Plastic Bags · Eco-Chick

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People Won't Change for the Environment (on my campus)

by Katie Kish · 09/03/09

A recent article outlines a pretty simplistic poll conducted in London about people’s willingness to change their behaviour for the good of the planet.

A straw poll of 15 British men and 15 British women between the ages of 25-75 in central London, showed all were willing to make small changes for the environment, such as recycling, but few would commit to more fundamental changes to behavior.

The outcome was pretty surprising. People will “try” to drive less, and others take a shot at proper recycling. But no one is ready for a change in their lifestyle. This inspired me. I was sure I could find better numbers and results here in Toronto, Canada. We are supposed to be eco-friendly up here, right?

bags, book, books, business, car, clothes, clothing, consumption, eating, Eco-Chick, electronics, Energy, Food, fur, Home, local, London, meat, News, plastic, plastic bags, plastics, Recycling, reduce, skin, style, Vote, women

Recycled Eye Candy! Whimsical Sculptures From Plastic Bags

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by Arina Vikdorchik · 10/02/08

Arina and the pink bunny!

Rushing around NYC on a recent evening, I was stunned by what I saw in the La Mama gallery. With my nose pressed against the glass window, I gazed in wonder at a marvelously crafted menagerie of objects and characters with animated faces. These were inflated balloon-like sculptures, among which were a giant pink bunny, puffy clouds, a fluttering dove, a melting ice-cream cone, a uterus, and in the gallery’s center, a huge hand pointing to a crazy looking clown wearing kinky panties!!

Check those panties!

When I recognized unmistakable logos like “Have a Nice Day” and “I Love NY”, I realized what these sculptures werr made of; none other than the much-reviled plastic shopping bag! Curious about the story behind this suspected recycled art medium, I got in touch with the Miami-based artist Tawnie Silva. He informed me that his inspiration for this work comes from balloon floats made for parades. Originally Tawnie meant to have these sculptures constructed by a parade float manufacturer to his specifications. Disappointed with those results, Tawnie realized that the way to get this project done right would be to make everything himself.

Ava Eisenson of La Mama Gallery with Uterus piece

At this point his exhibition deadline was approaching and he couldn’t get parade float nylon in time for the show. Tawnie started researching other materials for making his inflatable sculptures. Several artists in his circle recommended plastic shopping bags as being great to work with, and Tawnie found this to be true. In Miami, however, most bags used in stores are the same. Since NYC stores utilize a wide variety of colors in their shopping bags, Tawnie implored his pals in Gotham to recycle their shopping bags and send them to his studio where he transformed them into these fascinating creations……and Ta Da!

Arina with a very happy fat plastic bag-lady!

Check out more plastic bag art at these sites below:
An Australian Artist

A compilation of plastic bag art, here.

Joshua Allen Harris’ Inflatable Plastic Bag Subway Art was covered by Treehugger and Inhabitat.

NYC, plastic bags, Recycling, reuse

Deplasticize Your Life!

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by Starre Vartan · 08/18/08

This movie from the 1950′s shows Disney’s “House of the Future” which is totally kitted out in plastic EVERYthing. Ironic that here I am from 2008 writing about how to get plastic out of my life!

I haven’t picked up a plastic bag in weeks now*, and I’m looking for a new eco-challenge. I think a wholesale elimination of ALL plastic from my life could be a worthwhile next step towards the continuing greenification of my life.** Why plastic? Yes, it CAN be great (plastic medical devices save lives and plastic helps reduce the weight of cars so they’re more fuel-efficient), but mostly, it’s evil.

Reason 1: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area TWICE the size of the continental U.S. that’s filled with floating plastic debris. The smaller the plastic gets, the higher in the water column it floats, with marine life choking on the stuff. The source of the debris? North America and Asia (that’s you and me).

Reason 2: Plastic is made from petroleum, a non-renewable resource that we’re spending millions of dollars and the lives and well-being of our fellow humans to obtain. Eight percent of oil worldwide goes to make plastics. My use increases demand.

Reason 3: Many plastics (we’re not even totally sure which ones yet) leach toxic chemicals into our environment (and us, especially fetuses) when they’re created, and into our bodies when we use them for food and beverage storage. Life is toxic enough without adding to it.

Instead of plastic storage containers, try: Glass ones. There are all kinds, from traditional round-shaped ones from Pyrex, but I like these square versions with frosted tops even better.

Instead of plastic produce bags try: Cloth or reusable ‘green’ bags (or none at all). Naturally-protected produce like bananas, oranges, apples, limes and avocados don’t need a bag- I never use them and my veggies aren’t suffering. Only leafy stuff and small fruits and veggies (cherries, brussels sprouts) really need to be bagged. I use the Evert-Fresh bags (but several companies make these now) because they keep produce fresh in the fridge way longer than supermarket produce babs. You can bring these to the market for those items that demand a carrier, and you can just rinse and reuse these. (I’ve had mine for four years now.) A friend of mine likes different-sized cloth bags which she throws in the laundry every now and again, so that’s another option.

Instead of plastic wrap try: A dish! (My father who lives in Australia actually taught me this one-thanks Dad!) Instead of putting plastic over a plate of leftovers, just use another dish of the same size or smaller. Want to be able to see what’s under there? Use a clear glass plate. For bowls, use teacup saucers (you can find these a goodwill for pennies. Food will stay moist and protected sans plastic, and the plates are reusable forever.

Instead of plastic baggies try: Wax paper bags or a cloth napkin.
This is a toughie. Sometimes there’s nothing like a sealable plastic bag- for something mushy or potentially messy- if I have to, I use mine over and over until they die so I don’t buy more than a box of these every couple years, if that. But for drier items (sandwiches, fruit, cut veggies) a wax paper bag will keep moisture in and it will eventually biodegrade (unlike plastic). I use a cloth napkin for short-term transport of homemade burritos, sandwiches and veggies which won’t leak much but need a bit of protection. I can use it as a napkin while eating; plastic, not so much.

Instead of plastic silverware, try: Bringing your own.
I carry my own utensils- or I should say utensil- with me: the Aussie splayde is perfect, but a spork works too, so I never need to use plastic. You could also try a set of collapsible chopsticks (I find a need a spoon more often than a fork, but think about what you eat and what works for you).

*The key to avoiding plastic bags is to carry an oversized bag so you always have a place for small items, keeping a fold-up reusable bag like Envirosax in your bigger bag, and leaving your canvas bags for grocery shopping in the car so you’re always prepared.

** So far I’ve switched to 75% organic food in my home, I drive only on the weekends, I’ve gotten a super-efficient furnace, use only low-VOC paints, compost food scraps, grow my own veggies and herbs, buy from my local farmer’s market from April-October, adopted all my animals, buy more than half my clothes and shoes from sustainable companies (see my blog, Eco Chick for a listing), take the train instead of flying, switched from a desktop to a laptop (they use 90% less power), bought a water and energy efficient new washer, and line-dry my clothes whenever possible. I’ve been vegetarian for 15 years, so that’s not recent, but it still counts!

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You Might Be an Eco Chick If…..

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by Starre Vartan · 07/02/08

…….you have so many tote bags that you end up giving the person at the checkout line behind you a couple to keep them from plastic-bagging it. You think that maybe some free reusable bags is all that it will take to convert them.

…….you get crazy dehydrated because you REFUSE to buy water in a plastic bottle and you forgot your Sigg at home. Then you get really mad because the public water fountain seems like an endangered species.

……..you decide to paint your wood floors (hey, it’s trendy at least) because you can’t deal with the refinishing chemicals being in your bedroom, using no-VOC paint of course.

…….you carry around your old cell phone in your bag for weeks because you just KNOW you’ll eventually come across a place to recycle it (and you do)!

plastic bags, plastic bottles, Recycling

Green in Paris

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by Melissa Goldberg · 05/19/08

So I think I have used up my allotment of fossil fuels for at least the remainder of this year, or more likely the next decade. Why? My husband surprised me with a birthday trip to Paris last weekend.

Americans have a love/hate relationship with the French. So of course as an American and a “greenist,” I had to do some hardcore observations of Parisian “green” habits and compare them to what we do here. What I discovered from my four days in the “City of Lights” is as follows.

(1) Recycling
There is a recycling program in place in Paris, but I am not sure if the Parisians are interested. On some streets they have huge recycling bins for bottles and cans, but most of them were covered with graffiti (which happens to be all over the city). In the parks, they have recycling bags next to the the garbage bags but as you can see in the picture, recyclables are also placed in the garbage bag. On a walking tour the Marais, I asked our tour guide about how well Parisians recycle. She said they are horrible and during our tour she opened a recycling bin from an apartment building to show us what she meant. It was filled with recyclables and non-recyclables.

(2) Reusables
My husband and I went in a few supermarkets (which I love to do whenever I travel abroad), and outdoor markets and I think I saw maybe 5 people using reusable bags. The worst was in the outdoor markets where you can buy fruits, vegetables, meats, cheese, bread, fish, flowers and much more. The biggest one we went to was in Versailles, and everything was put in a plastic bag. Many did bring their own reusable totes but those bags were then stuffed with plastic bags. It appeared to me that they may use more plastic bags than we use.

(3) Transportation
Paris is a very busy city with lot of traffic. But I would not say that they have any more traffic then New York City. They do drive smaller, and most likely, more efficient cars (I didn’t see one Hummer or SUV) and many people ride bikes and take the subway. I think more people ride bikes in Paris then they do in Manhattan–but not as many as in Beijing. But the most ingenious thing that we observed in Paris was a bike rental system called Velib. The system began in July 2007, with 10,000 bikes, and now they are up to 20,000 bikes all over Paris. Riders can buy monthly, daily or hourly passes to rent bikes stationed at more than 1,400 automated stations across the city. A bike can be rented from one station and returned to another. From what we saw, and from the doubling of the number of bikes in use, it appears that the Parisians love the system. My husband and I wished we had more time to try it out. Its funny, the first few days in Paris we weren’t sure what these bikes were. Initially we thought they were motorized, then we didn’t understand the rental system. By the time we figured out what was what it was it was time to go. I wonder if this would work in NYC?

(4) Food
You should know that I have an obsession with food. Our trip to Paris had some gastronomic highs–the picnic in Versailles– and some lows–dinner at Chez Andre off the Champs-Elysées. So of course I had to find out where the French food comes from. I think this is a department that they really do better than we do. French farmers say no to GMO’s –they even strike and riot to oppose them on a semi-regular basis. None of the fruits or vegetables grown in France are from genetically modified seeds. NONE! We can’t say anything like that here. You can also find organic produce in Paris. We spoke to some butchers and they insisted that none of the meat is treated with antibiotics or hormones and that beef is grass-fed. One of the butchers we spoke with even made a stink face when referring to grain fed beef. I could not find anywhere on the internet to confirm or deny this so I have to take their word, for now. I did ask Shannon Hayes, a grass-fed beef farmer from Sap Bush Farms and author of The Farmer and the Grill and she said “It is my understanding is that not all meat in France is grass-fed. But a fair amount is. Quite often it depends on the breed – charolais beef, for example, is supposed to be exclusively raised on grass. When I was there I saw a lot of cattle grazed and fed in the barn – a model that is infinitely more sustainable than factory farms, but not, according to our strict definitions, grass-fed. The meat is also much more likely to be raised on small farms, not from confinement facilities.”