Friday, September 20, 2019

Climate Strike


Hey, ya’ll!  Will you join in?



From CNN this morning:  
     From London to New York City and from Perth to Paris, climate activists are taking part in a global climate strike today in what is expected to be the biggest day of climate demonstrations in the planet's history.  The Global Climate Strike is the third in a worldwide series of rallies organized by students, led by 16-year-old Greta Thunberg.
  Some of the first protests were held in Australia and organizers have said "well over" 300,000 people gathered at more than 100 cities and towns across the country. Melbourne hosted the biggest march, according to organizers, with 100,000 people turning out, while 80,000 rallied in Sydney and 30,000 in Brisbane. 
   Hope the day’s events are as well-attended in rest of the world.  I’m definitely on board, because of my grandchildren — I want them to know, when they inherit this tremendous problem from my generation, that I was one of the ones who tried to fix it.
  Sadly, there are no events to join within many miles of our home.  Maybe that’s the case for others as well. So, I was thinking we could share some ways here that we make the extra effort to help our planet.  I’ll start!

  As we replace things that wear out, we try to avoid plastic and find materials that are easy to recycle.  Here are a few of our choices in the last few years:














Glass and metal hummingbird feeder, wooden matches to replace plastic lighters.

















Glass and steel cans instead of plastic, both recyclable in our town, and two of the few materials that are.  Alas, the glass jars are starting to come with this outer piece of plastic around the the lid. Why oh why?  It’s already sealed inside!  The jar is also reusable, handy for storing food in place of plastic “Tupperware”.  

Cotton and other natural fiber clothing (right). They can be cut up and composted when the item wears out and they don’t shed dangerous plastic micro fibers in the wash.



Brushes:  Outdoor scrub brushes of wood and palmyra palm fiber bristles.  We cut them in half to make them last longer and fit the hand better.










Kitchen brushes made of bamboo with plant-based and recycled plastic bristles.  (If we ever have to replace these we will get some now available with a replaceable head.)





























Toilet brush and nail brush of wood and natural bristles.  The bristles of the toilet brush are made of coconut fiber.  


Reusable bags — small homemade ones are produce bags, larger shopping bags fold up small, easily carried in my purse.  The black one in front is folded up.  They hold a ton of stuff.  Yogi tea comes in a cardboard package and the teabags have no plastic fibers in them and can be put in the compost. (Did you know most teabags are made with plastic fibers for “strength”?  They are not compostable and the plastic chemicals leach into your cup.)
Last — dental floss.  700 million of these little plastic 
boxes wind up in the landfills and oceans every
YEAR!  This box is made of cardboard.  (Recently they have started wrapping the floss on the little (plastic) spool inside the box in a small plastic package!  Why oh why??)

  Well, those are a few of the attempts we are making to make the world a better place.  A proverbial drop in the bucket of waste globally I realize.  But what if everyone did the same?  Maybe industries and big polluters would take notice, feel the pressure, and change, cumulatively making a huge difference. 

  If you are interested in sources, most of these things can be found on Amazon but we make an effort to buy them locally first.  It takes work to find them, however.  

  In keeping with Global Climate Strike Day, would you comment and share a few of the things you do that others might be inspired, too?  

24 comments:

  1. Bravo to everyone who makes a sincere effort. Cumulatively it can make a HUGE difference. And a pox on all those who continue to make one excuse after another for doing nothing.

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  2. Loathsome as all the plastic waste is it's not really a cause of global warming, unless you're in the habit of burning the plastic to get rid of it. Tackling global warming is going to involve some harder choices such as having smaller, more efficient cars or better still no car at all; avoiding air travel; producing more electricity by solar-, wind- or tidal power, heating our homes less and consuming locally produced food and generally having a lot less "stuff". And we're also going to be a lot smarter about who we elect as our leaders.

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  3. I joined my first wildlife conservation group when I was 11, and always strive to protect the earth. The earth has gone through warming and cooling since its formation, long before people were around. I do many of the things you suggest but there are new ideas in your list for me, I will look for natural kitchen scrub brushes and floss that comes in a card board box. I prefer to buy cotton clothes, and another thing to avoid is those plastic bottles of liquid hand soap since the pump part can't be recycled.

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  4. I am trying to buy fruit and veg grown in the UK rather than encourage the importing of our food from round the world. I also managed to reduce my car usage by 20% this year by making more use of public transport. If we all make a small effort a huge amount can be achieved.

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  5. I'm on board. I love the satisfaction of finding new ways to do without one-time use plastic. Thanks for sharing the above information. I learned a few things.

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  6. I need to do better and evaluate what I purchase better. I brought home 8 rolls of toilet paper the other day and realized all wrapped in plastic. Do they sell single rolls anymore? Need to look.
    We struggle with the recycling program here because it keeps changing.

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    Replies
    1. We get our toilet paper here:
      https://us.whogivesacrap.org/
      It’s a really neat company — 50% of their profit is donated to build toilets for people who need them.

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    2. Rolls are wrapped in paper. No plastic whatsoever.

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  7. Since long I rarely use ziplocks. All I use reusable boxes. Not only plastic, another waste is also growing is e-waste.

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  8. I like what you say when you don't want to leave your grandchildren a mess. I think if you leave them with the idea to live and keep mother earth healthy you will have done your duty.

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  9. The rallies here took precedence over the news of the Australian Prime Minister on his state visit to the USA.
    Even businesses allowed workers to participate in the rallies - quite remarkable really.
    Some businesses even closed for the staff to participate with the students.

    Let Melbourne be a lesson for Trump to ponder - when it comes to sporting events and protests - Melbourne leads the World
    pack. Trump "hoping" for a visit for the Presidents Cup (Golf) in December will result in one of the biggest fiascoes seen
    world wide. There certainly WILL BE NO GOLF.
    I trust our Prime Minister doesn't make an invitation but I think as he is "sports mad" (Rugby League and cricket to a lessor degree) - an invite to the climate denier will certainly curtail any dreams of Morrison's long Prime Ministership!!!

    RE: The comments on toilet paper and the wrapping - I am sure that toilet paper here is all paper wrapped - well the variety I buy is.

    Great post Cynthia.
    Colin
    PS: Make sure Paul is in overdrive re: the golf.

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  10. This is a great move! My sister and are advocates for protecting the environment. I hope many people would take time to participate in such activity.


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  11. WE recycle everything we can. We use paper plates instead of plastic one! :)

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  12. Sadly there wasn't anything locally. We recycle as much as we possibly can. Old towels are cut up to make cleaning cloths, very little is wasted here. Beach cleaning is also high on our agenda, which happens regularly locally.

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  13. My granddaughter Amity aged 10 years has partnered with her friend to start a clean up day in her small country town 60 km from Adelaide. Her friend attended the march in Adelaide yesterday but my granddaughter stayed at school and encouraged her school mates to look after the environment. I am so proud of her.

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  14. We recycle everything we can. When we moved into our log home in 1989 I decided then to get rid of all plastic. I love the old glass mixing bowl sets and look for them in thrift stores. I love all the items you have featured in your post and will start looking for them. Our hummingbird feeder is glass but has a plastic bottom. Poppy and I pick up plastic cups and straws when we walk Eli and put them in our recycle bucket. Can't beat 100% cotton!! Oh, I love the picture! Thank you for such a great post!

    Cynthia, your grandsons are so cute! Was just looking back at the posts I missed.

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  15. I think it's just an awareness... and then follow-through. No plastic bags, no straws, avoid purchasing things that generate excessive waste, avoid unnecessary travel, etc. We do the obvious things in our household, but we have a long way to go. I love the dental floss packaging, and that's a great example of awareness and follow-through at the manufacturing level. Let's hope this takes off across all different industries!

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  16. Fabulous post thank you Cynthia. The small stuff counts because that's where people start to raise their awareness - and it all adds up. People then start consuming less, fixing more and putting pressure on government - all of which requires us to start doing what we can ourselves. I am on the journey to zero waste, as you know, my blog is full of things that reduce waste. But I try to work bigger than just my own footstep, hence Boomerang Bags, Repair Cafes and community sewing groups. I have a new eco escapade - blog post coming today!

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  17. Yes - The Climate strike was big news in Australia, I have many. many friends in Melbourne who attended. My favourite sign "how much more can a koala bear?" I love the dental floss packaging, we have who gives a crap loo roll in Australia too.

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  18. Happy Birthday! You said it was this week. Right?

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  19. Dear Cynthia, I'm ashamed of myself for doing nothing. Not only that but I use a plastic bag each day to put my scooped litter from the cat's litter boxes. Any suggestions for what I could use instead when I scoop the litter and put it in the trash????? Peace.

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  20. I could do more but we have stopped using plastic bags foe food and the shopping. Well done what you have achieved. And a big cheer for the student protesters.

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  21. Dear Cynthia, stopped by again just to let you know that I've thought of your posting all week. I've stopped putting my scooped kitty litter for four litter pans into a plastic sack each day. That's 365 plastic sacks a year!!!!!! Now I put the litter for the week in a larger sack so that will be 52 sacks filled with litter and trash. That will help a little. I know it's a very little, but I'm thinking of it as a start. Peace.

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