel in Hilo for a month-long trip to the North Pacific Gyre to study marine debris concentrations. This is the area of the "Pacific Garbage Patch," which I'm sure most of you have heard about by now. (If not, please read the article, Plastic Ocean.)

This will be the 8th voyage for the Alguita, and this time the crew plans to "venture further west than ever before, investigating possible concentrations North of Hawaii, and just East of the International Date Line. It may be that the areas of the North Pacific Gyre with the highest concentrations of marine debris have yet to be seen or studied."

That quote was taken from the expedition's blog, http://orvalguita.blogspot.com, which will be updated with posts and images during the coming month. I've posted a link to it on my sidebar, and I encourage those who are interested to track the progress of this voyage to find out just what plastic is doing to our oceans.

I have to admit, I'm really envious of Anna and the crew. I'd love to be going out there to see for myself. But in a phone conversation a few days ago, Anna told me that the seas are predicted to be very rough and the trip challenging. I'll look forward to experiencing the journey vicariously through the blog, and I hope you will too.
 

Week 29 Results: 2.6 oz. of plastic. Making a change.

This past Friday, I attended a planning meeting for Green Sangha's 2008 Rethinking Plastics campaign. At that meeting, one of the members showed us some video footage of what happens to the plastic recycling that we put into our curbside bins. I knew that most of our plastic was shipped to China, but until seeing this heartbreaking video, I didn't think much more about it. Please watch this short clip from Britain's Sky News and then see how you feel about recycling plastic:



(If the embedded video doesn't play in this window, or all you get is a commercial, try this link instead.)

Yes, this story focuses on Britain's plastic waste. But in the U.S., we also ship most of our plastic to China, causing health problems and pollution in our attempts to be "green."

Since I started this project, I have tallied all of my plastic waste, recycling those items that are accepted in Oakland, SF, or Daly City, and holding onto the rest. From now on, I'm going to hold onto ALL of it, recyclable or not. If plastic recycling is such a dirty business, we ought to be taking care of it here at home instead of shipping it off to poorer countries with lower environmental standards.

My new commitment to hold onto all my plastic is similar to that of a new blogger who is collecting and tallying his waste, Dave Chameides at 365daysoftrash.com. He has vowed not to throw ANYTHING away for a year but to tally it all and figure out what it is and what can be done with it. He says, "Any waste that I generate that can be recycled, will also be saved. Recycling is better than 'throwing away' but it still takes energy and creates waste so I think accounting for recycling will be an important factor." Perhaps the video above is another reason to hold onto all of it.

So, that said, here is the tally for this week, the first of 2008:



Non-recyclable items used this week but purchased before the plastic project began:

• 1 Safeway ice bag. This ice was sitting in our freezer for months and months, and we finally used it up chilling a bottle of New Year's Eve champagne.


• 1 cap from a bottle of Safeway rubbing alcohol. See below.

Recyclable plastic bought before the plastic project began (although as mentioned above, they will not be recycled):

• 1 bottle of Safeway rubbing alcohol (#2 plastic). Is it possible to find rubbing alcohol in glass or is it only available in plastic these days? And do we need it? The only thing I was using it for lately was in a homemade ant spray recipe. I could probably substitute vodka or grain alcohol. I can sterilize a needle for removing splinters with a match. My mom used to clean oral thermometers with alcohol, but I just use soap. Cuts and bruises can be cleaned with soap and water. Alcohol seems like a staple of home medicine cabinets, but do we actually need it?

New plastic waste.

• 2 Refresh Endura single-use eye drop containers (#4 plastic). Are my eyes getting better? I haven't been using as many containers of drops because I've just been lazy about putting them in at night. And so far, no traumatic cornea mornings. I'm just seeing how far I can press my luck, I think.


• 2 plastic ties and 1 plastic tag from a bamboo scratching post purchased for the kitties. More on this item in a post later this week.


• 1 plastic bag from inside a box of crackers. These were brought to our New Year's Eve party by a friend, and I ate some.


• 1 Wallace & Gromit cheese wrapper. Very cute. Also brought to the party by a friend. Of course I had some.


• 1 plastic cork from a bottle of Boissonneau Chateau Moulin de Ferrand Bordeaux Blanc. This was the last bottle!


• 1 cap from a glass bottle of Straus organic nonfat milk.

I want to welcome the new readers who have found their way over to Fake Plastic Fish from the 365 Days of Trash blog. I have a lot of exciting things to write about this week, including a trip to a landfill on Wednesday.
 

Target, Multi-Pure, my Cupboards, and the Perils of PVC

By now, many of you have heard that after a national campaign by the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ), Target has agreed to systematically reduce its use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic (aka vinyl) in products and packaging it carries in its stores. If you haven't heard this news, you can read the full press release here. Blogger LifeLessPlastic wrote a letter to Target to show her support for this action, and I have done the same. It's always a good idea to let companies know when we appreciate the things they do. Here's a link to Target's online contact form if you'd like to send your own message.

Coincidentally, I had my own little PVC panic this past week when I discovered that the tubing used in my new Multi-Pure counter top water filter system, which I bought in place of the Brita we had been using, is made from virgin PVC.


As I wrote on October 29, I was already somewhat disenchanted with Multi-Pure because of the volume of plastic bubble wrap in which the unit and filter cartridge were wrapped. But it wasn't until the unit was installed and working that I actually read the fine print and discovered the more serious problem of PVC used in the product itself.

When I called Multi-Pure to address this issue, I was told that the tubing had been tested by NSF and found not to leach anything harmful into the water. However, the rep was unable to confirm whether phthalates such as DEHP, the chemicals that are the biggest worry, were included in the list of possible contaminants for which to be tested. But regardless of whether or not this particular tubing is leaching anything harmful into my water, I decided to send the unit back anyway.

So what's the big deal about PVC? And if the tubing's been tested and found not to leach, why send it back? Here's a rundown of the problems of PVC:

1. PVC is the only major plastic that contains chlorine, so it is unique in the hazards it creates. During production, PVC plants can release dioxins which harm workers and community members who live nearby. According to pvcinformation.org, residents of Louisiana, which is home to half the PVC production facilities in the USA, have been shown to have much higher concentrations of dioxins in their blood than the average U.S. citizen.


2. The plasticizers used to make PVC soft contain carcinogenic phthalates which can leach from the plastic, especially when used in children's toys and other products that may find their way into children's mouths. In fact, many hospitals have replaced the PVC tubing and IV and blood bags they use with less toxic alternatives.


3. According to ecocycle.org, because so many different additives are used to make PVC, recycling the plastic is extremely difficult, and any PVC bottles (#3 plastic) that make it into the recycling stream can contaminate and ruin a whole load of #1 bottles.


4. When incinerated, PVC forms dioxins, a highly toxic group of chemicals that build up in the food chain. When landfilled, PVC poses significant long-term environmental threats as chemical additives can leach into groundwater.


5. Greenpeace says that in a house fire, fire-retardant PVC will smolder for long periods of time rather than burn, "giving off hydrogen chloride gas long before visible signs of fire appear. Hydrogen chloride gas is a corrosive, highly toxic gas that can cause skin burns and severe long-term respiratory damage." For this reason, the International Association of Firefighters supports alternative materials to replace PVC.


6. In fact, according to Greenpeace's hierarchy of plastics, PVC is the very worst, even worse than Styrofoam! For a more in-depth analysis of the problems associated with PVC, please read Greenpeace's article, "The Poison Plastic."

Whether or not the tubing in the Multi-Pure system actually leaches pthalates into my water, I don't want to support the production of a material that is so harmful to humans and the environment in general. So this morning, I shipped the Multi-Pure unit back to the company.

And then tonight, after reading that PVC cannot be recycled, and realizing that I had included several #3 Act fluoride rinse bottles in my recycling in the last few months, I went through my cupboards and refrigerator to see if there were any other PVC culprits still lurking in the house. Sure enough, I found four of them:


#3 PVC bottles look very similar to clear #1 PETE bottles. In fact, many manufacturers have switched to #1 plastic as an alternative to PVC. The only way to tell is to look at the number on the bottom of the container. #3 means PVC. Unfortunately, it's not so easy to tell when other, unlabelled products are made from PVC. These can include children's toys, shower curtains, window blinds, flooring, pipes, house siding, insulation, roofing membranes, protective pipes for electricity and telecom cables, casings for electronics, refrigerator gaskets, power cords, carpets, furniture, the inside of screw caps, shoes and boots, purses and luggage, raincoats, T-shirts with plastisole prints, packing tape, vinyl records, the covering on ring binders, strollers, garden furniture, tarps, car interiors, and more.

So, what do we do with PVC that we already have? The National Geographic Green Guide article, "How To Handle Vinyl," recommends either disposing of it at a hazardous waste facility or sending it back to the manufacturer and letting them know that PVC is an unacceptable material for them to be using. For the four items I found tonight, I think I'll go on a research mission and see if these products are still being sold in #3 bottles. (Act fluoride rinse, by the way, is now contained in #1 PETE.) If the bottles are no longer #3 plastic, I'll just toss these current containers into my hazardous waste bag for later. But if the products are still being sold in PVC bottles, I'll send these back to the manufacturers with a nice note.

Now once again, I am without a water filter. What to do? Well, how about something I should have done a long, long time ago: testing the water to see if we even need a water filter in the first place! Last week I purchased a Culligan water test kit at Ace Hardware and did some preliminary home tests. Turns out, our chlorine and chloramine levels are much lower than I expected! I mailed a water sample away this morning to be tested for lead. If that test comes back okay, I think we'll drink our water unfiltered and save a whole lot of money and plastic. Imagine drinking water straight from the faucet again, just like we did as kids. What a nice idea.
 

San Francisco Bay oil spill

By now, everyone has heard about the terrible oil spill in the San Francisco Bay last week. Friday, I stopped at the wharf on my way to the Green Festival, to see for myself. The smell was terrible. Like walking into a chemical factory, except it was outside! Oil floated on top of the water instead of ducks. And the boat that hit the Bay Bridge was still anchored out there like a bad dog tied to a stake. Here are a few of the photos I took on Friday:








And here's a little irony:


Those who would like to help with the cleanup can sign up at SFBaykeeper.org. Just one more reason that we need to discontinue our dependence on oil, including oil used to make plastics.
 

Broken CFLs: a Scary Halloween Story

Happy Halloween. After reading nearly twenty articles this past month on how to "green" your Halloween, Michael and I have decided to skip it altogether this year and opt for a nice Ethiopian dinner out with friends. That solves our problem of finding plastic-free Halloween treats to hand out. None. Of course, if you were hoping I'd post my solutions for a plastic-free Halloween, I've let us all down! Oh well... there's always next year. Feel free to post your own solutions to the Halloween greed-fest in the comments.

In the meantime, continuing with the global warming/energy conservation theme this week, and needing to provide a little Halloween scare, I thought I'd share some information I just discovered.

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we had bought a package of Phillips CFLs from Costco (in the days when we weren't being careful about plastic) and had such a hard time getting them out of the blister or clamshell or whatever the heck it's called, that a bulb broke while we were just trying to cut the pack open. Oh, great, we thought, knowing that CFLs contain come mercury but not knowing really what that means or what we should do about it.

We cleaned up the pieces as best we could, not taking any particular precautions besides trying not to touch the glass as much as possible. Now I find that we did everything wrong, according to the EPA. This is what we should have done, per instructions on the EPA's web site:

1. Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.


2. Carefully scoop up the fragments and powder with stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a sealed plastic bag.


3. Use disposable rubber gloves, if available (i.e., do not use bare hands). Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the plastic bag.


4. Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.


5. Place all cleanup materials in a second sealed plastic bag.


6. Place the first bag in a second sealed plastic bag and put it in the outdoor trash container or in another outdoor protected area for the next normal trash disposal. Note: Some states prohibit such trash disposal and require that broken and unbroken lamps be taken to a local recycling center.


7. Wash your hands after disposing of the bag.

If a fluorescent bulb breaks on a rug or carpet:

1. First, remove all materials you can without using a vacuum cleaner, following the steps above. Sticky tape (such as duct tape) can be used to pick up small pieces and powder.


2. If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken, remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister) and put the bag or vacuum debris in two sealed plastic bags in the outdoor trash or protected outdoor location for normal disposal.

Okay, so Michael and I are already dead. But you don't have to be. (Or are these precautions overkill?)

One commenter yesterday mentioned we could get CFLs in cardboard from Whole Foods. So that will be my mission this weekend: returning the rest of the Phillips bulbs to Costco and finding some that won't burst when we open the package.

P.S. If I'd planned ahead for Halloween, I might have sprung for College Farm Organic candies which are not only organic but come wrapped in compostable corn-starch-based wrappers.
 

Smart Strips are REALLY smart!

So, at the end of my gloomy post yesterday (yes, I was a little depressed) I said I'd write about some things we've done here at Chez Terry/Stoler to save energy. Most of it is either stuff you've probably heard a million times (use CFLs instead of incandescent bulbs, use a programmable thermostat, use cold water to wash clothes, open the drapes during the day and close them at night, turn off lights when leaving a room, turn off the computer at night and while out of the house.) Other measures are things I've already written about here: not owning a car and buying carbon offsets for the few times we travel by plane or Flexcar, buying very few new things in general and opting for products with the least packaging, buying as locally as possible to avoid transportation energy costs. Other things, like buying energy-saving appliances or renovating our house are not options for us because we rent.

Another energy-saving measure that I really like is an item that's, ironically, made of plastic. Its the Smart Strip power strip from Bits Ltd.

The strip works for combinations of electronics that work together, like a computer system, or an entertainment system. You choose one electronic component as the Control and plug it into the blue Control outlet. Then, you plug other components that are useless if the control is off into the white Automatically Switched outlets. And finally, electronics that always need to be ready are plugged into the red Constant Hot outlets.

Here's how I've done it in my living room. My combo receiver/DVD/CD player is the Control because without it on, I have no sound for the system, so nothing else needs to be on if that one is off. Then, my TV, VCR, turntable, and iPod dock are plugged into the Auto-Switch outlets. When I turn off the power button on the remote of my receiver/DVD/CD player, the power is cut to that and all the other components in the Auto-Switch outlets. And when I say cut, I mean like unplugging them all from the wall. When I press the power button on, the receiver/DVD/CD player turns on and power flows to the other components making them available to be used, but not actually turning them on.

Yes, we do have a lot of electronic equipment, I'm realizing as I write this list. And yes, it's aaaaallllll plastic. But it's plastic we bought before we became aware of plastic, and now that we have the Smart Strip, it's plastic that's rarely on. I pretty much watch movies and play the stereo on weekends, being way too busy during the rest of the week learning about plastic!

Anyway, after plugging in those components, I plug my lamp, my cable amplifier (because the cable is split and also comes into my computer), and my headphone charger into the Constant Hot outlets because I want them to be able to operate even if the rest of the system is off. The Smart Strip is easier than a regular power strip because you don't have to remember to flip the switch. When you turn off the control device, everything else that needs to be off turns off too.

I also use a second Smart Strip for my computer system. This time, my monitor is plugged into the blue Control outlet. Why not the computer? Because if I leave the room for a few minutes, I want to be able to turn off the monitor and all the peripherals without having to turn off the computer completely. (It'll go into Power Save mode on its own after a few minutes.) So I operate the computer separately. Anyway, the printer, speakers, and any other peripherals are plugged into the Auto-Switch outlets. My desk lamp is plugged into Constant Hot. When I leave the room, I turn off my monitor, and all the other peripherals shut down as well. When I leave the house or go to bed, I shut down the computer and turn off the monitor, and everything turns off.

Okay, so about the plastic. Yes, the Smart Strip is made from it. But one thing you can do to somewhat lessen the impact is to buy refurbished Smart Strips. Bits Ltd does repair and recycle any that they receive back. I had to wait a few weeks for mine because they didn't have any in stock when I first called. The refurbished units cost less, but they seem to work just as well as new ones. I have been using mine for a couple of months now with no problems.

When ordering, I included a note to the company to please ship with no plastic or Styrofoam, and the strips arrived without any packaging at all except for the cardboard boxes they came in. I don't know if there would have been packaging if I hadn't asked.

So that's my tip for this week that will culminate in the National Day of Climate Action on Saturday. And now I need your help.

What company makes CFLs that are not packaged in plastic? I know we can't avoid the plastic in the body of the CFL itself. But I'd like not to have to deal with a crazy plastic nearly impossible to open blister pack again. Suggestions?
 

Why I don't talk about global warming

Nearly every "green" blog and web site these days focuses on global warming. And it seems like many of them focus on it to the exclusion of all other environmental issues. In fact, a few days ago, I read something that made me feel really sad. Alan Morton wrote in an article on the blog, Big Green Challenge:

George Marshall of COIN wrote a provocative piece about whether re-using plastic bags and other small actions are helpful when it comes to doing something meaningful about climate change.

See Guardian and his blog.

Now he is right to point out that re-using bags has a very small effect on overall carbon use. He acknowledges that there may be other benefits – a few turtles won’t die as a result of confusing plastic bags in the sea for jellyfish.

So can we consign the idea of re-using bags and similar “simple tips” to the recycling bin? And chastise the Government and anyone else who promote them for diverting us from the serious business of responding effectively to climate change.

Or is there more to it?

Yes, there is more to it. And not only in the way that he thinks (which is that if people get used to doing these "small" gestures, they'll be more likely to step up to the bigger ones eventually.) While that might be true, it makes me sad that for so many people nowadays, the only reason to care about the plastic we consume and the waste we generate is to combat global warming. And that "a few turtles" are not enough reason to give a crap.

Environmentalists have been warning of the dangers of plastics for years, long before Global Warming was on the tip of everyone's tongue. Plastic is made from oil, oil which pollutes and for which we fight wars. It is consumed by millions of marine animals, some of which are turtles. It is entering our food chain at the bottom rung. In fact, an article on the Ethical Corporation web site quotes Neil Seldman, a waste recycling expert and president of the Institute for Local Self Reliance, as saying, "Plastic is a bigger danger than global warming, or at least it is in the immediate sense, considering it is snuffing out the lowest common denominator in the food chain." Plastics contain toxic chemicals that can leach into our food. And yes, plastic in landfills emits greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

I'm not minimizing the problem of global warming. And I guess I'm thankful that something is getting people to evaluate their purchasing and consumption habits. But with so many articles written on the subject, debates about it, and conflicting plans for how to deal with it, I guess I haven't felt like I had much to add. Until this week.

Saturday, November 3rd, is a National Day of Climate Action. Step It Up (www.stepitup2007.org) is organizing rallies all over the country and inviting our elected leaders and presidential candidates to show up and let us know what they plan to do to help reverse the global warming trend. I've decided to attend the rally in Oakland's Jack London Square and I encourage anyone else who has the time to go to the web site and find a rally near you.

Tomorrow, I'll write about a few things we have done in our household to save energy, thereby cutting our personal emissions. At the same time, I want to emphasize that reducing our plastic consumption is about more than a single issue. It's about how we live on this earth and treat the other creatures, human and otherwise, that share it with us. It's about realizing we are all interconnected and that when we pollute the beaches with oil or fill the oceans up with plastic, we not only hurt a few turtles and birds, we hurt ourselves.
 

First Flush

It's raining tonight. I know I was going to write more about my trip to the transfer center, but it's raining tonight. Finally. The water is coming down in sheets and our poor thirsty plants are in shock, as are we. I was going to write about something else, but all I can think about is the rain.

Our first big rain of the season is called "first-flush" because the water washes all the debris and pollutants from the land down the storm drains and into the Bay and finally the sea. I don't know if tonight is our official first-flush, but walking home I saw rivers of water rushing along the curbs and falling into the drains. And there I was in the dark trying to untangle plastic from the grates before it was swept down.

This is the night of reckoning. During the dry days, plastic bottle caps and lighters and straws and plastic bags are merely theoretical threats to marine life. On a night like this, they become real. Tomorrow our streets will look sparkling new. We won't see the brown water flowing beneath them or the damage we've caused by our carelessness. Unless we choose to look.
 

Think Outside The Bottle: The World Water Challenge

Pretend you're walking down a street in Oakland, and I just handed you a flyer. This is what it says:

Corporate Accountability International's
Think Outside The Bottle Campaign
The World Water Challenge

Do you care about your right to water?

Join us in our campaign to ask mayor Dellums of Oakland to take a public stand in favor of our municipal water systems and to cancel all of his bottled water contracts by December 2007.

Wednesday, October 3rd
7:30pm
Malonga Casquelord Center for the Arts (Formerly Alice Arts Center)
1428 Alice Street, Oakland, CA 94612
Refreshments Provided.

Please RSVP Rachael rgooyder@greencorps.org or call (510) 809-7353

So will you come?

Here's the background. At the end of Loni Hancock's Forum On The Health Of San Francisco Bay last Thursday, I met Rachael Goodyer of Corporate Accountability International, a group organizing citizens to press mayors across the country to cancel their cities' bottled water contracts. A few months ago, Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco did just that.

In Executive Directive 07-05 on June 21, 2007, Mayor Newsom wrote:

Data suggests that the environmental impact of the bottled water industry has been profound.

According to the Container Recycling Institute, supplying the plastic water bottles that American consumers purchase in one year requires more than 47 million gallons of oil, the equivalent of one billion pounds of carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere.

More than one billion plastic water bottles end up in California’s landfills each year, taking 1000 years to biodegrade and leaking toxic additives such as phthalates into the groundwater.

Additionally, water diverted from local aquifers for the bottled water industry can strain surrounding ecosystems.

Furthermore, transporting bottled water by boat, truck and train involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels.

All of this waste and pollution is generated by a product that by objective standards is often inferior to the quality of San Francisco’s pristine tap water.

In addition to its concern about the environmental impact of water bottles, Corporate Accountability International looks at bottled water vs. tap water as a human rights issue. Money is diverted to bottled water corporations such as Coke, Pepsi, and Nestle, that should be spent on the public water infrastructures to ensure that all citizens have the benefits of free, clean drinking water.

I have joined this campaign here in Oakland, and urge any other Oakland readers to join up as well. If you have some time to volunteer, great! Please contact me or Rachael to find out what you can do to help. And if you only have enough time to sign the pledge, that's great too. We need your voices to be heard.

If you don't live in Oakland, you might still be able to participate! This campaign is being waged in 7 major cities at the same time:

Austin * Baltimore * Boston * Chicago * Minneapolis * Oakland * Portland

If you live in any of those areas and would like to find out what you can do to help, please let me know. I have contact information for the organizers in those cities.

Our own personal actions are a great start. But getting the support of our leaders on these issues is the only way we can ultimately change the system. Please help.

Don't make me bribe you with chocolate!

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And now for today's update on the Trash Challenge.

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Mixed Messages: Assemblywoman Hancock's Forum on the Health of San Francisco Bay

Last night, I attended a public meeting called "Troubled Waters: A Forum on the Health of the San Francisco Bay." Along with Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, who presented the forum, the panel consisted of Harold Gilliam, a journalist; David Lewis, the executive director of Save The Bay; Shin-Roei Lee, chief of the SF Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board's South Bay division; and Dejal Choksi, staff attorney for Baykeeper. They presented information about sources of pollution in the bay, the largest of which is urban runoff, which brings huge quantities of wildlife-harming plastic trash, motor oil, pesticides, and other contaminants into our waterways. A Water Board pilot study found an average of three pieces of trash along every foot of Bay Area streams.

While I appreciated the thought that went into presenting these speakers to us, I was more struck by the irony of what I saw when I first stepped through the auditorium door. Knowing it was dinnertime, the organizers had been kind enough to provide snacks: individual plastic-wrapped granola bars! Several speakers mentioned that plastic wrappers are some of the worst trash entering the bay. Did no one notice the plastic wrappers just a few feet away?

What does it take to change behaviors when even the people who are trying to do good can't see some of their own contributions to the plastic mess that we're in? Perhaps one thing it takes is someone noticing and speaking up. So I filled out a question card, politely thanking the assemblywoman for the forum and the snacks and asking how we can address the source of plastic waste when the organizers themselves were sending mixed messages by providing plastic waste at this very forum.

Unfortunately, my question was never read. Neither were the questions of many other audience members. The forum was 2-1/2 hours long. Of that, only 50 minutes were allocated for questions, and of that 50 minutes, only about 25 were actually spent on the questions because Assemblywoman Hancock decided to change the agenda and have representatives from each of the non-profits tabling at the event come up and speak to us. There were a lot of words addressed to us but not a lot of listening going on.

So, me being me once again, I sent her this e-mail tonight:

Dear Assemblywoman Hancock,

I want to thank you for last night's meeting, Troubled Waters: A Forum on the Health of the San Francisco Bay, and also give you some feedback on the event.

I appreciated the panel and the non-profit organizations tabling at the event. A lot of good information was given out. However, I wish there had been more time for questions. I wish that instead of having the representatives from the non-profits come up and speak to us, you would have stuck with the agenda, as there were many more questions than time allowed as it was.

Many people who come to an event like this already understand what a lot of the problems are, and they want answers to their specific questions. I kind of felt like we were "talked at" rather than listened to last night. I know this is not what you intended. But perhaps next time you could organize a more interactive forum in which your constituents' concerns could be given more weight.

Additionally, I was surprised when I entered the auditorium to find a table full of granola bars that were individually wrapped in plastic. While I appreciated that refreshments were provided, I couldn't help feeling that there were mixed messages being sent. Plastic wrappers were mentioned by several panelists as causing problems for wildlife in the bay. Yet, just a few feet away was a table full of them.

I am personally working very hard to reduce the plastic waste that I generate, and I'd like to see some support from our representatives for measures to curb this kind of waste at the source. But first, I'd like to see my representatives set the example for the rest of us by eliminating wasteful packaging and bottles from their own offices and events as Mayor Newsom has done in San Francisco.

I look forward to your response to these comments. Once again, I do thank you for putting on last night's event.

Elizabeth Terry
http://www.fakeplasticfish.com

There I go again, being a little sh*t disturber. Wait'l tomorrow, when I tell you what I did tonight!

Oh, and I created a separate page to keep track of the Trash Challenge. Tomorrow, I'll update it with the results from today.
 

A Special Message from the Polar Bear Community

While Beth is taking another night off from blogging in order to get some much-needed and well-deserved sleep, we bring you A Special Message from the Polar Bear Community:

Hey Humans:

Our habitat is shrinking due to global warming. If current trends continue, TWO-THIRDS of our population will be driven out of existence.

On top of that, this past week saw the publication of a report about how the Canadians are asserting THEIR claims to the Arctic. Not to mention the Americans, the Norwegians, the Danes ... (Much as we like the Canadians, being nice people who generally don't invade anyone and have those cool Tim Horton's restaurants, we feel that the best claim to the Arctic is OURS.)

We think the governments of these countries are actually excited that the polar ice is shrinking because that will make it easier to send ships up here to look for resources.

Oh, did we mention what these resources are?

Yup.

Oil and gas.

Of course.

And what's one of the reasons you humans need so much oil and gas? What do you spend 2 million barrels a day of oil to make?

Yup.

Plastic.

So.

Here's the deal: if things keep up the way they've been going, the only polar bears left will be we stuffed ones (and terrible people dressed up as them.) In other words, fake plastic bears.

Oh, and maybe a few in the zoo, lying around without much to do in an environment that bears -- excuse me, has -- very little resemblance to our natural Arctic habitat.

Now, maybe you don't think losing two-thirds of your species is such a bad thing. Alan Weisman, in his new bestselling book, The World Without Us, speculates that maybe a human population of about 1.6 billion, down from the current 6 billion plus, might be sustainable for the planet. It wouldn't be that hard; you guys could stop having so many kids. We certainly wouldn't mind having a lot fewer people around, since we don't really eat you human beings. But that's up to you. And our population is up to us. So, stop using so much plastic. This will cut the demand for oil. And then there will be less economic motive to destroy our Arctic habitat.

We're not saying this would solve everything, but it would certainly help. And then we can get back to being

Yours very truly,

The Largest Land Carnivores in the World, the Acme Predators, the Furry, the Cute,

The Polar Bears

---

A note from Beth:

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..............

Woman drinks wine, unwittingly threatens endangered animals

I love wine. I really do. And I've drunk a fair amount of it during the weeks since I started my plastic project. But it wasn't until I read this article a couple of days ago that it occurred to me that some of the wine corks I've pulled have been made of plastic! And those plastic corks didn't even make it into my weekly tallies. Good lord, was I drunk or something??? How could I have missed them?

Fortunately, I like to save my wine stoppers, so I was able to pull out my collection and count them up. For the record, there are 31 cork stoppers and 11 plastic stoppers: 26% plastic!

So why are plastic corks, in addition to all the usual plastic problems, threatening endangered animals? Because they compete with natural Mediterranean cork forests, which not only provide humans with stoppers for their various libations, but also provide unique habitat for some of the world's more unusual creatures, such as the Iberian Imperial Eagle, the Barbary Deer, and Iberian Lynx, which according to Wikipedia, "is the world's most threatened species of cat."

You can read more about the Mediterranean cork forests and WWF's campaign to save them, as well as watch a beautiful video showing how cork is harvested and the people and animals whose lives depend on it.

Also for the record, the Boissonneau Chateau Moulin de Ferrand Bordeaux Blanc, of which I just bought a whole case, is delicious... and has plastic stoppers. Well, they'll be in my weekly tally until they're gone, and then I'll find a plastic-free crisp white wine to enjoy. Any suggestions? (Not crazy for chardonnay.)
 

Eco-Running: leaving the route better than you found it.

26-year old Samuel Huber started what he calls "eco-running" as a way to help the world while out doing his favorite thing, running. On his eco-runs, he carries a few small garbage bags and picks up litter all along the route. Recently, he has made the switch to biodegradable, compostable BioBags. Check out his web site and mention of BioBags and this blog, Fake Plastic Fish, at http://eco-runner.blogspot.com. I want to not only commend him for his efforts but join in the eco-running movement he's trying to start.

So, this morning, BioBag in hand and latex gloved, I did a 30-minute eco-run towards Berkeley and back. My bag was full within the first 12 minutes, and I found I needed to stop picking up big things and concentrate on the items that, if washed down a storm drain, could end up inside the bellies of marine animals: bottle caps, small toys, a comb, a pacifier, plastic bags, even a rubber glove.

Stopping to pick up garbage slowed me down a bit (my average pace was 11:20/mile) and actually got me out of competition mode, the mode I tend to be in while recording my stats with the Nike+ iPod. You know, I'll bet running would be a lot more fun if I gave up the Nike+. But I don't know. The accountant in me wants all numbers all the time! (What, you couldn't tell that from my weekly plastic tally?) Chi Running's Danny Dreyer recommends leaving the watch at home. Maybe I'll try it once a week on my eco-runs.

And yes, if you're wondering, it was a little weird passing people as I ran carrying a garbage bag and wearing a latex glove. But at this point in life, I'm pretty much over caring about how I seem to other people. (Actually, I think I stopped caring by the end of high school, but that's a story for another day and another blog.)

Speaking of latex gloves, does anyone know whether modern latex gloves are made from natural rubber or some kind of petroleum-based synthetic? According to this web site, they are made from rubber. But are all of them? (Here's a cool video about how latex is made.)

So, what to do with all the trash I collected? My plan is to retrieve the hard plastic bottle caps and other pieces of plastic, wash them off, and add them to my collection. I have this idea that I'll use them in some kind of weird art creature thing some day. Then, any recyclable items will go in their proper recycling bins, and I'll tie up the bag around the rest and put it in the garbage can. I may be saving 100% of my own plastic waste, but I'm not about to start hording other people's.

Is your water cooler messing with your hormones?

Check your plastic water cooler bottle. If you see a 7 inside the chasing arrows recycling symbol, your cooler could be leaching chemicals that disrupt hormones and possibly cause cancer. (This is the kind of cooler we have where I work. I think I'm going to start drinking tap water.) Read the following article published 3 days ago:

Scientists issue warning about chemical in plastic
By Marla Cone, Times Staff Writer
6:49 PM PDT, August 2, 2007

In an unusual effort targeting a single chemical, several dozen scientists on Thursday issued a strongly worded consensus statement warning that an estrogen-like compound in plastic is likely to be causing an array of serious reproductive disorders in people.

The compound, bisphenol A or BPA, is one of the highest-volume chemicals in the world and has found its way into the bodies of most human beings.

Used to make hard plastic, BPA can seep from beverage containers and other materials. It is used in all polycarbonate plastic baby bottles, as well as other rigid plastic items, including large water cooler containers, sports bottles and microwave oven dishes, along with canned food liners and some dental sealants for children. Read the rest of the article here.

And as if on cue, the No Impact Man has an EXCELLENT article on his web site summarizing the 3 different hormone disrupters found in plastics (including BPA) and the products that contain them, with links to outside resources. Check it out.
 

Plastic is made from oil. You knew that, right?

According to a nationwide online survey conducted in April of this year, 72 percent of the American public does not know that conventional plastic is made from petroleum products, primarily oil. This study was a joint venture between Metabolix, Inc, a bioscience company and Archer Daniels Midland, one of our biggest agribusinesses. They have joined to develop plastics made from corn sugar.

Now let me be clear: I am NOT, I repeat NOT, promoting ADM's corn products. Read Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma to understand all the problems of the mainstream corn industry. But it is interesting to me to know that most people don't understand some of the reasons why plastics are a problem. So, from start to finish, I'll list all the reasons that I can think of:

1) Plastic comes from petroleum. According to the ADM press release, about 10% of U.S. oil consumption is used to make plastics. And as we know, oil is a resource that is running out. In the next few years, if we don't find alternatives to oil voluntarily, we'll be forced to do so. In the meantime, the U.S. has 2% of the world's oil reserves, yet uses 25%. This is why we fight wars. Because other countries have the precious oil that we want. Perhaps if we found alternatives to oil, we wouldn't need to extract it from other people's back yards.

2) Petroleum extraction and shipment is a dirty business. According to the NRDC, each year, the oil industry spills tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil and other hazardous materials on the North Slope of Alaska. Oil operations also pollute the air with toxic emissions and poison the water and wetlands. Tanker spills are legendary, but we don't often think about the pollution that goes on every day from oil drilling.

3) Before becoming plastic products that we can use, the petroleum is made into tiny raw plastic pellets, called "nurdles." These tiny nurdles are shipped in containers all over the world to factories, where they will be processed into products. But before the nurdles reach their destination, many of them blow off the ships and into the ocean, where they are fatally swallowed by birds and fish. (Read more here.) Additionally, the nurdles are accumulators of hydrophobic pollutants – things like DDE and PCB. These can be up to one million times more concentrated on the surface of these pellets than they are in the ambient sea water, according to a recent Japanese study. In short, these plastic pellets not only kill the birds and fish that eat them, they are also a source of poisons in our food.

4) The nurdles are melted down and formed into all kinds of products for us to use. Some of these objects seem to be benign, but others have been found to be harmful. 2 kinds of plastic in particular are of concern: PVC (polyvinyl chloride, #3 plastic), which is used for cling wrap, some plastic squeeze bottles, cooking oil and peanut butter jars, detergent and window cleaner bottles, poses risks to the environment and to humans. And polycarbonate (#7 plastic), which is used in most plastic baby bottles, 5-gallon water bottles, “sport” water bottles, metal food can liners, clear plastic “sippy” cups and some clear plastic cutlery has recently been found to leach Bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical that mimics the action of the human hormone estrogen and has been linked to several cancers and genetic damage in infants. (Read more here.)

5) And there are further dangers to sea animals. Like nurdles, bottle caps are small pieces of plastic. And bottles caps are not recycled! Every bottle collection program I've seen requires the caps to be removed. So what happens to them? Many of them end up in the ocean, where albatross mothers feed them to their young, who die shortly thereafter. (Read more.) But the dangers to sea animals is not just from tiny pieces of plastic; plastic bags and wrappers are also hazardous. Floating in the ocean, they can look like jelly fish to creatures, like leatherback turtles, who feast on them. The plastic blocks the turtle's digestive tract and leads to starvation. (Read more.)

6) And the really worrisome thing about plastic is that it doesn't go away. According to ADM's survey, 40% of respondents don't know that petroleum-based plastic does not biodegrade. They think it will decompose underground, in home compost, in landfills, or in the ocean. But petro-plastics will not biodegrade in any of these environments. They are, however, photodegradable, which means that if they're exposed to light, they will degrade into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic that are not only swallowed by marine creatures, but become embedded in the zooplankton, the very bottom of the food chain, and thereby poison our food with toxins. For a very clear explanation of this problem, click the arrow to play the video on the left. Or read a transcript here.

Scientists are unclear as to how long it could take plastic to finally degrade, but they do know that all the plastic that has ever been created is still with us today. And the more plastic we produce, the bigger the problem of plastic waste will become.

Now, do I think that plastic is the biggest environmental problem in the world? No. Because I have no idea what our biggest problem is, if problems can even be ranked that way. What I do know is that plastic is something that I can handle. I don't own a car, so I can't cut down my driving to save petroleum. I don't own a house, so I can't remodel to make my home more energy efficient. But I am a consumer. And I can control what products I choose to buy. And I can be an example and share through this blog the discoveries that I make. So that's what I'm doing!

 

Danger feared from chemicals getting into bay

From yesterday's SF Gate:

Danger feared from chemicals getting into bay
by Jane Kay, Chronicle Environment Writer

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Chemicals found in household products like antibacterial soap and plastic bottles are found in sewage water that is discharged into San Francisco Bay, posing a threat to wildlife and humans, according to new data.

Sophisticated sewage systems treat biodegradable food, human waste and metals, but they are not designed to capture the thousands of tons of synthetic chemicals used to manufacture consumer products, say officials at the East Bay Municipal Utility District, who found evidence of potentially harmful substances in sewage from businesses and homes.

Chemical ingredients are leaching out of toothpaste, deodorant, canned food liners and vinyl and polycarbonate plastics. They pass through the municipal sewage plants virtually untreated, the experts say.

[...Click the link above to read the rest of the article. It concludes with the following list of problem products:]

Problem Products
-- Perfumes and beauty products labeled "fragrance."

-- PVC/vinyl flexible plastic in food wraps, toys and shower curtains.

-- "Antibacterial" detergents and hand soap with triclosan.

-- Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) in nail polish.

-- Hard, clear polycarbonate plastic baby bottles and water bottles.

-- Canned food containing solid colored liners.

-- Plastic pet products, including toys and some water dishes.

-- Foam shoe insoles.

Source: Environmental Working Group

E-mail Jane Kay at jkay@sfchronicle.com.

A Quiz

True or False:

1) Plastics that go into a curbside recycling bin always get recycled.

2) Curbside collection will reduce the amount of plastic landfilled.

3) A chasing arrows symbol means a plastic container is recyclable.

4) Packaging resins are made from petroleum refineries’ waste.

5) Plastics recyclers pay to promote plastics’ recyclability.

6) Using plastic containers conserves energy.

7) Our choice is limited to recycling or wasting.

According to the article, "7 Misconceptions about Plastic and Plastic Recycling" on Berkeley's Ecology Center web site, the answer to all 7 questions is FALSE.

How did you do? If you answered "Yes" to any of these questions, please read the full article to understand the difficult problems that plastics create. Solving them is more complicated than you might think.
 

Five Things that Are Worse than Global Warming

As Live Earth, a huge world-wide concert to bring awareness to the problem of global warming, takes place today, a writer on Lighter Footstep addresses 5 other issues that are just as if not more urgent. The one that is most relevant to Fake Plastic Fish is the issue of Peak Oil and how we've got to find alternatives to petroleum, not just for our cars but for all the many plastic products we take for granted. (Of course this issue is not unrelated to global warming, is it?)

read more | digg story

It's official: Oakland bans plastic bags

Good news reported in yesterday's Oakland Tribune:

The Oakland City Council Tuesday banned petroleum-based nonbiodegradable shopping bags in an effort to reduce the amount of waste Oakland sends to landfills and prevent the plastic bags from polluting the environment.

The ban would apply to stores with gross annual sales of more than $1million, which would include all supermarkets and chain drug stores.

However, the measure would not apply to restaurants or fast food eateries.

"It's a good first small step," said Councilmember Patricia Kernighan (Grand Lake-Chinatown). "It's not going to solve all of the problems in the world."

The new law does not apply to the sacks provided by grocery stores to bag fresh fruit and vegetables or meat, only those bags shoppers get at the check stand.

So, this ban does not address the problem of all the plastic bags used for bulk foods at stores like Berkeley Bowl. I'll have a report on Berkeley Bowl soon.
 

Uganda bans plastic bags, promotes banana leaves

Sun 1 Jul 2007, 13:24 GMT

KAMPALA, July 1 (Reuters) - A ban on plastic bags in Uganda took effect on Sunday to cut down the stinking piles of rubbish that litter its dusty capital and other urban areas, breeding germs and poisoning water supplies.

Officials want Ugandans to instead use banana leaves, the traditional material for carrying goods.

Uganda's ban followed a similar one on Tanzania's Zanzibar islands last year. There have also been moves in both Kenya and mainland Tanzania to raise duties on plastic bags, which dot Africa's urban and rural landscapes with depressing regularity.

Ugandan Finance Minister Ezra Suruma announced the ban on "buveera" -- polythene bags in the local Luganda dialect -- during his budget speech last month in the east African nation.

"Due to serious environmental concerns and the difficulties in the disposal of polythene bags and plastic containers, action was required in order to encourage producers and consumers to minimise (their use)," he said.

Environmentalists say discarded bags, which pile up on roadsides and unused land, spread disease and hurt wildlife.

In Uganda, the only exception is the scavenging Marabou storks who thrive on the bags.

Rubbish often ends up in wetlands surrounding Lake Victoria, where it pollutes water supplies. Sometimes it is burnt, releasing toxic chemicals into the air.

Most of Uganda's cities lack the resources to properly dispose of more than 10 percent of the trash they produce.

Under the new rules, companies are forbidden from producing, importing or using plastic bags. But it is unlikely individuals will be punished for using existing ones.

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved

Plastic Bag Ban in Oakland? Letter to Jane Brunner

From the San Francisco Chronicle, June 27, 2007:

A measure to ban plastic bags from grocery stores and other large retailers in Oakland was unanimously passed by a key City Council committee Tuesday.

The measure, which is very similar to a ban adopted in San Francisco, will be sent on to the full council next week and if approved will take effect in August.

I'm not just keeping my fingers crossed. Here's my letter to my city councilmember, Jane Brunner today:

Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2007 14:46:11 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Beth Terry"
Subject: plastic recycling in Oakland
To: "Jane Brunner"

Dear Councilmember Brunner,

I have 2 reasons for writing:

1) I read in the San Francisco Chronicle that on Tuesday an Oakland City Council committee unanimously passed a measure to ban plastic bags from grocery stores and other large retailers. The article says that the measure will be sent on to the full council next week and if approved will take effect in August.

Please VOTE FOR this measure. I am doing everything I personally can to reduce the amount of plastic waste I generate, but we need more than a few individuals like me bringing their canvas bags to the grocery store. It breaks my heart when I read about the damage that plastic bags are doing to our environment, in the oceans but even here at home in Lake Merritt.

2) I would like to know what Oakland is doing about curbside recycling of plastics other than bottles. Right now, San Francisco has curbside pickup of Plastic tubs and lids - (#2, #4 & #5). When will Oakland residents be able to put these items in our recycling bins?

Thanks in advance for your response. I look forward to hearing from you on these issues. And I look forward to meeting you at your annual Temescal picnic.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth G. Terry
[street address removed]
 

Beth's Plastic Project

6/20/2007: Inspired by EnviroWoman's blog, Living Plastic Free In 2007, and by the mountains of plastic waste that I lug into San Francisco to my friend Red's recycling bin (since Oakland has very limited plastic recycling), and since I have too much free time on my hands while recovering from surgery, I've decided to take on my own plastic project. I'm especially motivated by the following heartbreaking photo and article:



This is what happens to much of the plastic that we throw away each day. It ends up inside sea birds and fish and kills them. And makes sensitive chicks like me cry. Plastic Ocean

But I am not making a vow to give up all plastic this year or any year. My project will be a bit different from some of the more extreme "resolution" blogs out there. Instead, I'm looking at this as more of a learning experience... for me and for anyone who cares to follow this blog. I want to see what the possibilities are, for eliminating plastic waste, sure, but also for alternative uses for plastic that already exists, for ways of recycling and reusing, and for non-plastic substitutions.

The title of this blog is "Plastic Paradise," and yeah, it's meant to be ironic. But it's also meant to be playful. Plastic has its place. (See the pretty background on this page? Created from a photo of the plastic accumulated in my kitchen.) I don't think that plastic (or anything else that exists in this world for that matter) is inherently evil. I don't believe in evil. I think that humans have limited understanding of the way their actions affect the world around them and all we can do is learn what we can in order to live peacefully and minimize harm to the other creatures, human or otherwise, that share our world with us.

With that in mind, the first phase of this project will be, as they say in the legal world, Discovery. Discovering how much plastic I actually waste by recording and analyzing each week's accumulation (Think photos and spreadsheets. Oh joy!) And discovering what resources exist for reduction, re-use, and recycling. I'll be posting information that I gather, and I really hope that a good part of that info will come from comments from readers of this blog.

PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW!!!