Living plastic free: PROGRESS REPORT APRIL

I’ve finished month #4 living the ‘no-new-plastic’ pledge. I’ve got 8 months left to go in my New Year’s resolution… But lately I’ve been thinking of making this a life-time pledge. After all, many years ago I took my meat-free and cruelty-free vows – for life. Why not pledge plastic-free-for life too? 

You’re probably thinking “Wow, living plastic-free for life! This EnviroWoman chick is either growing balls or needs to get a slightly tighter grasp on reality” 

‘Tis true my sweets I’m feeling rather brazen.....because I’ve actually found it quite easy to adapt to life without plastic.  

And look, look, look how successful I’ve been. This picture shows the paltry amount of plastic that has snuck into my life during all of 2007. Yes, yes, I haven’t been able to live TOTALLY plastic free…but this pic shows 4 months of plastic consumption, baby. I bet a lot of people use that much in one day. (To give you some pic-perspective, the big white chunk is deodorant...my first MAJOR SIN and the brown thing is a Tim Horton's coffee lid). 

Okay, okay I’ll admit it wasn’t easy at the very beginning. I did suffer some major RudeAwakenings that first month in the areas that matter most to me….

• Living Cruelty Free –  I still get a bit teary-eyed thinking of that sad, pitiful moment I walked into the Body Shop, my long-time mecca for all things animal-friendly beauty, and found everything, yes EVERYTHING packaged in plastic. Anita Roddick, you WonderWoman you, how could this be true?
• Being a Vegetarian – Eeeks, and then there was the time I was protein hunting at Safeway and discovered all my usual ‘fake meat’ options were in bed with the plastic devil and now off-limits for 2007.
• Indulging my InnerChocoholic – Even today my endorphins take a deep dive every time I visit a temple of chocolate worship – because about 98% of the delectable-sugary-morsels are off-limits ‘cuz they’re packaged in that evil plastic stuff.

But I guess these three ugly moments are a bit like childbirth. Painful at the time….but then you forget how really awful it was….and take the plunge one more time.

And…(this next part is a tad insane)….I’m having quite a bit of fun living plastic-free.

For now, my decision to go plastic-free for life is just simmering on the back burner. But oh-so tempting.

Anyway, there’s been some good plastic fortune this month....

• EnviroWoman won the changeeverything.ca Viva La Resolution contest. How cool is that? And even cooler…the contest sponsor, Vancity, realizing the irony of the prize being a $500 Visa PLASTIC credit card…gave EnviroWoman a paper cheque instead. Gotta love the Vancity. What a nice bunch of good souls trying to make the world a better place.
• There have been media ops as a result of the Viva La Resolution win. So off I go to them, with my soapbox in hand. Soon I’ll have to change my name to EnviroZealot!!! But you know, I just feel I gotta spread the word that WE ALL HAVE TO DO OUR PART to save the planet. It’s now or never.
• An empty freezer. I wasn’t expecting this. But since frozen food is in league with the plastic-devil, it’s SpockLogical that the freezer would become a wasteland. Now, if I can just figure out how to convert my freezer into more fridge space….for all those fresh veggies… I’d be a happy no-plastic camper.
• Finding plastic-free lipstick. Truly a gift from heaven for this GirlyGirl.
• Brain food:
• An Ecosystem of One’s Own in the May VanityFair (only in print)
• Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash
• Lives Per Gallon
• Who Killed the Electric Car
• Garbage Land
• Care2 Make a Difference  

Plastic aggravation this month...

• The UrgetoPurge. EnviroWoman is now like a 3 pack-a-day smoker who after 30 years suddenly kicks the habit and now has zero tolerance for cigarette smoke. Plastic is my pariah, and it’s really starting to bug me to have it around, so the UrgeToPurge is starting to Surge.
• Someone backed into MyLittleCar and dinged the door. No big deal - they had the decency to leave a note and ‘fess up. Gotta luv 'em for that. But here’s the downside….the plastic door trim is probably going to have to be replaced. I smell a MAJOR SIN sometime in May. Poop.

The big challenge this month...

Finding plastic free mascara. Coming up empty-handed. Even Googling for ancient Egyptian Cleopatra recipes – leads to a big ZERO? A blog commenter suggested Kohl…but where can I find it in Vancouver? Punjabi markets came up empty handed.

Lessons learned this month...

• If not you, then who? EnviroWoman is getting very, very scared about the future of Nature on our planet. And if I don’t do something about it…who will? Oh, I’m not saying the Earth will die without EnviroWoman. But I am saying…if YOU don’t act (yes, I’m talkin’ to YOU), how can you expect anyone else? Please oh please oh please… if you are reading this….start ACTING. And if you already are taking action….Do even more. That’s what I’m doing. And together maybe we can make a difference and turn the tide. Here, take my arm while I help you up onto my soapbox. There's plenty of room up here for both of us.
• I am a SuperParasite. So are you. David Suzuki recently referred to humans as SuperSpecies…but David…as much as I admire and bow down to your Eco-Godliness…ya got that wrong. We are all SuperParasites: Organisms that grow, feed, and are sheltered on or in a different organism (the Planet and all its creatures) while contributing NOTHING to the survival of its host (the Planet) but rather, lead to the destruction of its host. No matter how green EnviroWoman is…I know I will never contribute to the Web of Life as much as a small wee spider in the forest. Yeah, I really DO believe that. I am only a destroyer. A parasite. A gobbler-up of Nature’s resources. But I am trying to minimize my ParasiticEffect. (Okay, to be honest, EnviroWoman learned this lesson years ago…but oh lookie here...I'm standing on my soapbox)
• I am PlasticIgnorant. Tis true. I went into this whole no-new-plastic pledge without knowing anything about plastic. I just knew I didn’t like it. And you and I both know…Ignorance is Bliss…it lets us continue doing bad, bad things while still thinking we are good, good humans. Well…I don’t want to be PlasticIgnorant any longer. So this month I started my own little PhD in Plastic from the University of EnviroWoman. Yup…I’m slipping on those ruby slippers and gonna learn about the WickedWitchoftheWestPlastic.

And here it is, my sweets, just to keep me honest, an account of my SINs for the month of April….

MINOR SINS for March 2007: A MINOR SIN is when EnviroWoman buys a SAINT product that (gasp) have wee bits of plastic parasitically implanted in them (like those Octopus-like-larvae in Aliens, that jump on your face, implant a tentacle into your guts and suck the life-blood right outta ya). We’re talking labels, zippers, those little T-shaped bits of plastic that attach the price tag to clothes, etc., MINOR SINs are added to the plastic shrine when they have been used up and are ready for recycling

• 2 plastic labels from Stewarts root beer (opted for a glass bottle rather than a plastic or aluminum can, but dang-it, the label was plastic)
• Tampon wrappers (but I gotta say, all you women telling me about the Diva Cup have really got me tempted)

MAJOR SINs for March 2007: This is when EnviroWoman falls right offa the bandwagon and buys or uses new plastic, flagrantly throwing her morals (and resolution) to the wind and thereby putting the future of Mother Earth in jeopardy. This may occur when (A) a cruelty-free (first priority) non-plastic (second priority) replacement cannot be found in EnviroWoman’s realm. Or it may occur because (B) the allure of the pretty plastic thingy reduces EnviroWoman’s will power to that of a lima bean. MAJOR SINs are added to the plastic shrine after they have been used up and are ready for recycling.

• None. But the mascara was pretty darn tempting.

Challenges Ahead: As current supplies are dwindling I’m starting to hunt for the following non-plastic/packaged, cruelty-free items:

• Mascara. Like I said..I’m getting very tempted to commit a MAJOR SIN
• Nail polish (I’m a GirlyGirl…but I’m beginning to think I gotta give this puppy up for 2007. Waaahhh)

If you have any suggestions where I can find these items please post a comment.