Last year was my first trip to Black Rock City and the annual Burning Man festival of art, fire, and radical creativity, as well as dust storms, cracked feet, and dry, bloody boogers.  I can’t wait to go back. This year, I’ll be part of the Earth Guardians’ Plastic Footprint project — combining art and education […]
Dear Lotus Foods: My husband and I used our old rice cooker a lot. Â We used it so much, that we burned out the fuse and had to replace it. Â I was pretty stoked about being able to fix our appliance and make it last longer instead of tossing it out. Â So recently, when the […]
Today is Independence Day in the United States. Â In Australia and growing numbers of countries around the world, the entire month is Plastic-Free July, so let’s celebrate our independence from single-use disposable plastics! What you can do Register to participate on the Plastic-Free July Web Site (I know, it’s already July 4. Â So what? Â Better […]
I attended the Plastic Pollution Coalition’s Think Beyond Plastics Competition conference two weeks ago and have been trying to find the time to sit down and write about it ever since! There were so many cool plastic-free innovators and activists there, I barely know where to begin. If you will recall from my previous post, the […]
Six years ago, I posted a rant about the fact that many commercial facial scrubs contain tiny plastic (polyethylene) beads meant to exfoliate the skin. Â These beads are too small for water treatment plants to filter out, so they end up in our waterways and eventually the ocean. Â In the ocean, tiny plastic pieces mix […]
Among all the depressing environmental films out there, wouldn’t it be great if there were a funny, entertaining one about what it’s actually like to try and live without plastic? Â Taina Uitto, who has blogged at Plastic Manners since 2010 about her own plastic-free experiment, has been filming her process since day one. Â And last […]
Dr. Marcus Eriksen of 5 Gyres, an organization dedicated to researching ocean plastic pollution, has said, “If you want to clean the gyre, clean your beach.” He meant it literally, since “if we stop adding more plastic to the ocean, in time the gyres will kick out the plastic pollution they currently hold.” Â But I […]
Happy Earth Day everyone. Â It’s been a busy weekend, what with the plastic sea monster out and about. Â I spent several evenings at home braiding plastic bags into a new doo. Â What do you think? Â At San Francisco’s Earth Day Festival on 4/20 (probably around 4:20pm), a somewhat wobbly-looking guy with an equally impressive head […]
Whenever I give my plastic-free presentation, I’m interested to see what the hosting organization will do to ensure the event itself is as plastic-free as possible. Â I try to give tips beforehand so I don’t walk in on a table full of plastic cups (which has happened more than once, ironically.) Â But lately, I’ve discovered […]
Since I’m not a mom myself, I rely on the wisdom of other parents who are working to reduce plastic in their families’ lives. Cloth diapering is one way to cut down on the amount of plastic contacting your baby’s skin and ending up in landfills or incinerators. Here are a couple of guest posts: […]