greenliving Go Plastic-Free
Game On: Ways to Shrink Our Footprint
by Randy Kambic
Looking around us, we see plastic everywhere.
B
esides the custom- ary food and product packaging, plus store bags, consider all the nooks and crannies of our lives that plastic now perme- ates: eating utensils; baby and pet toys; computer keyboards and accessories; pens; eyeglasses; athletic footwear; backpacks; light- ers; beauty care and pill containers; household cleaning bottles; ice cube trays; shaving razors; tool
“The biggest lesson since
I started is the joy of less—of buying less stuff and making do with what I
already have.” ~ Beth Terry
handles; hairbrushes and toothbrush- es—even some facial scrubs, shampoos and chewing gum. Beth Terry, author of Plastic Free:
How I Kicked the Habit and How You Can Too, points out compelling reasons to take personal action. In 2007, this Oak- land, California, resident saw a photo of the decom- posed carcass of a Laysan albatross riddled with plastic bits in an article on water pollution. “For several seconds, I could not breathe,” she writes. This seminal mo- ment led her to further
research, by which she realized, “This plague of plastic chemicals is harm- ing everyone, and especially the most vulnerable members of our planet—
children and animals—and that is both unacceptable and unfair.” She’s been working on going plastic-free ever since. “I made a game of it; a fun, cre-
ative, step-by-step challenge,” she ad- vises. “You can’t go through the house and think you can get rid of all plastic immediately. As items get used up, you’ll find alternatives.” Once we are in the habit of staying alert to the plastic scourge, we’ll naturally spot opportuni- ties for healthy change-ups.
Science Sounds the Alarm In 2011, Harvard School of Public Health researchers made news by discovering that consuming one serving of canned food daily for five days led to significantly elevated urinary levels of bisphenol-A (BPA). This plastic and epoxy resin ingredient is found in the liners of many food and drink cans and sometimes in plastic bottles. It’s known to be a serious endocrine disrupter. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, al- tered functions of reproductive organs and other ailments have been linked to high BPA levels in several studies, including one cited in Endocrine Reviews journal. The Manchester Guardian also recently reported that the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety has stated that an unborn baby’s exposure to BPA through the mother could be linked to many health problems, including breast cancer later in life. When plastics are subjected to stress—like heat, light or age—undis- closed additives used in their produc- tion for strength, flexibility and color can leach out and even contaminate lab results, as the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry found. Such chemicals can migrate into our digestive systems and through our skin; they can also off-gas into the air, according to a recent study by Weber State University’s Energy & Sustain- ability Office, in Ogden, Utah. Plus, unrecycled plastic materials can enter waterways and kill marine life through ingestion or entanglement (ocean gar- bage patches are major examples). Reducing our own plastic footprint can both safeguard family health and prove that we are serious about pres- suring industry to produce less of it. The key, according to Terry, is not to be
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