… that I don’t always have the right answers. This month’s Green Mom’s Carnival topic (which will be published tomorrow on The Smart Mama blog) is “I believe.” Once again, I’m struggling with the theme because when it comes down to it, I recognize that whatever beliefs I hold are merely thoughts in my own […]
Last Wednesday was my birthday. I took off from work and wandered around San Francisco, thinking, dreaming, planning… Somehow I ended up in a gift shop on Union Street called The Enchanted Crystal. It’s my boss’s favorite place to hang out in the whole world… overflowing with shiny, sparkly, pretty stuff. Lots and lots and […]
On Friday, I was happy to hang out with a journalist who is writing a book on plastic and wanted to know what it’s like to try and live plastic-free. So we had lunch together and chatted, and then she followed me to the butcher shop where I take my stainless steel pot to buy […]
I hear a lot of discussion about preserving the planet for future generations. Â That’s fine, but to be honest, my motivation to care for the planet has almost nothing to do with future generations and everything to do with this moment… this one… right here… now. Right now, there are Laysan albatross chicks starving to […]
The title of this blog is Fake Plastic Fish, ostensibly because if we don’t solve our plastic pollution problem, fake plastic ones could be the only kind of fish we have left. And also because of Radiohead, for those who know what that means. But there’s another reason for the word “fake” in the title […]
Turns out the cold I thought I had is actually a mild case of pneumonia. Thanks very much to blogger Rejin Leys from Urban Botany who filled in for me tonight with a post about a crazy new plastic product being promoted by, of all organizations, PETA. This week, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment […]
The topic of this month’s APLS Carnival is “buying local,” which seems to be an important factor in the sustainability movement. In the SF Bay Area, we have year-round farmer’s markets where local producers bring us their fresh crops all year. So for someone attempting to live plastic-free, it’s not hard to add “buying local” […]
With Thanksgiving approaching, I’ve been asked to write about the three green things I’m the most grateful for. Which raises the question:  What’s green? For example, is it greener to bottle wine in glass or plastic? Most Fake Plastic Fish readers would say glass. But there are plenty of other well-meaning folks who claim plastic is the […]
Do you ever feel like a disembodied head? I do. There’s just so much information to know, so much to learn about our planet and how to care for it, and the Internet makes obtaining that information faster and easier than ever. I’m subscribed to a multitude of e-newsletters, all from worthwhile organizations: 350.org Al […]
Walk into the local drug store (this happens to be Walgreens on Powell Street in San Francisco) in September, and this is what you find: We know this. It’s not news that Halloween has become a big plastic party. And it wasn’t so different when I was a kid in the 70’s. Plastic-wrapped candy in […]