Monday's Random Thoughts

There's a solar storm happening right now. A lot of weirdness. Also the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is getting bigger. I don't know if that's a proper noun but I'm making it one. The garbage patch actually contains more larger pieces of plastic than tiny particles. Baleen whales are suffering a lot from this because they're ingesting these plastic tiny particles. They're like really huge vacuum cleaners of the sea. It reminds me of why I'm doing this.

Right now I'm trying to find different straws in addition to the silicone straws. Silicone straws are great for the kids, but they're pretty big to use in a restaurant. Something like glass or metal would be more subdued. I'm going to look around and see what I can find. Ok, I actually just got a couple of glass straws from Wish.  Have you ever used Wish?  It's like a dollar for shipping and most of the stuff is free or really cheap. Then you just wait a month and your stuff comes. It's very minimally packaged.

I'm going to post about some animals in the next few posts, and maybe more random thoughts.

Plastic bags vs. paper bags.

I went to school in the late 80s and all throughout the 90s.  Going to school next to a beach allowed us to be more environmentally conscious than most.

What I remember most was my school's stance on bags. You think plastic bags? Nope. Paper bags.  We were told, specifically, that paper bags were very bad. It takes 100, 200, no 1000 trees to make one paper bag (which we know isn't true). Our teachers told us if the grocery store cashier gives us the choice between paper and plastic bags, we must always choose plastic. Because we don't want to be tree killers! 

Now everyone here still uses plastic bags because it literally has been lectured to us all throughout elementary school.  It's difficult to convince people to use cloth/reusable bags because we were taught to use plastic bags at school, and what we were taught can't be wrong, can it? So I feel like we brought this upon ourselves.

Now we have to recognize our mistake of using plastic bags. Specifically, one-use plastic bags that get thrown away soon after. It is not our fault. Don't feel guilty about this.  We were taught to do this by adults we trusted.  Now that we know better, we can make more informed choices. I use reusable bags every time I go to the store. I have a valet trash service, which is required by my neighborhood and I use a large trash bag for that. Other than that, I really don't use plastic bags anymore.

Many stores, such as Publix, Walmart, and Target will take any soft plastic, including bags, as recycling. So if you need to take a bag, you can always recycle it.

First Green Thought

This is just a blog of my random thoughts, mostly to do with environmentalism, etc.

I dreamed I saw whales floating in the sky. I looked this up to see what it means. It means that "an enormous sense of freedom from letting down your emotional wall. You feel a huge weight has been lifted". That's how I felt when I found the zero waste community. Well, actual zero waste is an industry term and is practically impossible in the home unless you live on an island in the middle of nowhere. Low impact sounds less harsh. But it's all the same thing if you wish to live a more eco-conscious life. Who cares what we label it?

I live in an area that has a lot of sea turtles. They come up to the beach to lay their eggs. And I just love them. They are majestic creatures. I saw a video where a turtle got a plastic straw stuck up his nose and it greatly moved me. Like I had a manic episode when I saw this and decided I had to do something. So I'm working on being more environmentally conscious especially when it comes to single use plastics. Also I started this blog to collect my thoughts.