My Plastic-Free Life's Show Us Your (Plastic) Trash Challenge

Happy New Year!!!

I've been saving my plastic trash for a while now, but never really tallying it up or documenting it, so in an attempt to make myself analyze it a little more this year, I'm going to take Beth Terry's (My Plastic-Free Life) challenge.  If you want to join me, the link is here:
http://myplasticfreelife.com/showyourplastic/challenge-show-us-your-plastic-trash/

Let me know if you're taking the challenge and what impact it makes on your life.

For some reason, my calling in life revolves around trash!  It's been a focal point in my life for a long time and I'm finally coming back around to it.  I used to save candy wrappers in my bedroom as a child because I thought they were too pretty to be thrown away.  I saved a lot of things like that, always wondering why we used things one time and then 'got rid' of them....where did they all end up?  So here I am in my 30's (almost 40's!) and thinking about trash consumes a lot of the time I spend on this earth.  When I found out how much food is thrown away each year in the U.S., it really astounded me, so I started to take a look at our food waste and what we could do about it.  We started composting and I can happily say we've cut our food waste down to almost nothing.  I just ordered some worms to try vermicomposting, so I'll do a whole entry on composting one of these days.

Anyway, the point I was trying to make is that thinking about (and actually analyzing) what we're doing is usually a good way to make a change (or decide that you like the way everything is going and stay the same).  Yes, life is short and it does take time to do things like this, but I think the time spent is worth it if it produces helpful results.  So, who's with me? :)

Cleaning up the plastic soup

5 Gyres does such important work and recently they gave Facebook fans a chance to ask them some questions...and one of mine got picked!!! :)  5 Gyres co-founder Marcus Eriksen answers it here:
http://5gyres.org/posts/2010/12/07/5_gyres_qa_thinking_about_solutions

If you have a few minutes, check it out - he shares some really interesting and valuable information!

Applause for 5 Gyres...Food for Thought

The following was written by Stiv Wilson at the '5 Gyres' blog and really spoke to my heart:  "What, I ask, is our legacy? Or better, when will we band together not as just a people but a species and demand that our legacy is one worth having? Already, your children will never, ever walk on a beach anywhere in the world without plastic -- are we really so foolish to give up such incredible beauty for the sake of a to-go cup? I think not. And so we sail on."

 The value of the things we are losing are so much greater than the value of what we are destroying them with.

Say CHEESE!!!

Last year, I started a TerraCycle program at our Elementary School.  In case you haven't heard of TerraCycle, they take your trash and upcycle it into cool new stuff....find out more here:  http://www.terracycle.net .

Well now I have a reason to love them EVEN MORE....because they have a new CHEESE BRIGADE!!!!!!!!

We all know about America's obsession with cheese...and along with that cheese comes a lot of plastic.  So until a more environmentally-friendly packaging comes along, it's great that the packaging no longer has to sit in a landfill or pollute our Earth!

So if you are saving your trash for me, start adding your cheese wrappers, please!!!!!!

And if you eat a lot of cheese, consider finding a TerraCycle Brigade or starting one of your own!

SAY CHEESE!!!!!! :)

Christmas Light Recycling at Home Depot

Hi, all!
In case you have some of those old incandescent light strings hanging around, you can drop them off at Home Depot for recycling now through Nov. 14th.  In return, you will get a $3 coupon for new LED lights for each string you turn in, up to 5 strings.  So you could get $15 toward new energy-efficient lights and your old ones will be recycled!  Hurry in!

The Story of Electronics - Pass It On

You've probably heard of Annie Leonard and 'The Story of Stuff'...so here comes the latest story:  The Story of Electronics.  Good info. and I'm trying to spread the word since they want 1/4 million people to watch it by Black Friday.  If you can help out, click below to watch and let me know what you think!  Have a Great Day!!! :) Kate

"This morning, we released our newest Story of Stuff Project movie - The Story of Electronics - a look at the 'design for the dump' mentality so prevalent in the electronics industry. 

This movie couldn't come at a better time:  this November, Americans are expected to spend over $8.5 billion on consumer electronics, motivated by enticements to buy gizmos we don't really need or to replace gadgets that are still working with slightly newer versions. 

The thing is, making all these devices takes an enormous environmental and public health toll: mining the metals trashes communities from Congo to Indonesia; assembling them uses huge amounts of water and energy and exposes workers to a host of toxic chemicals; and getting rid of them when we're on to the next, newer, better model creates mountains of e-waste. 

The good news is that while the production, consumption and disposal of short-lived, toxics laden electronics are a really big problem, the solution is pretty simple: Make 'em Safe, Make 'em Last, and Take 'em Back. 

We're releasing The Story of Electronics today to send a clear message to the electronics industry:  it's time to send that design for the dump mentality to the dump where it belongs and start making less toxic, longer lasting and more easily recyclable products. 

Our goal is to get a quarter of a million people to watch The Story of Electronics by Black Friday, just over two weeks from now. 

You can help us reach this goal by:

• Watching The Story of Electronics;
  
• Sharing the movie with your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, fellow students and anyone else you think might be interested; 
  
• Reading Annie's Huffington Post  piece about the movie, and then commenting on it, liking it or sharing it; and
  
• Working with our partners at the Electronics TakeBack Coalition to tell two of the largest electronics manufacturers-Acer and Lenovo-to "Make 'em Safe, Make 'em Last, and Take 'em Back!"  

Every time we release one of our movies, we're floored by the way our community jumps in to spread the message. We know this time will be no different. 

So, thank you, and we hope you enjoy  The Story of Electronics!

Sincerely,

Annie, Michael, Allison, Christina and Renee

The Story of Stuff Project Team"

Hello, Again!

It feels like a REALLY long time since I've written an entry!
It was a fun summer (and a bit more!)!
I'm going to be back in blogging mode now, so stay tuned.
Hope all is well! :)