Life Without Plastic

I found another cool green one-stop-shop online called life without plastic. They are even greener than some other places in that they only sell recyclable/natural products. Cool! I wish I had thought more about a products entire lifecycle before I had made other purchases. I have a neoprene lunch bag, which I bought off of reusablebags.com (which is another great shop, but not all of their stuff is cradle to cradle). Life without plastics also has a cool blog which had a neat blogpiece (what is a blog piece? Article? Modern language is getting more terms than I can keep up with!) about tiffins in India. It concerns how cheap plastic is on the rise, where formerly people relied on sturdy metal containers because they could not afford the disposables. An excellent point here is that they could not afford the plastic so they bought containers that would last multiple generations: i.e. pay more money up front, save in the long run. Come to think of it, what does my mom still have and what would I buy at an antique store; cheap plastic containers, or Corningware and Pyrex containers? The Pyrex and Corningware (with the exception of the plastic lids) are still in great condition after years of use, but who wants the plastic? A lot of the Tupperware is actually holding up, but bugs have been known to eat through it, I don't know what is in it, and what could you heat in it?

I am learning, and I "getting greener", but it is disturbing to look back at things I once thought were environmentally friendly and discover that they are not so much. I have learned that it is important that something must not only be reusable, it must also be manufactured responsibly, be sturdy and long lasting, and it should also be biodegradable or recyclable when I am through with it. Durable reusable bags made from canvas or recycled materials, metal water bottles with no liners to leach hormone disrupting chemicals, food storage containers which will also not leach chemicals, recyclable toothbrushes, feminine products... the list goes on! And I continue to learn. I do not think I am being a "hippy extremist" either. These are all rational and science backed concerns. Certain linings have been shown to leach harmful chemicals. Considering where our trash ends up when we are done with it is only a responsible thought process. The only possible negative effect here is that it is getting harder to buy "necessary" items that are not sustainable, which I must throw away (leading me to wonder, how will I evolve? Will I become a crazy off the grid dwelling person on the fringe of society?).