Jenni Gilbert I’ve always hated being preached to about what I should/could, shouldn’t/couldn’t be and do, and when and how.
I like to find my own way, by reading and listening to a lot of views and gradually deciding for myself. I’m fortunate to be in a society where I can do that.
So with that privilege, I’ve decided in 2017 to lead a less plastic life.
Plastic has been a core element of my life since forever, so it’s only in recent years that I’ve been given cause to question its ubiquitous place in the way we live.
Like everything in life, there’s a place for plastic; an important and meaningful one.
But the uninformed or downright lazy throwaway kind of use of this synthetic resource – coffee cups, supermarket bags, water bottles, takeaway containers etc and so forth – is the big problem for our world.
There’s the incipient health issues at stake, and the massive environmental toll. These are not abstract issues – all ultimately impact us on every level.
Look, it would be great if I could say I would go plastic-free, but that’s just not going to happen in my lifetime. But I will do what I can to eliminate and discourage unnecessary use.
There are incredibly simple choice I can make, everyone can make, every day.
In what is a millisecond in evolutionary time, I have gone from taking, say, my lunch to school in waxed paper and brown paper bags to work in plastic cling wrap or zip-lock sachets.
I was really inspired by this video fronted by Oscar-winning actor Jeff Bridges and an Aussie campaign I was alerted to by a media friend, Josanne Ryan, on Facebook.
It’s all food for thought in this coming year.
To your health and our world!
