Category: sustainable

Planet over Plastic

Happy Earth Day!

We all can make a difference by reducing our plastic footprint.

The theme for this year’s Earth Day is Planet VS Plastic. The hazards of plastic are great, and we all need to take steps to reduce the harmful effects of plastic pollution in our environment and bodies.

earth day

What will you do to help our warming planet?

Greenpeace has nothing to do with this post.

Things you should know about plastic:

  1. Plastic is made of fossil fuels and contains many toxic chemicals that are harmful to our health.
  2. These toxic chemicals leach into our food from plastic packaging.
  3. Plastics break down into microplastic. We each consume about a credit card of microplastic a week from our food and environment. These microfibers are found in our lungs, brains, blood and arteries.
  4. When plastic is recycled it becomes more toxic.
  5. 40% of plastic is single-use.
  6. The production of plastic continues to increase.
  7. If plastic were a country, it would be the 5th largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Much of plastic’s pollution affects minorities and people without power.
  8. Clothing with polyester and nylon contain plastic.
  9. The producers of plastic should be held responsible for the harm they create in the environment and our bodies.

By banning the worst forms of single-use plastic, holding plastic producers accountable for their waste, getting wasteful packaging off store shelves, and more — a future beyond plastic is possible.

Click to access EarthDay-2024-Toolkit-March-5th-Update.pdf


1. Sandra Laville, “Single-use plastics a serious climate change hazard, study warns,” The Guardian, May 15, 2019.
2. “What do plastics have to do with climate change?” United Nations Development Programme, November 15, 2022.
3. Oliver Milman, “‘Deluge of plastic waste’: US is world’s biggest plastic polluter,” The Guardian, December 1, 2021.
4. “We know plastic pollution is bad — but how exactly is it linked to climate change?,” World Economic Forum, January 19, 2022.
5. “We know plastic pollution is bad — but how exactly is it linked to climate change?,” World Economic Forum, January 19, 2022.
6. “Reducing plastic waste in the states” U.S. PIRG, July 26, 2022.
7. Celeste Meiffren-Swango, Jenn Engstrom and Mark Morgenstein, “Statement: Amazon to phase out single-use plastic shipping bags,” Environment America, July 19, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80Rya-ZOJ7g (microplastics)

Future generations deserve a safe and healthy future, free from the plastic waste crisis — and we can make it happen.

Donate to non-profits working to end plastic pollution:

This Earth Day, put our planet over plastic

https://www.bennington.edu/center-advancement-of-public-action/environment-and-public-action/beyond-plastics

Plastic Pollution Coalition

The Story of Stuff https://www.storyofstuff.org/

Ways to reduce your plastic use:

  • Always carry a reusable glass or metal water bottle, and reusable shopping bags with you.
  • Learn to refuse single-use plastics, such as plastic water bottles and coffee cups, straws, plastic bags and plastic utensils. 
  • Purchase fruit and produce in the bulk section, and don’t place items in plastic bags. 
  • Always search out products in glass jars instead of plastic containers. 
  • When you must buy plastic products, choose ones that you can recycle rather than ones you must put in the trash. 
  • Bring your own containers and shop the bulk section of your local food coop.
  • Purchase clothing made from cotton and wool instead of polyester or poly fibers. https://www.npr.org/2023/07/19/1188343293/is-toxic-fashion-making-us-sick-a-look-at-the-chemicals-lurking-in-our-clothes
  • Store food in glass containers instead of plastic.
  • Ditch the baggies!
https://apnews.com/article/earth-day-plastics-grocery-shopping-f112aadca284325bf0e8e5adfba65f40?link_id=1&can_id=57c1dbdb6797ae1751eeeda41c3f3dd1&source=email-last-day-to-double-your-impact-in-putting-planet-over-plastics&email_referrer=email_2285620___subject_2815507&email_subject=_last-day-to-double-your-impact-to-put-planet-over-plastics-firstname-commonize-default-friend

Tips to fight food waste

Waste less food: Food Waste Prevention Week is April 1-7

One trillion dollars of food is wasted yearly. We can all do better!

People are starving in Gaza, Sudan, Syria and other places in the world, let’s not waste food.

**Why is reducing food waste so important?

It saves Money

Wasting food is expensive. Every year, Americans lose more than $218 billion on wasted food. In Florida, the average family of four throws out around $1,600 worth of food annually. Households are responsible for the most wasted food. If we begin to reduce and prevent food waste, we can save that money that is wasted on spoiled food.

It reduces hunger in our communities

In the US, approximately 40% of all food grown and produced is never eaten. That’s a lot of food wasted that could go to people that don’t have access to food. 1 in 5 people lack consistent access to nutritious food, while up to 3 million tons of wasted food goes to landfills annually. Recovered food provides an additional source of nutritious food.

It protects the environment

Reducing food waste is the #1 personal action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while safeguarding critical natural resources. When food is wasted, it goes into a landfill. Once in a landfill, food waste breaks down and emits greenhouse gasses, including carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). Methane is 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide, making it more damaging to the environment. If we reduce food waste, we could save the environment from this damage.

What Can I Do?

At home
  • Save leftovers and store/freeze food in portion-ready containers
  • Cook only what is needed for that meal
  • Make one night a weekly “leftover” night to empty the refrigerator before shopping again
  • Audit what you throw away; it will influence your next shopping trip
  • Keep kitchen essentials on hand (grains, spices, sauces) that bring new life to old meals
  • Freeze ripe fruits and vegetables for baking, cooking and filling in gaps in recipes
  • Compost 
At the grocery store
  • Plan menus for the week and prepare a shopping list
  • Stick to your shopping list
  • Match your shopping to the reality of your week
  • Buy smaller quantities, if appropriate, to avoid spoilage and waste
  • Don’t shop hungry
  • Pay in cash so the amount your spending is tangible
  • If you bought items that you won’t use, donate them before the expiration date

​

At work
  • If you bring a lunch, bring only what you will eat
  • In the case of leftovers, save for the next day, if you have a work refrigerator
  • If you brought too much, share with others
  • If ordering takeout/delivery, save leftovers or share an order
  • Bring leftovers from dinner last night

Check out these resources to reduce food waste and spread the word with your community, https://stopfoodwaste.ecochallenge.org 

**This information is from the city of Minneapolis and Hennepin County

https://www.ecowatch.com/global-food-waste-un-report.html

Contribute to Peace

I’m for anything that is peaceful and kind. Get outside in March and please contribute peace to a Mindful March

Mindfulness helps us respond more wisely, especially in difficult times. So let’s pause, breathe and choose to live mindfully this month. By cultivating inner peace we can contribute to peace in the world around us too.

Look for beauty and live with awareness and kindness every day!

Plastic in our Food and Water

Many reasons to use a non-plastic reusable water bottle.

New studies on plastic start to emerge.

In a trailblazing new study, researchers have discovered bottled water sold in stores can contain 10 to 100 times more bits of plastic than previously estimated — nanoparticles so infinitesimally tiny they cannot be seen under a microscope.

Disposed plastic water bottles blanket a beach in New Taipei, Taiwan in 2022.

The plastic water bottle industry is booming. Here’s why that’s a huge problem

At 1,000th the average width of a human hair, nanoplastics are so teeny they can migrate through the tissues of the digestive tract or lungs into the bloodstream, distributing potentially harmful synthetic chemicals throughout the body and into cells, experts say.

One liter of water — the equivalent of two standard-size bottled waters — contained an average of 240,000 plastic particles from seven types of plastics, of which 90% were identified as nanoplastics and the rest were microplastics, according to the new study. https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/08/health/bottled-water-nanoplastics-study-wellness/index.html?utm_term=17051508781315d4f59f626ee&utm_source=cnn_Weekly+LBB+Automated&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=uul4Fxg9FZKZA30rzJn08%2BUBxjUR1MOAuPwj1fjq3OFfXysulwJVn0gwksla8rm%2B&bt_ts=1705150878134 Source CNN

And from Consumer Reports:

Another new report finds that 84 out of 85 supermarket foods and fast foods had plastic chemicals in them — including cereal, yogurt and even baby food.1

We shouldn’t be so nonchalant about harmful chemicals in the food we eat, and especially not in the food we serve to babies.

Tell the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Test for, limit and, wherever possible, eliminate plastic chemical contamination in food.

Among the chemicals found in the food were “plasticizers” like BPA, once found in so many plastic water bottles, and phthalates, a chemical used to make plastic more durable.

Companies have allowed these plasticizers into a dizzying range of food products. But they seem to have forgotten to ask themselves: Should we?

After all, chronic exposure to plasticizers can disrupt the production and regulation of estrogen and other hormones, and potentially increase the risk of birth defects, cancer, diabetes, infertility, neurodevelopmental disorders, obesity and other health problems.2

We can’t keep letting companies get away with this “ask for forgiveness, not permission” approach to harmful substances in our food.

Join PIRG in urging the FDA to help get plastic chemicals out of our food. Add your name

1. Jonathan Stempel, “Consumer Reports finds ‘widespread’ presence of plastics in food,” Reuters, January 4, 2024

Plastic and Human Health

I hope we can all start the year with hope for peace and joy and a healthier cleaner planet. Every action we take matters Our collective actions, can contribute to positive change and help us to feel we are making a difference, and we are!

If plastic were a country, it would be the fifth largest emitter of green house gases!

Easy ways you can reduce your plastic footprint:

  • Always carry a reusable glass or metal water bottle, and reusable shopping bags with you.
  • Learn to refuse single-use plastics, such as plastic water bottles and coffee cups, straws, plastic bags and plastic utensils. 
  • Purchase fruit and produce in the bulk section, and don’t place items in plastic bags. 
  • Always search out products in glass jars instead of plastic containers. 
  • When you must buy plastic products, choose ones that you can recycle rather than ones you must put in the trash. 
  • Bring your own containers and shop the bulk section of your local food coop.
  • Purchase clothing made from cotton and wool instead of polyester or poly fibers. https://www.npr.org/2023/07/19/1188343293/is-toxic-fashion-making-us-sick-a-look-at-the-chemicals-lurking-in-our-clothes
  • Store food in glass containers instead of plastic.
  • Ditch the baggies!

Why you should reduce your plastic exposure?

From Beyond Plastic:

file:///C:/Users/healt/Downloads/Plastics+and+Human+Health+Dec+2023.pdf

Over 98% of plastics are made from fossil carbons such as oil and gas. Turning these substances into plastics involves the addition of petrochemical additives – quite a lot of them. Over 13,000 chemicals are known to be involved in the production of plastic.
More than 2300 of these are “chemicals of concern.” Some are highly toxic, and
include carcinogens, neurotoxicants, and endocrine disruptors. These chemicals pose serious risks to human health because they can leach or migrate at every stage of plastics’ life cycle.

Food Packaging: When food or beverage is packaged in plastic, chemical
additives can leach into what we eat.

Microplastics: Plastics don’t biodegrade; they break up into smaller and
smaller pieces known as micro- and nanoplastics, which are so small that they
become caught up in the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we
eat. These pieces are present almost everywhere researchers have ever
looked, including inside the human body. Scientists have detected plastic
particles in human lung tissue, intestinal tissue, blood, breast milk, the muscle
of the heart, and both sides of the placenta – including inside fetuses and
newborn babies.


Cell damage: Plastic particles inside the body can irritate, inflame, and even
puncture cells. This is especially concerning in the intestine and lung, where
microplastics make direct contact with thin, sensitive tissue.


Chemical leaching: Microplastics never stop leaching their chemical contents.
Once they are inside the human body, they can act like tiny trojan horses,
spilling out chemical additives for as long as they are present.
Over 98% of plastics are made from fossil carbons such as oil and gas. Turning these substances into plastics involves the addition of petrochemical additives – quite a lot of them. Over 13,000 chemicals are known to be involved in the production of plastic.
More than 2300 of these are “chemicals of concern.” Some are highly toxic, and
include carcinogens, neurotoxicants, and endocrine disruptors. These chemicals pose serious risks to human health because they can leach or migrate at every stage of plastics’ life cycle.

Cancer: Many of the chemical additives in plastics are known to cause cancer.
Bisphenol A, phthalates, and polyvinyl chloride, for instance, are welldocumented carcinogens.


Endocrine Disruption: A great number of additives mimic hormones and
disrupt signaling throughout the body. They can scramble appetite cues and
metabolism, leading to obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart
disease. They can hijack reproductive signals, speeding puberty, lowering
sperm counts, and prompting infertility. Endocrine disruptors are also
associated with cancer – especially breast, prostate, and testicular cancers.
Neurological Effects: Endocrine disruption can disturb brain development,
leading to lower IQ, ADHD, and autism-spectrum disorders.
Go to http://www.beyondplastics.org and email us at beyondplastics@bennington.edu
to learn about the tools we have to reduce our exposure to harmful plastics and petrochemicals.
Besides limiting your own personal plastic use, what can be done?
Nearly half of all plastics manufactured today are single use items and
packaging. Legislation that reduces the production of these items and
mandates extended producer responsibility will go a long way toward
relieving health risks. It is vital that lawmakers regulate the chemical content
and toxicity of plastic. Many of the chemicals used to manufacture plastic are
unnecessary and can be banned and substituted with safer alternatives.
The brains and bodies of infants, fetuses, and small children undergo
exquisitely complicated and carefully timed changes. When these are
disrupted, the effects can be permanent – and profound. Infants and fetuses
also face risks of prematurity, stillbirth, low birth weight, birth defects of the
reproductive organs, impaired lung growth, and childhood cancer.

A Kinder World

Every action matters! As we start 2024 many of us think of ways to resolve to make things better for our families, our friends and for the world. Below is the Action for Happiness calendar for January. Maybe just choose one action you like and do it over and over. Kindness is like a ripple; it grows and grows. Take deep breaths, smile, listen, and enjoy! Good Luck

Less Waste for the Holidays

We are in a climate crisis, a waste crisis, and a plastic crisis. The last thing we need is for people to purchase more landfill junk. Everyone has a right to clean water and clean air. Buying less stuff, and producing less waste helps keep our water and air clean.

Purchase items of quality and things you really need this holiday. Also, become aware of the plastic that you send to the landfill.

Zero Waste is moving from our throw-away and overconsumption culture to a more sustainable way of reusing and refusing.

Food waste in landfills produces harmful methane gas.

The EPA reports that garbage increases 25% between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. Here are new ways to reduce your waste.

Zero Waste for the Holidays Webinar

Gifting with less waste

Buy less, give more  

Wrapping with less waste

Tell Amazon: It’s time to move beyond wasteful single-use plastic packaging 

Refurbished gifts

Fixed for the Holidays 

Tell Amazon: We need repair scores

Reduce food waste

How to reduce food waste and save money this holiday season 

Tell Congress: Pass this bill to combat the worst kind of food waste
Federal food donation protections info
Calculator to figure out how much food to serve
Leftover ideas

How Can You Reduce Holiday Waste?

Less Stuff, More Joy

Buy Nothing!
It isn’t hard to get caught up in the hectic holidays and craze of overconsumption. Shopping til you drop is not what this time of year is really about.

We have a worldwide trash crisis, and we don’t need to be purchasing more junk to end up in landfills or garbage burners. All this consumption contributes to our climate crisis, more air pollution and more water pollution. When you shop purchase quality items that will last, always bring your own reusable shopping bags, and reduce your plastic packaging.

health4earth

Bring your reusable bags and reduce your plastic packaging.

Below is from the Story of Stuff Team:

Black Friday is an annual heavily-advertised mega shopping day with the goal of convincing you to buy as much as possible. But every product you buy has an environmental and labor cost, from long before it hits store shelves to long after you toss it in the bin.

Shopping til you drop is not what this time of year is really about. This holiday season, we’re encouraging everyone to buy less, buy better or buy nothing. Let’s focus less on stuff and more on joy!

Handy tip: unsubscribe from brand emails to simplify your life. And use Catalog Choice to opt-out of junk mail and unwanted catalogs.

We want to get back to the original joy of the season. Here are some meaningful things we can spend our time and money on:

Do something you have been meaning to do for a long time, and have fun!

  • Go for a walk or read that book you’ve been meaning to start
  • Write personalized holiday messages for those closest to you
  • If you are buying gifts, shop secondhand or support small businesses
  • Invite loved ones over for a home-cooked meal and games
  • Try an experience: check out a new restaurant, movie or concert with friends
  • Donate to or volunteer for a cause you care about
  • Participate in a community exchange like your local Buy Nothing Group
  • Write a thank you note or a note of gratitude to someone.
  • Find beauty in your day.



Make Thanksgiving Plastic-Free

Six ideas to help you reduce your plastic this Thanksgiving from my friends at Beyond Plastic

1. Choose Scratch Over Store-Bought

Most store-bought dishes from supermarkets and restaurants will be packaged in plastic containers. To avoid the unnecessary plastic, focus on cooking from scratch. Ingredients like vegetables, flour, butter, and nuts can be commonly found in non-plastic packaging. For items like nuts and dried fruits, see if your local market, co-op or health food store has a bulk section and bring your own bags to fill up! When faced with a choice of packaging, choose glass or paper over plastic. If you’re looking for inspiration, see our (newly expanded) recipe suggestions below.

2. Shop Local

Shopping locally not only reduces your meal’s carbon footprint, but you can bring your own bags and containers and you’re less likely to encounter plastic packaging than at your grocery store. Small businesses also need our support more than ever during the pandemic. Give your community your thanks by supporting each other!

If you don’t have the time or inclination to make pumpkin, pecan, or apple pie from scratch, check your local bakery.  While you’re there, pick up the bread you’ll need to make your stuffing and bring it all home in your reusable bags. Visit your local farmers market to pick up potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, greens, and more. If your farmers market is closed for the season, many CSAs (community supported agriculture) also offer a special one-time Thanksgiving share of goodies to anyone, even if you’re not a subscriber. 

3. Use Sustainable Decor

Forget the dollar store, make the perfect fall decor for your table setting with things from your backyard and local farm stand. Pressed leaves and pumpkins make for great wall and table adornments! Check out some DIY ideas here. And don’t forget to get the kids involved!

4. Serve on Reusable Dishes & Dinnerware 

Plastic utensils and cups end up in landfills, incinerators, or waterways where they can pose a threat to wildlife. Set your table with a beautiful tablecloth, ceramic or metal plates, cups, serving platters, metal utensils (got a set of silverware from your parents or grandparents you can bust out?), and cloth napkins. This can also include glass pitchers or bottles for drinks. If your family enjoys seltzer, consider investing in a SodaStream or other carbonation machine (tip: choose the model that comes with glass bottles over plastic). If you have kids, assign them the task of polishing silver—they may find it deeply satisfying. Sticking to reusables only will not only reduce your waste but also save you money. Get family or friends to help wash anything delicate that can’t go in the dishwasher and toss all your cloth items in the washing machine afterwards. No muss, no fuss, and, more importantly, no WASTE.

5. Provide or Bring Reusable Containers for Leftovers

Going to family or friend’s home for dinner? Bring your own glass or metal containers to cart home some delicious leftovers. There are also some great beeswax-coated fabric wraps out there these days that can take the place of plastic wrap or tinfoil. If you are hosting the dinner, remind guests to bring reusable containers with them. If you have extras to spare (say from all those take-out containers you saved during COVID lockdown), you can offer them to guests who’ve forgotten to bring their own. If you haven’t yet invested in glass or metal containers, don’t let that stop you – just bring plastic tupperware or clean yogurt containers, etc., but make sure not to heat anything up in those containers later to avoid the chemical leaching that occurs when hot food comes into contact with plastic. If you do use aluminum foil, when you’re done, don’t forget to gently clean and dry it and save it to use again.

6. Compost!

Compost any scraps from cooking or leftovers that aren’t being saved, as well as any compostable decor you’ve put up or used on the table once you tire of it. Reminder, if your Thanksgiving dinner includes a turkey, make stock out of the carcass before you compost it—you can make an excellent, very flavorful turkey soup or freeze it for months. If you’re not sure what can and can’t be composted, check out this helpful list. If you don’t have a backyard compost, see if your city or town has a local composting system. If they don’t, look into how to start one. HINT: This could be a great project for a Beyond Plastics Local Group or Affiliate to take on.

RECIPE SUGGESTIONS (expanded for 2023!)

https://www.beyondplastics.org/holiday-guides/thanksgiving?link_id=8&can_id=57c1dbdb6797ae1751eeeda41c3f3dd1&source=email-photos-from-the-march-an-important-tribute-win-a-handsewn-quilt-urge-coke-to-do-better-more&email_referrer=email_2107168&email_subject=a-virtual-screening-victory-in-newton-ma-new-resources-for-spanish-speakers-more

No Plastic is Safe

From November 13 to November 19 world meetings in Kenya are being held to try to stop the spread of plastic pollution. Plastic is a serious health problem, polluting our bodies and our environment. Made of fossil fuels plastic contains thousands of toxic materials and breaks down into to tiny microfibers that are found in every organ of our bodies. Recycling plastic intensifies the toxicity. Sign the Greenpeace petition below to help reduce plastic!

Make a concentrated effort to reduce your plastic exposure

A new study led by scientists from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden has found that recycled plastics contain hundreds of toxic chemical compounds, including pharmaceutical drugs, pesticides and industrial compounds.

The scientists say this means plastics are not fit for most purposes

No plastics are safe or suitable for reuse or regeneration due to their toxic chemical content, as well as their ability to adsorb additional chemicals during use! https://www.ecowatch.com/recycled-plastics-toxic-chemicals-health-risks.html

From Greenpeace: We need an ambitious Global Plastics Treaty to turn off the plastics tap and, finally, end the age of plastic. The movement is 2 million strong! Will you help grow it even bigger by calling for a strong Global Plastics Treaty to end the age of plastic, and signing our petition?
TAKE ACTION!
Together, let’s end the age of plastic! 

Walter Morris, “Hyattsville residents raise concerns about plastic pellets spilled in train derailment,” NBC4 Washington, October 3, 2023.
2. Neel Dhamesha, “The massive, unregulated source of plastic pollution you’ve probably never heard of,” Vox, May 6, 2022.
3. Karen McVeigh “Nurdles: the worst toxic waste you’ve probably never heard of,” The Guardian, November 29, 2021.
4. Karen McVeigh, “Nurdles: the worst toxic waste you’ve probably never heard of,” November 29, 2021.
5. Lisa Frank, “New bill would stop companies from dumping plastic,” U.S. PIRG, May 25, 2022.
6. “Our waters shouldn’t be dumping grounds for plastic,” U.S. PIRG, October 3, 2023.
7. Doyle Rice, “Oh, yuck! You’re eating about a credit card’s worth of plastic every week,” USA Today, June 12, 2019.