My Earth Day Commitment to Reduce Plastic Waste

Earth Day was first celebrated April 22, 1970, forty-eight years ago today. Wisconsin Senator, Gaylord Nelson, was inspired (or rather saddened) and created this day after witnessing the aftermath of an oil spill in Santa Barbara, California, not far from where I write this post.

These days, with all our hashtag holidays, Earth Day perhaps seems like just another day where we post pretty pictures of nature, say how much we care about the environment and then move on to use that disposable coffee cup or buying a new pair of shoes online, shipped from who-knows-where.

This year though, I’m making a stronger, more lasting commitment and I’m going to do my best to document it here. I want to send less waste to landfills and incinerators. I want to support fewer corporations that make giant profits on my consumerism of cheaply-made goods.

Today, and for at least the next month, I’m going to strive to live as waste-free as possible. I’m going to bring my reusable mug to the coffee shop, not purchase the plastic-wrapped frozen dishes from Trader Joes (oh! Trader Joes!) and bring my water bottle with me everywhere I go.

Perfection is not necessarily the goal, so when I do need to use or buy something that contains plastic, I’m going to document it and keep track of it. And along the way, I hope to share easy ways of avoiding waste and needless plastic.

More than 60 million plastic bottles end up in landfills or incinerators every day. While I can’t stop all of them, of course, I’m going to do my best to limit what I send.

“I’m going to bring my reusable mug to the coffee shop, not purchase the plastic-wrapped frozen dishes and bring my water bottle with me everywhere I go.”