Giving Up Plastics

I think most of us are serious about taking good care of our planet and doing what we can to help with conservation but would you be willing to give up plastic for the month of August? In today's BBC a woman posted a story about her attempt to give up buying or accepting anything made from plastic for one month. After reading the article several of us at work began to discuss whether or not we could make it through a month without plastic. Just think of all the foods in the grocery store packaged in or wrapped in plastic. In my grocery, you can no longer buy a head of lettuce...salad greens are all in a bag. After we began naming all of the products that we couldn't purchase because of packaging, we shifted conversation to the things we do every day to conserve - refusing plastic shopping bags, saving shower water for plants, composting, recycling, turning the water off when you brush your teeth, turning lights off when rooms are not in use, setting thermostats on 78 in summer, 68 in winter, drying clothes outside when possible. One of the best things mentioned was the use of water from a salt-water aquarium. When changing out the water my colleague said he poured the salt water on kudzu beds! If you live in the south you are so familiar with the invasive and aggressive vine. It overtakes an area in no time flat and has been known to choke a forested areas to death! I am not sure that my colleague has been able to do much towards kudzu control but we did like the creativity of his use of salt water. A couple of us who had parents who grew up during the depression also had great stories of things we do that our parents did to conserve - recycling aluminum foil, repurposing containers of all kinds but the best was making a skeleton out of milk jugs!

It was encouraging to know that people are really thinking about how to consume less. I would love to hear what you do to conserve, recycle or repurpose.