Avoiding Single Use Plastics

Last week I watched the film "Bag It: Is Your Life Too Plastic," and since then, I've been doing a lot of thinking about all the plastic in my own life.

I won't exhaust you with all of the issues discussed in the film- you can watch it on your own if you're so inclined. Sure, many of us have heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and maybe bought reusable grocery bags- remembering to use them is another story, though. Even so, I learned a lot this week about the effect of plastics on our economy, environment, oceans, and health. It's much worse than I had ever considered. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that every piece of plastic ever created is still in existence today, but I hadn't really sat down and thought about it before.

Lent started on Wednesday, and for the next forty days, I'm going to try to give up single-use plastics as much as I can- starting with plastic bags (even those produce bags in the grocery store), and ziploc baggies and containers and seeing what other changes I can realistically make. It's hard to think of an item that DOESN'T come in some kind of plastic wrapper. The amount of plastic in the fridge, in the bathroom cupboard, and yes, in the garbage can, is daunting. But I'm going to do the best I can, and try to think of ways I can sustain this project beyond Lent. This includes some craft and sewing projects, so stay tuned.

Here's some of the resources I've been checking out.

• No Impact Man: the story of a man who tries to eliminate his carbon footprint for a year. There's a book, which I read in a couple days, a blog, and a film, as well as an ongoing project.
• Plastic Free Living Guide: an extensive list of all the ways one woman is almost totally eliminating all plastics from her life. And when I say extensive...I mean it. Whoa.
• Life Without Plastic: Food storage containers made of stainless steel and other healthy and environmentally-conscious materials. More on this in a future post.

What do you think? Are you giving something up for Lent? Any tips about cutting back on plastics? Let me know!