Invite me to come visit
You may have noticed I haven’t been blogging super regularly. That’s because I’ve been traveling around giving talks on plastic-free living in lots of cool places and meeting some amazing people.
Last week, I got together with Danielle Richardet (of the blog It Starts With Me), who cleans up plastic trash on her local beach with her kids and worked on getting smoking banned at the beach, and Bonnie Monteleone (of The Plastic Ocean Project), who has taken several trips out to the Pacific Garbage Patch to see ocean plastic pollution for herself. The three of us gave a couple of joint presentations on plastic in the ocean and ways to reduce plastic in our homes and on our planet. I discovered that presenting with other people, especially local people, is way more fun AND way more effective than simply doing it myself.
We talked to folks at the library in Greensboro, NC:
And we talked to folks at UNCW in Wilmington, NC:
The video from the UNCW talk will be up, hopefully by this weekend, and I will share it here. In the meantime, here is an example of the kind of talk that I give when I am by myself. This is a short version. The longer version contains more information about solutions, as well as a whole section on the drawbacks to recycling.
But speaking alone isn’t as effective as speaking with other local people. Why? Because this isn’t about me. And especially because people need to know that reducing plastic is doable wherever they live… not just in the San Francisco Bay Area. And that someone who lives in the community is actually doing it.
On April 2, I will be giving a presentation in Tulsa, OK along with Lisa Sharp, who blogs at Retro Housewife Goes Green and founded Green Oklahoma. Lisa Sharp is one of the people profiled in my book, and while I’ve known her via the Internet for years, I’m so happy to finally meet her in person! Here are details of the event at the University of Tulsa.
Hi Beth,
The non-profit I work with is considering hosting a Plastic Education Day and would love to have you come speak. I was wondering if you ever get to the East Coast/DC area. If not, do you know of any other speakers in our neck of the woods? Thanks for all the great info and links!
Hi. My family actually lives in the DC area. Will you please send me an email? beth [at] myplasticfreelife [dot] com.
Definitely will come see you at ingredients. I love your newsletter and your site is what got me to thinking about all the plastic we use then trash or recycle. I really appreciate you getting the education started and now you have all your readers as team members. I want to know when you do your talk in Austin. I might even come to the Eco event. I am starting my own business so I am in action and creating customers. Its around food allergies. My main goal is to support restaurants or other institutions with a food allergy training system. My is different and I think supports in a different context than what is out there now.
I appreciate your updates too. Its the only way I can keep up with everything that is shifting. I am so excited about the gmo labels showing up with the non gmo organization and plastic. We have a plastic bag ban in austin and it makes a difference. Now to educate everyone about trash and that there isnt a need for plastic product bags either…
thanks,
Connie
I’m excited about how the plastic-free movement is growing. If you would like to arrange for me to come and give a talk, please contact me via the Contact Form on this site. That’s easier because I am not able to keep up with comments as much as I would like.
tkins Hi. I love what you are doing. You should totally connect up with Lisa Sharp, who runs the blog Retro Housewife Goes Green and Green Oklahoma. I profiled her in my book. She campaigned to get curbside pickup in her town and can probably give you a lot of good advice. She’s at retrohousewife05@gmail.com. Also, if the university would be willing to sponsor me, I would be happy to come and give a talk.
alyssadlee Hi Alyssa. Well, it’s now too late for Earth Month, but I’d love to come to UCLA at some point. Do you want to help me arrange it? Would need sponsorship. Email me. beth@myplasticfreelife.com
_hillary Hi. Unfortunately, the Boston trip has been put on hold. I’ll update the calendar when it’s back on or when I will be in the area.
@Sarah S Yes. I’d love to come to IN. Will you please email me directly to discuss? beth@myplasticfreelife.com
@Larisa Lieberman Would love to. I doubt it will happen in the near future unless I can arrange a whole tour to justify the carbon expense. Not to mention the money. 🙂
@melanie t Hi. I would be very interested in coming to Canada if I can get sponsorship. Will you please email me directly to discuss? beth@myplasticfreelife.com
@Evangeline Navarone As long as I don’t have to shoot wolves. 🙂
@Sabina Lucia OMG I would love to come to London. I want to visit Unpackaged. I was there once in the mid-90’s, but not since. I would have to arrange a lot of different talks in order to justify the carbon emissions. 🙂
@Alice Williams O’Dea I’d love to come to TN. Will you please email me directly so we can discuss sponsorship ideas? beth@myplasticfreelife.com
@Janice Pennington Can you help me arrange this? Would love to discuss the possibilities. Please send me an email. beth@myplasticfreelife.com
HeatherA Hi. Would you please email me directly so we can discuss? beth@myplasticfreelife.com. So far I’ve only visited Portland.
@Sandra Ann Harris Thanks!
I’ve had a quick stroll around your website you are based in San Francisco (I think) but if you are near the UK please let me know (i will bookmark this page) as it sounds like something my company would be very interested in. My company deals in recycled plastics and we are always looking at ways to help the environment and from what I have read you are a very inspirational woman who could help us alot.
I personally recycle what I can at home and try to reuse bags and stuff but to do what you are doing is great – I honestly don’t know how you do it so much! `Next time I find myself in the supermarket I will find myself seriously considering the packaging that I am buying along with the food I buy – Thank you for that I think you have given me the wakeup call I needed.
I will link in my company website below and you can find my office contact details on there if you are ever in the UK – just ask for Maddy.
spokane wa would love to have you and I would love to speak with you!
Hi. Please send me a direct email at beth@myplasticfreelife.com to figure out how we could arrange a trip to Spokane. I’ll actually be in the San Juan Islands in a couple of weeks. Is that anywhere near Spokane? (I know… I could look it up on the map. Just being lazy.)
@Sarah S I’d make the drive for this!
Would love it if you could make it to Indy sometime!
How can we make it happen? Email me. Let’s figure it out.
Beth! You’re my hero! Please come to Milwaukee WI!!!! We have a great Urban Ecology Center that I’m sure would love to have you speak.
I hope you can come to Austin Texas! Maybe at in.gredients?if no one else here would talk I’d do it, but I’m sure there are people here who are free-er of plastic than me.
Dear Beth,
My husband and I would love to have you come speak in the Rogue Valley of Southern Oregon.
I am posting a comment so that you may get in touch with me regarding a speaking engagement.
Thank you,
Heather and Robert
I have been trying to live a plastic-free life… I bring my own shopping bag whenever I go to markets and grocery stores…I installed a water filtering device so I don’t need to buy bottled water anymore…I tell my househelp not to bring any plastic inside my home and it work well…Whenever it’s unavoidable that I get plastic (containers of oil, detergents, handwash, etc), I encourage my househelp & driver to segregate them and sell them to junk shops, proceeds of which they share.
I’m wondering if you’re only doing visits in the United States or if you might be open to coming to Canada! I’m in Windsor, Ontario which is right across the border from Detroit, MI. If you might be interested, I could look into getting sponsorship from the University of Windsor as well as local healthy living groups. I am so determined to make this happen! 😀
Come to Bloomington, IN! I could try and get sponsorship via IU or perhaps the city. Let me know what you need!
(Sorry, I accidentally posted this in the events page comments by mistake!)
I see you’re possibly coming to Boston in June – awesome! I work at a university here, so summer isn’t the best time in terms of getting sponsorship for an appearance since not many people are around. But I would love to hear more about your plans as they develop!
The folks at UCLA would LOVE to have you speak about plastic pollution, especially with Earth Month coming up! We have a lot of great outreach events planned so you will have a platform from which to reach a large number of people, not just those of us who are already sustainably inclined!
Thank you so much for the opportunity!
I’m a graduate student at UNC Wilmington – unfortunately wasn’t able to make it to the event (Monday night classes, ugh!). Looking forward to seeing the video!
Hello Beth, I appreciate your wisdom and your work. I would really appreciate it if you could come to Missoula, Montana and help me with my recycling ACT. I am a college student at the University of Montana and our down does NOT recycle. Our entire city does not depend on recycling or worry about separating garbage. After living in Seattle for 5 years Ive learned a lot about the advantages. I want to help my town to make a difference. Already people have been talking about doing something. So I have created and organized my proposal for the city. But I need your help and I need your expertise. If you would consider coming to see us I would arrange something with my school so you can speak. I would love to hear from you. Please send me and email if you can. Thanks!
Cleveland! Some scientists estimated recently that Lake Erie has more plastic pollution than the any oceanic sample on record.
See?
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2012/12/record_levels_of_plastic_pollu.html.
And plastic waste reduction is NOT a thing here. My farmer’s market people still look at me like I have three heads sometimes (I’ve been shopping there for 6 years now) when I ask for no plastic bag. Ugh. Please come here.
After you’ve visited Marge (because yes the UK needs you!) pop over to Portugal, if you’re gunna be in Europe anyway!
I would absolutely be interested in knowing more information about sponsoring you to come to this area. I am working on starting a local non-profit for eco-friendly choices in this county (Onslow, NC…not far from Wilmington!). You can reach me at green.onslow@live,com!Thanks so much!
I’m so excited to finally meet you in person after all these years of being online friends. And I’m so flattered that you want me to share the stage with you.
Please come to Newbury, UK! I have just tried to give someone a reusable bag in the supermarket and he said “no”. Not “no thank you”, and continued to pack his groceries into orange disposable bags. We need you!
And also if Danielle Richardet, Lisa Sharp, and Bonnie Monteleone have the courage to do it, you can too!