sarettah

I do. I try to avoid plastic bags as much as possible. My wife sewed up some tote bags 24 years ago when we moved into our house. We use them for shopping and if we forget them, we choose paper if it is offered. If we end up with plastic bags, we do not throw them away. They usually get re-used for various things around the house and when they really start wearing out, they go in the recycle bin.

Unfortunately, Kansas City requires plastic bags for the trash pickup, hopefully that changes soon. But I have recently been looking for a good plastic bag made from biologicals instead of petroleum. Unfortunately, on that front, there are few choices for a thick enough bag that won't rip through but we are working on that.

All plastics go into our recycling bin and that is supposed to help but I have recently become aware that some recycle companies just dump the plastic. I hope and wish that that is not true and if it is true that they stop soon and process all plastics, keeping them out of the landfill and the ocean.

My main vehicle is a 2019 Malibu Hybrid. I would go full electric but the cost is higher than I want to go. I am also aware that lithium batteries are not the best option but it is the only real option right now if you want to go full electric. I read an article a couple of days ago about a hydrogen powered car (can't remember what model) will be available soon. Once they come out, and the technologies (like fueling stations) exist, I will probably try to buy one.

We have plastic silverware that we use for pool parties but we reuse it. After the party, wash it all up. We bought that about 20 years ago and are still using it. I was not as aware of plastic pollution back then as I am now. If I was going to do it now I would buy a big set of steel utensils and use then for the parties.

I started reading Mother Earth News back when it first started, like 1970 or 71. I still get it every 2 months. That helped me become very aware of the effect that we have on our planet. I also have been pushing for solar since around 1976 when I was in the Navy stationed in Northern California. I met a bunch of old hippies that lived back in the woods and they really turned me on to the benefits of wind power and they were trying to do stuff with solar but the panels back then were prehistoric to the panels available today.

I want to put up solar panels but there really is not enough south facing roof for it to work well but recently I started researching what I can do with the space I have available.

Right after I moved in here (2000) I ditched the gas heater that was on the pool and just use available sunlight to heat it. It stays cold for a while but I am a swimmer and as far as I am concerned a pool shouldn't be warmer than the high 70s. My wife does not agree but she puts up with it. There are a few weeks in August that the temp can get up into the mid 80s so she has that couple of weeks.

Oh, I almost forgot. If I buy POP or Beer, it is always aluminum cans which I then recycle. If I buy milk I buy it in the wax container.

If we do end up buying plastic containers because that is the only way to get the product we reuse the hell out of them

Oh yeah, I recycle all my bags from Greenlight dispensary. They let you trade in up to 23 bags for $1.00 a piece. Very nice program that keeps me going to that dispensary.

I pick up trash as I walk through parking lots. I try to do whatever I can. I am far from perfect and fuck up sometimes but I am trying.

Anyway, I am not trying to brag because there are many people that are going much farther than I do. I am just trying to give you an honest answer.

If everybody tries a little bit, it will change a lot. If everybody tries really hard, the changes will be amazing.

In 1968 John Kennedy announced we were heading for the moon, in 1969 we got there.

In 1972 Nixon signed the clean water act, by the 80's and 90's a lot of the water pollution had disappeared. By 2016, we were basically getting clean water, most water problems that we dealt with prior to 2016 were having to do with ancient water systems with a lot of lead corroding into the drinking supply.

We can do amazing things if we stop being lazy and work at it a bit. If each of us does what we can stop new plastic from getting into the environment. Once that happens, we can start to reverse the issue. We will invent new technologies to extract micro-plastic from the environment. We will then be able to start cleaning up all the plastics floating around the oceans and on our lands.

Of course, we can also do nothing, as that is always a choice. We can continue to just by lazy fucks, throwing plastic bags out of cars, tossing plastic cups and plates in the woods and parking lots, we can continue to dump sewage into our waters. (Yes, that is happening again. Lake Erie is having big Algae blooms being fed by sewage.) We can do nothing and watch our planet dies before the next few generations go through.

The Earth has a tremendous ability to heal itself, but it has to have the chance. As long as we continue dumping shit in, the Earth will continue to degrade. If we can stop dumping all our shit in, the Earth will have a chance.

You have to start somewhere.

Part of my Mother Earth collection. Those are the tote bags behind the magazines.




One of our 24-year-old tote bags that my wife sewed.



Our plastic cartons and lids.