Plastic is Poison

NPR published an article this month about plastic baby bottles shedding microplastics when heated. Years ago, I remember seeing a headline that read “We Are Drinking Our Clothes”. Since then, I’ve seen so many depressing articles about microplastics in the fog over our bay, in the air we breathe, in the water we drink. Plastic is all around us and our reliance on it is also our demise. I suppose on the bright side it’s good for the plastic problem to become more mainstream. Sad pun intended.

When Bubba was born, I was really terrified of three things: 1) him breathing in air pollution like truck or car exhaust or fertilizer (we live in a rural town surrounded by corn fields), 2) him coming into contact with the lawn spray that is so pervasive in our neighborhood and that our dog might track in, and 3) him ingesting microplastics or harmful metals like lead.

Let’s be real. I was worried about these things before he was born. But before I got pregnant, I only had myself to worry about. To bring another life into this effed up world, I feel immense responsibility to keep him safe.

Safe from plastic and toxins. This task just seems so…impossible. Unless, I put him in a bubble. Wait, is that an option?

Here is what I know about plastic:

• All plastic erodes and becomes finer pieces of microplastic.

• Plastic doesn’t ever leave earth. All the plastic that has ever been created? It’s all still on this earth somewhere.

• Most of our clothing is made of plastic or some synthetic material like acrylic or polyester. Continuously washing and wearing our clothes creates more microplastic. I’m looking at you, yoga pants.

Here are the problems with plastic:

• Plastic disrupts our delicate endocrine system.

• A handful of big corporations are the biggest producers of plastic and thus plastic waste. Coke, Pepsi, and Nestle are up at the top.

• Plastic pollution is nearly impossible to clean up. Microplastic especially.

To get sick from plastic, it’s difficult for doctors to diagnose plastic as the root cause. Cancers are unique to the individual, a special formula made up of small or large traces of genes, toxins, and other stressors.

Do we fight the plastic fight until something else kills us in the end? Do I fight for my child, knowing that it might give him a chance at a better life?

Yes, I believe I do. I’ll take that chance.

Gift-Giving

Over the years, I've grown to despise gifts. Period. Both giving gifts and receiving gifts. And, I'm not talking about services or cash. I'm talking about physical items as gifts. I know it's an extremely unpopular opinion and I know it makes me seem ungrateful, but the whole concept of gifts doesn't make sense to me.

When I receive gifts, 10/10 times the gift is something I don't want or need and it's usually something so completely outside of my tastes that it stresses me out to have it in the house.

The gift-giver has now given me a project. I now need to figure out what to do with the item and/or go through the annoying process of returning it. On top of this, I know most returned items end up in the landfill. I could go on about how environmentally unfriendly gifts are.

I understand that there are traditions rooted in gift-giving. The older generation who raised me insists that it is their right and their duty to give gifts. But, I don't buy it. Giving gifts out of obligation feels like a chore. Receiving gifts with a fake smile seems disingenuous. Just give me cash if you must give me something.

The downside is when I ask for cash instead, they reply with, "Well, that's not fun." Fun for whom, may I ask? I don't want my relative’s shopping addiction to use me as an excuse to drain her bank account, distract her from her real problems, and further pollute the earth. (Yes, it’s always a “her”.) Tape the $20 bill to a jar of peanut butter if you want to make it "fun".

Perhaps I'm taking it too personally when I receive a personal gift but at times, I feel like the person giving me "gifts" is discreetly trying to tell me something. For example, if you keep buying me socks as gifts, I'm starting to wonder if you think I can't buy my own socks or if you think my socks are ugly. Either way, I don't want the hint.

And when it comes to giving gifts, I'm sure the feelings are mutual. Do you really want me to spend time out of my busy day to buy a gift for you that you don't want or need? If I tell you I don't want any gifts at my birthday party and you bring one anyway, are you now imposing your tradition on mine?

I wish we were more creative in our acts of love for others. It doesn't have to cost anything. It doesn't have to be anything new. Sometimes lending an ear, paying for my lunch, or making a homemade card can mean more than a stuffie from Australia.

Thank you for listening to my Ted talk.

Sustainability Now

Global pandemic + baby = impossible zero waste

What does sustainability look like for me right now? It looks like disposable diapers, plastic shopping bags, and lots of packages at the door. Admittedly, I’m using Amazon more than I ever have (I don’t know where else to buy Vitamin D drops for infants). I’m buying plastic-wrapped items at the grocery store without reusable shopping bags (our store stopped allowing reusable bags due to COVID). My water usage has increased significantly given the additional laundry, bottles, and pump parts to wash. It feels like my pre-COVID, pre-baby zero waste efforts have gone down the drain.

Actually, my sustainability journey hit a bump in the road when I started getting really nauseated during the early weeks of my pregnancy - about a year ago. The only things that made me feel better were carbs, crackers, and cheese. And they usually came wrapped in plastic. Then came the doctor’s visits. Each appointment, blood draw, and ultrasound created some form of waste. When I actually delivered the baby, I can’t even begin to list all the single-use plastic used during my hospital stay.

Once the baby was born, people felt the need to send lots of gifts. I mean, lots of unnecessary gifts. Not only did I feel stress and guilt over the plastic I did buy, I felt stress and guilt over the plastic I didn’t buy. Not to mention all the time, energy, and waste used to disinfect everything. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. It’s just how I feel.

Sigh. Sustainability seems impossible. Zero waste seems impossible.

I’m doing the best I can. I try to use reusable diapers, but the disposable ones wick away more moisture, which means a less fussy baby. I try to only use reusable wipes. I try to use rubber pacifiers instead of silicone and plastic ones. I try to only buy wooden or rubber toys. I’ve only purchased three new sleepers for the baby; the rest of his wardrobe is secondhand. His crib and mattress are secondhand. We use bar soap, are eating a more vegan diet, and avoid synthetic fabric as much as possible. We’re not driving as much as we used to. 

But, I know this is not nearly enough. There’s so much more I want to do on the community level, the political level, the corporate level.

Simply put, there is nothing sustainable about having a baby. Well, aside from the notion of sustaining one’s lineage. Having a baby is literally the opposite of reducing my footprint. In fact, it’s creating even more of a footprint on this earth. Before we decided to have kids, I struggled with the idea of bringing a child into this world. Our natural resources are already depleted, the planet already overpopulated - why create another mouth to feed? 

Amidst deforestation, climate change, and pandemics, I don’t know what the world will look like in the next ten years. With COVID, I don’t know what the world will look like tomorrow. It’s a terrifying time to be alive. It’s a terrifying time to bring a baby into this world.

My husband and I have had long discussions about how we’d try to make growing a family as sustainable as possible. We want to teach our children how to be sustainable stewards of the Earth, to be a voice for the voiceless. We want our children to be better humans than we ever were. In a sense, we want and need our children to right our wrongs, to pay the dues of past generations.

And yet, it all seems so selfish. Children should have no obligation to us. We brought them into this world. They shouldn’t be pressured to save it.

At the very least, we need to teach our children about respecting our environment, about how our wellbeing is inextricably tied to the wellbeing of our natural world.

Sustainability now? It doesn’t exist.

Just Imagine

Imagine it’s 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣9️⃣ We’ve cleaned up the plastic in the ocean, the toxins in the air. We’ve planted more trees, wildlife is protected and thriving. 

We aren’t separate from nature; when we suffer, nature suffers. Our well-being is the well-being of the natural world. We ought to make time to connect with it. If we take care of nature, we take care of the world.

Happy new year, happy new decade. We can do this 💚