Throwing up Plastic. It’s the Green Moms Carnival!
Welcome to the April edition of the Green Moms Carnival. Fake Plastic Fish is thrilled to be the receptacle of this Pile of Plastic Posts. And speaking of piles of plastic, did you ever wonder what it feels like to throw up a plastic bag? Then you must see this brand new video (just released today) by Free Range Studios, the guys who brought us The Meatrix and The Story of Stuff. Here is The Bay vs. The Bag:
And now, let’s hear what others have to say about plastic!
Marianna from Green Mama’s Pad presents a comprehensive guide to plastics recycling, including a cute video showing a simplified version of the process, as well as facts about bottled water, in her post, Recycling Plastic. She also submitted a post on having an Eco-Friendly Easter when the carnival was originally scheduled to post before Easter.
Speaking of recycling, Diane from Big Green Purse asks, “If it’s not easy to recycle something, is it really recyclable?” and urges support for a national bottle bill in her post Want to Increase Plastic Bottle Recycling? Put a Deposit on It. Oh, how I love these activist bloggers!
Recycling is fine, but Mary Hunt from In Women We Trust brings us Weeding Out Of Plastic Purchases, in which she wonders why we’ve skipped the first two steps, Reduce and Reuse, and jumped right to Recycle. She urges us to create a plastic-free culture by avoiding purchasing new plastic in the first place.
And speaking of plastic toys, Lynn Miller from Organic Mania (and founder of the Green Moms Carnival) recycles one of her most popular posts: Just Say No To Cheap Plastic Crap.
For the teachers among us, Myscha Theriault offers Eight Simple Ways to Reduce Plastic in the Classroom on her site, The Lesson Machine blogazine. I love these tips from a perspective we don’t often get.
Sommer from Green & Clean Mom presents Reducing the Use of Plastics, sharing her love for glass and stainless steel containers instead of plastic bottles and food containers.
Ruchi Shah has written several articles about reducing our plastic consumption, all published as editorials on the Just Means web site. How to Reduce Your Plastic Use When You’re Out and About, Reducing Plastic While Shopping, and Beyond the Basics for Reducing Plastic pretty much cover it all for the non-parents among us.
Jenn from The Smart Mama is grumpy about plastic. Her post Plastic, Plastic Everywhere: What Would Beth Do? made me laugh, and not just because of the title. Her quip to a guy in the supermarket line is priceless, albeit snarky. But read her post and you’ll understand the frustration!
Another ornery blogger, Alline from A Passion for Green Business reminds us of the damage plastic is doing to our environment and lists 8 steps we can all take to make a difference in her post Enough With The Plastic Already! Like Ruchi, she’s also in the Plastic-Free Posse…
as is Michaela from the Mindful Momma. She ponders the pros and cons of PLA in her post What’s the Scoop on Compostable Plastics? Not every area has city-wide composting that will accept these types of plastics like we do here in Oakland.
Katy Farber from Non-Toxic Kids provides a few handy plastics guides in her post, Plastic Safety Information (a tired parent’s refresher) and cautions us to avoid microwaving in plastic or using plastic cling wrap.
Perhaps the most creative title in this carnival belongs to the post from Anna of Green Talk. How to Unweave Plastic from the Fabric of our Lives offers Anna’s personal story of “snapping” at a salad bar and lists the steps she’s taken to avoid plastic as well as ideas for ways to reuse plastic when it can’t be avoided.
Robbie Schneider from Going Green Mama, one of the most recent Plastic-Free Posse members, offers Parting with Plastic Painlessly. Among other ideas for reducing plastic waste, she asks us to choose our pharmacy wisely. Read the post to find out why.
Lisa Sharp from Retro Housewife Goes Green tallies her plastic for a day in One Day of Plastic and finds that some days are easier than others.
A day is fine, but Deborah from Pure Mothers is doing a 30 Day Plastic Cleanse. Realizing that she can’t entirely give up plastic, she’s focusing on disposable items that only last 1 – 30 days in her home before becoming plastic waste. And like others, she rants a bit about plastic toys in her second post for this carnival, The Plastic Man.
Jenn from The Green Parent was astounded by the amount of plastic she encountered after having a baby and provides a list of great (and cute) plastic-free choices in Plastic-Free Baby Gear.
There. That’s not too much to read today, is it? Don’t worry. I’ll be way too busy this week to write many more words. I’ll probably just post photos from the Oakland Earth Expo on Wednesday. (Are you coming by to visit???)
Oh crap! I have to get our taxes done by then, too!