So, my seven day adventure officially ended yesterday... and I'm only now catching up on the entire experience. I say "officially" because I'm actually going to continue this. I think seven days is a great start, but in order to get a real assessment of the scope of the project it has to last a bit longer so that you can see how you'll react when you come across certain situations that you may not encounter in those first seven days.
I'll tell you what though, seven days is definitely enough time to get you trained. My mind has become super hyper aware of how much plastic enters my life. I don't think I can go back from here. Actually, I know I can't.
Day two was unexpectedly easier... We made an early morning road trip to Las Vegas for the New Media Expo. When I say early morning, I mean we left Los Angeles at 12:30am and arrived in LV at about 5am. Didn't have anything to munch on during the car ride, but kept hydrated with my trusty thermos. It's been my lifesaver so far. I seriously didn't realize how many water bottles and Starbucks plastic cups I was using each day.
Once we got to LV, we crashed and woke up in the early afternoon. Ate a plum (that had a sneaky plastic label on it, like I mentioned previously) and had lunch at home. We were staying in at Steve's parents house, so we didn't have to buy any food... which nicely averted any encounters with the dreaded plastic.
Later that evening we headed over to the Revision3 party at the Double Down Saloon. I was prepared. Had a beer instead of the alcohol that was being served in plastic cup. I failed though when I took the "free drink" plastic chip that was being given out. But it was a win when I realized they just go back to the house, and are reusable. Later that night, it was a "fail" when I realized I took the chip home with me. I must have put it in my pocket without realizing.
Dinner that night was home-made, so no problem there. So all in all, I think I did pretty well for my second day...
Total Plastic Damage:
1 small plastic fruit label
1 plastic "free drink" chip
Alex V. said:
Plastic is pretty much ubiquitous today, it's very hard to avoid it. And that's not necessarily all bad, because plastic is a wonderful material. A lot of things we take for granted just couldn't exist without plastic. It's just that being so cheap and easy to produce, we're overusing it. In my opinion, there are three rules to using plastic. Avoid using new plastic if possible, use the plastic you have for as long as possible and recycle as much plastic as possible. That should be all right.
ladimcbeth said:
Regarding plastics used in prescription medications, I've acquired certain habits for a while now. The pharmacists can be pretty obliging if you ask for just the pack of BC pills or the canister for the inhaler (I've got one too) and not the plastic dispensers. I think they will refill pill bottles too, if you ask, though I've never tried.
Zadi said:
@alex: what you say is pretty right on... It's a matter of figuring out which ones you need and which ones you can do without... what's been the most enlightening is that it's really not too difficult when you think of it that way... and less guilt-ridden.
@ladimcbeth: you know, I was thinking about that too. Glad you brought it up. Next time I'm at the pharmacy, I'll make a point to ask for just the refills if I already have the canister/bottle.
kwami k. kwami said:
Could you speak on the plastics used in the production of the automobile that you were riding in on Day Two and whether it is important enough for you to avoid it during your 7 Days?
Zadi said:
@kwami: Yes, I can speak on that. It's a car that I've owned for a long time. The point of the project is to cut out new plastic for seven days so that I become more aware of how much plastic actually comes into my life each day... especially disposable plastic -- like I mention in the video.
Also - it was taken during a road trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas for a conference. The car drive is about 4 hours long.
Leon said:
First of all way to go Zadi, this project is really quite amazing. I notices that besides the kitchen, the bathroom also gets a lot of plastic alerts: Shampoo containers, soap (the wrapping), cleaning solutions containers etc' these things are pretty much inescapable unless you collect them all and send in a big batch to recycling.
Also, I ran through my mom's bathroom as women tend to use more thing in there (no offense) and found that certain type of cotton wool might be synthetic and not natural cotton so if you need it try to find the more natural one.
Saul said:
We live in a throw away society.
We make things cheaply and throw them away after using instead of re-using.
Plastic just makes this easier to do as we would not be able to afford to throw away something made out of a more expensive substance.
Take cameras for example.
Plastic makes sense for items that can't be re-used and can't be made out of paper.
Examples of this would be most things that are used for medical application.
Plastics are also preferable where weight is an issue.
Cars get better gas mileage because of the use of plastic.
Plastic has some properties that no other material have.
Plastic can be molded into any shape you want.
Plastic is water proof and can be made transparent.
Can we make contact lenses out of any other material.
Can we make cell phones without plastic drop them (I do that every day) and expect them to work.
I could go on but I think I made my point.
Thinking you can do without plastic is like thinking you can do without electricity.
Now that I mentioned that maybe you will try to live a whole week without using electricity.
Lisa.fm said:
Hi Zadi,
Thanks for sharing your adventure, you are an inspiration to many.
I'll update my (radio) listeners on your story tonight at 6:15pm or 7:15pm PT... it's a music show, so it will be a quick bit.. but it's a worthwhile message. You can tune in online at www.995thejewel.com or www.star1400.com.
Love what you're doing - keep up the good work!
cheers (in a glass cup),
Lisa
