Eco-Consciousness & Plastic Pollution

Wake Up Call

Sixteen-year-old activist Greta Thunberg was selected youngest 2019's Person of the Year. US news magazine Time declared that for the better, she has done the most to influence climate crisis events. What started as her skipping school to protest the Swedish Parliament in August 2018 led to her scathing speech at the UN Climate Action Summit in September 2019: 

"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering, people are dying."

April 22, 2020, in the midst of COViD shutdown, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day was celebrated by our young digital citizens with 24 At-Home Hours of Action.

Two months later on June 5, 2020, "The Mighty Earth (themed)" World Environment Day was also the day my daughter Amanda obtained her diploma from Otay Ranch High School. Amanda developed the habit of carrying a Pathwater aluminum bottle to forgo her use of plastic water bottles. Despite recycling programs, she was concerned 70% of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles actually end up in landfills. From the National Ocean Service website, she surmised land-based plastic sources float as debris on the ocean surface, impacting her paddleboarding mania. 

Brought It Home

My daughter encouraged two exercises.

(1) Reduce our use of plastic with this calculator: 

(2) Consider how to live simply:

Global Awareness

 Two worthwhile documentaries to watch are Plastic China (2017) through Amazon Prime, and Frontline's Plastic Wars (2020) through YouTube. Our western habits impact the global community and the health of everyone's waterways.

Minimalism Defined

Could it be? Did my first career as a Hazardous Waste Remediation Engineer rub off on my daughter? This started our walk towards minimalism, defined as creating habits to live with less, consume less, and utilize what we already have.

Bea Johnson's Zero Waste blog presents 100 tips towards waste-free living. Her TEDx talks in 2016 are a revelation.

Eco-Tourism

The 2020 Toastmasters International Convention slated for August 5 in Vanves, France was canceled due to the significant impact of COViD-19. The pandemic also delayed Amanda's graduation trip to Honolulu from late July to mid-October. She hopes to see the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (GPGP) located between California and Hawaii estimated to be three times the size of France.

Comments

  1. JennyOctober 13, 2020 at 12:25 PM

    Thanks for posting the GPGP! So interesting! Make me not want to use anymore plastics. Where does all this plastic come from?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousDecember 31, 2022 at 10:09 AM

      Ocean gyres and plastic waste << https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/gyre.html>>

      Delete
  2. Floyd S.October 13, 2020 at 10:17 PM

    It frustrates me that our society as a whole has allowed this to happen. There are countries that completely consume 100% of their waste through energy production. Totally unnecessary to dump in ocean.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Turn of EventsNovember 6, 2020 at 11:06 AM

      Floyd, when you find a resource on waste-to-energy production, please share. My college best friend in the mid-80's was into this idea but did not pursue the field, yet...

      Delete
  3. AnonymousDecember 31, 2022 at 10:03 AM

    Seventeen months later, Greta ends the year 2022 strong! <>

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousDecember 31, 2022 at 10:10 AM

      << https://apple.news/A4V6eiz3gSnuxlCPM2aR_iA>>

      Delete
  4. Regina FernandezApril 28, 2024 at 2:37 PM

    Hello friends, Why did I just now encounter Bea Johnson and her blog? I incorporated a link into the post above.

    ReplyDelete

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