For the first time, maybe ever, I set some specific resolutions at the beginning of the year, and I was determined to see them through. One of my first goals for the year was to reduce my plastic use. There are several reasons why I wanted to do this and I think it deserves an explanation.
It started last year around the time of the election. And without getting too political or declaring sides, I'll say that much of the country was showing its uglier side and I was feeling small and semi-helpless. I was feeling that there were no good options for me to really make a difference, and while I've never been the person that needed to make grand gestures, I felt like I wanted to do something to make this place a little better. And so I started thinking, what is something that I could do on a daily basis, that might not change the world tomorrow, but could make a difference and make me feel like I was doing my part? You see, becoming a mother has given me this need to show my son that the world is mostly good, and to raise him to be a good human, and to leave him with a planet that will still support life, and to make sure he has the chance to see how beautiful people and places can be. But I am not a scientist or an activist or a politician, and so most days I can not make life altering decisions for this country, but I can use less plastic. So thats where my resolution started.
The first thing we did, even before the new year, was buy reusable shopping bags. This has been a huge help because 1. the commissary baggers like to put approximately 3 items in each bag so you can leave with a small landfill and 2. the rest of the stores in California now charge $.10 per bag and this momma does not need to pay to carry the crap home she just bought. (We have the Grab Bags from Amazon, pretty awesome) Step two was replacing our tupperware and water bottles. I have been so incredibly happy with this decision. Plastic tupperware gets gross when you wash it or microwave it, it can leak chemicals into your food and it cracks. Also our tupperware cabinet was seriously anxiety inducing. I threw it all away, with the exception of one or two containers that were still in great condition that were in a size I would not be replacing with glass. We now have about 10 glass storage containers that are perfectly clean and in tact, stack nicely into the cabinet and will outlast any piece of plastic we have ever owned. I have yet to use all of these containers at the same time so the wanna-be minimalist in me is feeling slightly guilty for having so many. But thats a separate resolution...and blog post. We also bought nice new Hydroflask water bottles, which come in fun colors and keep things cold, and have made a commitment not to buy cases of water. Then I bought a few reusable sandwich and snack bags! They are awesome and I love them so much! We have Bumkins and Planet Wise brand bags (which have the cutest patterns!) and I use them daily. They are easy to wash and I feel like I have used so many less disposable bags. I do still have some ziplocks because things seem to disappear when they go to work with my husband.
Lastly we started actually recycling all of our cans and bottles on a regular basis. At the beginning of the year the base sent out a recycling guide, which made it super easy and I feel like our bags of trash have decreased so much because of this. All these small changes make me feel like my little family is making a difference, and there have been very few changes or inconveniences in our everyday life. I hope you'll check out some of the products I mentioned because we could all stand to be a little nicer to the planet.
No comments:
Post a Comment