The blog formerly known as   Fake Plastic Fish

Category Archives: Books Reviews/Discussions

December 12, 2017

New Guide to Plastic-Free Living from Life Without Plastic

Life Without Plastic book

My friends Jay and Chantal, owners of the online shop Life Without Plastic, are brand new book authors!  Their book, Life Without Plastic, was just released today, and I’m very honored to have been asked to write the foreword.  Here’s what I wrote:

Ten years ago, I read an article about ocean plastic pollution – a problem I’d never heard of — and saw the shocking image that changed my life. The photo revealed the decayed carcass of a baby albatross who’d starved with a belly full of plastic, plastic it had been fed by its mother who mistook lighters and toothbrushes and bottle caps floating in the ocean for food. My heart broke as I realized that my personal choices could be causing harm to creatures thousands of miles away, and that very day, I embarked on a mission to see if it would be possible to live without plastic. I created a blog to report on my progress eliminating everyday plastics: disposables like single-use bottles,… Read the rest

July 8, 2015

#PlasticfreeJuly Book Review: That’s a Wrap eGuide

Since writing my book Plastic-Free, I’ve had multiple requests for a condensed version with just the basics for getting started. My answer is usually, “Great idea. How about you write it?” Because seriously, we need as many plastic-free voices in the media as possible. And to be honest, I get tired of hearing my own voice.  Well, now someone else gone and written the shorter guide that people have been clamoring for.

What’s Included

In her new, brightly illustrated digital ebook That’s a Wrap, Australian blogger Lindsay Miles includes basic information about problems with plastic (as well as the drawbacks to recycling and plant-based plastics) and why you’d want to reduce your use of it.  (Scroll down for purchase link at bottom of page.)

After getting the problems out of the way in the first 25% of the book, Lindsay goes on to offer a wealth of plastic-free tips and solutions,

highlighted… Read the rest

November 25, 2013

New Plastic-Free AudioBook is out now with updated content

Do you ever feel like you have a little Beth Terry sitting on your shoulder whispering into your ear things like, “Remember your reusable bags.  Do you really want raw, organic cashews packaged in plastic?  See if you can find them in bulk.  Does that water bottle have BPA in it?”  Well, now you can listen to my voice for real.  (I think you’ll find my actual voice may be kinder and gentler than the one in your head.)… Read the rest

November 23, 2012

Black Friday: To Buy or Not to Buy?

I’ve got a conundrum.  It’s Black Friday, the day in the U.S. when the holiday shopping frenzy officially begins.  Environmentalists decry this day of conspicuous consumption, advocating Buy Nothing Day instead.  And normally, I would be one of them.  But this year, I actually have something to sell:  my book.  In fact, I’ve planned a super cute gift pack with a copy of Plastic-Free, a copy of the Bag It DVD (which is packaged in a paper pulp case), and a cute reusable cotton gift bag from Green Planet Parties.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you want to look at it), I can’t sell this to you today because demand for the book has been so high, it’s sold out!  The publisher ordered a second printing, but it has been delayed.   The books were supposed to have arrived in the warehouse several weeks ago, but so far, no books.  (Keeping my fingers crossed for this week!)

Now, I have a confession to make:… Read the rest

June 28, 2012

When a Plastic-Free Book is Covered in Plastic

When you write a book called Plastic-Free, and your publisher strives to create the book without any plastic materials, you might expect the book will be offered to the public without plastic.  But expect the unexpected.  Logic does not always prevail.  I’ve received a couple of reports of my book being covered in plastic: one situation is truly unfortunate.  The other situation is more understandable.  Here’s what happened.

Plastic-Free shrink wrapped!

One of my Australian readers emailed me to say that my book had been delivered to the bookstore his mom manages completely shrink-wrapped in plastic. He even sent me a photo:

After a bit of freaking out (on my part) and research (on the part of his mom and my publisher), we learned that the Australian distributor had shrink wrapped all 80 copies after receiving them, in an effort to protect them from… what? Human hands? Obviously, they had not noticed the title of the book… Read the rest

June 16, 2012

Plastic-Free Book Officially Launched. Help Spread the Word!

Yesterday was the official worldwide launch date of Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too.   Lloyd Alter from Treehugger posted a beautiful review.  So many of you have ordered signed copies from me to benefit the Plastic Pollution Coalition, that I keep selling out and having to order more!

That’s fantastic.  But there are many more people who don’t get their information from blogs or the Internet and who don’t know there are steps they can take to get plastic out of their lives.  I want them to know that, in the immortal words of candidate Obama, “We are the ones we are waiting for!”  We have the power to change the world through our personal and community actions, and my mission is to give people tools to do just that!

Please help me spread the message of this book far and wide.  There are lots of things you can do to help.  Just as I have Action Items Checklists in the book, here is a long list… Read the rest

May 24, 2012

Kicking the Plastic Addiction Video Promo

I’ve gone commercial!  Well, no I didn’t. But I did make a commercial. Okay, not exactly. Filmmaker Alec Bernal just finished making me an awesome YouTube video promo for my book Plastic-Free. All I did was show up… and bring along the plastic sea monster.  Check out the transformation…

 

Feel free to share this video and embed on your own website if you want to.

Happy Thursday!… Read the rest

May 18, 2012

Compost this Book. But first, check out how cool it is!

I am so full of excitement right now I could burst.  I just received the first case of my new book:  Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too, and I feel like a proud mama right now.  A few nights ago, I had a dream that the book arrived and the pages were made out of plastic.  I couldn’t believe it.  So I called my editor and asked how that could have happened in a plastic-free book, and he said, “It’s not plastic; it’s nylon.”  And I was all, “What?  Didn’t you even read my book?  Nylon is plastic!”  And then I woke up and it wasn’t true.  Still, I have been wondering and worrying.  One commenter on Facebook wrote, “I’m assuming your publisher checked ‘no’ on the plastic shrinkwrap option on the book’s print bid…” and that started me fretting all over again.  What if there was some accident or oversight and the books… Read the rest

March 26, 2012

Plastic-Free Book Exciting News!

As many of you know, I spent most of last year and the first few months of this year researching and writing my book: Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too (Skyhorse). The Kindle version of the book is available NOW on Amazon.com!

Plastic-Free Book is Beautifully Plastic-Free

From the very beginning, my editor at Skyhorse, Joseph Sverchek, was committed to producing this book without plastic. There were some challenges, but he thinks he has succeeded. Check out the Editor’s Note inside the front of the book:

Did you notice that this snippet from the book is blue? That’s because the book is a beautiful 4-color design with photos and tip boxes and highlights in various colors. I am so impressed with the layout of this book, and that’s not bragging because I had nothing to do with it. All the credit belongs to the designer at Skyhorse, who worked to make this book not only useful and readable but really attractive… Read the rest

February 16, 2012

How the Non-Toxic Avenger Ruined My Relationship with Ibuprofen (and other drugs)

So, two weeks ago, I was out of town staying in a hotel with friends and looking forward to a much deserved vacation, when I started to feel the tell-tale signs of a cold coming on. My face hurt, my head throbbed, and by the second day, I had a sore throat. I’ve written before about plastic-free traveling as well as plastic-free cold remedies, but I wasn’t prepared for the eventuality of both happening at the same time.  Crap.  What was I going to do?  My neti pot was at home.   So were most of my cloth handkerchiefs.  And I had no idea how to get soup or cough remedies without plastic in this unfamiliar place.

At first, I tried to manage the symptoms without plastic.  I drank a lot of water (due mostly to my friend’s helpful nagging.)  I found a glass jar of honey and some lemons at the local grocery store.  And I found Woodford Reserve bourbon–which comes  with a wood/cork stopper instead of a plastic cap or BPA-lined screw cap–at… Read the rest