Plastics Bad!

All plastics are bad.  Simply put.  But, at the same time unavoidable. They say the worst of the worst are BPA or Phthalates.  But, like I said plastics are bad...all...period.  They are so integrated into our daily lives that you really have to take what about Bob baby steps on this one or you will go crazy.

First, let me get you a little bit motivated.  Here are some not so fun facts about plastic from the saynotoplastics website:

- The US goes through 100 billion plastic bags annually and 12 million barrels of oil is used to produce them.

- Plastic bags are to blame for the death of hundreds of thousands of marine animals and birds annually.

- Countries like China, Ireland, Australia and Bangladesh have banned plastic bag use (so has Maui, Kauai and soon Oahu!)

- Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles every HOUR.

- It takes about 450 years for one plastic bottle to break down into the ground.

- 24 million gallons of oil are used in 1 billion plastic bottles.

- The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a massive conglomeration of bits of plastic said to be 1 to 2 times the size of Texas and is having devastating effects on marine life.

- If you were to tie all the plastic bags used in the US alone in one year, you could wrap it around the Earth 26 THOUSAND times!

- It is toxic.  The research here goes on for days at all sorts of levels.  The toxins in plastic slowly leak out and have a wide range of effects on men, women and children.  Not to mention our planet and animals.

Alright, that's enough...my heart hurts.  Here is the good news! Plastic didn't exist in our daily lives until the early 1900's.  The good news in that?  Life can exist without plastic!  Yippeee!

I pretty much started with 3 main goals towards a lifestyle change away from plastic.

1.  Buying absolutely NO bottled water.  It is simple when you get in the habit, besides it's a total scam!  Tap water is more regulated.  Get a filter to make yourself feel better, and every time you walk out the door, put grabbing your glass or steel water bottle right up there with grabbing your keys and wallet.  If you love coffee as much as I do, do the same with your coffee mug.  I make sure I have my ceramic coffee mug and water bottle in my car at all times.  If I forget, my punishment is no coffee...which helps me not to forget.

2.  Remove all plastic toys and plastic baby items in general.  No plastic bottles, cups, utensils, teethers etc etc.  Calder doesn't care.  Wood Crates make great toy bins, baskets make great organizers, old burpy cloths make great baby proofing bumpers.  There are wood potty training chairs.  Wood toys are awesome and feel great for teething.  Natural rubber from rubber trees teethers and binkies exist, we have so much creative fun with his 100% silky.  Look for 100% silk, cotton, wool etc.  Cloth diapers bla bla bla.

3.  Remove all plastic kitchenware.  We were pretty much on this program.  But I did find a few things that needed removal including: tupperware and saran wrap.

OH and I had to trade in my yoga mat for a 100% natural rubber one.  Sorry about the smell classmates!

Every day I try to take notice of other steps I can take and the steps producers take.  It might cost a little more, but it is worth it.  Producers that put their products in non-plastic packaging get my business.  After all, if we as consumers don't buy it...they won't sell it.

Food for thought!