Wednesday, April 23, 2014

From The Waste Up: Life Without Plastic




      A little over a week ago my friend Erin invited me to the premier of a documentary called From The Waste Up: Life Without Plastic- a locally made documentary about a handful of families attempting to live plastic free for a year. I was on board- these sounded like my people- anyone asking questions and pushing boundaries- anyone who cares enough to try and instill change in an apathetic world- anyone standing up for the environment- these are my people. And so my friend and I got slightly gussied up- as is our usual modis oporandi- we went and grabbed a glass of wine- bought our sustainable- locally made chocolates and we found our seats in the theatre.

  As mentioned From The waste Up: Life Without Plastic follows a handful of folks for a year as they attempt to live plastic free- couples and families alike raise to the challenge of kicking this invasive substance to the curb- searching out alternative solutions to our typical lifestyles. Film maker Taina Uitto has brought to light our addiction to plastic in a very real and down to earth way- as a participant in the project herself she manages to bring a level of humour to a very serious situation.

   Post movie I am staring into my fridge looking for something to snack on- I begin to notice just how reliant our family actually is on plastic- I notice the plastic wrap on the giant block of cheese I am hacking away at- I notice the plastic container our leftovers are stacked up in- our fridge is full of plastic.  Clearly even this eco friendly- low impact family has a plastic addiction. Clearly the families in the documentary were not in fact my people- clearly they are miles ahead.

   When my first baby was born BPA was a prevalent news story- how it was in our environment and affecting our endocrine systems- wrecking havoc on our hormones. I remember diligently sourcing out BPA free sippy cups and silicone eating vessels- but it was still plastic. Our household waste is minimal- or what I thought to be minimal as it is much less than what I have witnessed in other trash situations- we compost- we recycle- we refuse plastic bags when we forget our clothe ones. Still once a week out goes a small bag of plastic- mostly filled with single use food wrappers. Things could be better.

   I think the hallmark of a good documentary is to get people thinking and talking- to wake them up out of their apathy and get them moving in a new direction. Every viewer will take something different to heart- have a different standout moment- for me my take away is to simply use less. To refuse single use plastics more often than I all ready do- to consider how my single use convenience item is going to stick around for thousands of years after only a few moments of use- to take baby steps towards our own plastic free life.

   Check out Taina's blog Plastic Manners for more plastic free inspiration as well as tips for a plastic free lifestyle. Pop on over to the From The Waste Up: Life Without Plastic Indigogo page- make a donation if you feel so inclined!

   

 

3 comments:

  1. Adam gently mocks me for my "jar habit" that I've started, but I use those jars for everything, slowing replacing the plastic in my kitchen. It does make me happy to see my fridge full of ball jars rather than ziploc containers. I'll tackle my cupboards one day, but first I need to replace the cheap Ikea runners my drawers are on, since I'm pretty sure they won't be able to handle the weight of the jars I'd need in my pantry. Oh and I want to make some food cloth, you know that kind that's coated in bees wax and you can you in place of plastic wrap. And on another note, I want to work on ridding my kitchen of tin foil.... but that's another post.

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    1. Oh I fully understand the jar addiction! I have all my most used dry goods in pretty jars lined up on our counter- I am thinking of converting my china cabinet into a dry good pantry- easy access- plus really while my tea cup collection is pretty I could really use the space more efficiently!

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    2. Oh and yes sigh- tinfoil- I am also weaning myself off tin foil!

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