Monday, February 25, 2008

Blogspiration: Thanks Fake Plastic Fish

I am a relative newbie to the blogosphere. Now, some of my findings have been.... well...less than inspiring, but who am I to judge prattling on about fabrics. For the most part, I have been blown away by what people are doing out in the big ol' world. One in particular that has really had an impact on me is Fake Plastic Fish. It has seriously changed my whole perspective on my plastic consumption. As I have rambled about in previous posts, we have been ridding our lives of the plastic shopping bags and now phase 2, the produce bags, but more as a reaction to them piling up in our home. Quite frankly, I had not given much thought to the stuff we were contributing to the enormous pile outside our home - or the problems of plastic production itself. The petroleum. We were content with our little recycling. It is amazing how even though we think we are being conscious of something...we are really still floating in our own little bubbles. Sounds simple, but I was totally missing that point- and seeing it as Beth presents it changes everything for me. The whole idea of having to keep all the plastic you are responsible for is enormous.

Now for the so what....I am NOT going to keep all of my plastic. (I enjoy my marriage far too much and enjoy being able to find my children.) What I am going to do is try to do is modify one thing or group of things a week to reduce my contribution to the plastic disaster. (I find in general that slow and steady for me means lasting change, rather than getting overwhelmed and giving up in a week.) I plan on spending a little more time over there on Beth's blog finding some tips. I would love any tips from those of you trying to run your families on just a wee bit less plastic. What has worked? What not? Where do you find the biggest challenges? (How ever can you replace the Ziplock?)

3 comments:

vdibart said...

It's definitely one of those things that you just accept for years and then once you stop to think about it you can't believe you ever did it in the first place. It become almost a visceral rejection of allowing this stuff into you home.

Anonymous said...

i haven't replaced all my ziplocks (sigh - they are SO handy), but I am trying to use less by using - plastic. Plastic reusable storage containers. They are harder to see through and take up a lot of room in a kid's lunchbox, but they are reusable, washable, and stack great in the fridge/freezer.

organicneedle said...

I have been trying to be more organized with the bags. Like keeping a baggie in the bunny cracker box so that I will reuse it a few times for the same food. If I have a bag covering a box to keep it fresh- I put the new box in the same bag. I have the space issue with tuppies too. I use them for things that we are cycling through in the fridge- but the freezer just can't fit them and I would be forced to choose between food waste or baggie usage.