Yesterday Morning at Damon Slough

If I want to see plastic pollution, I don’t have to travel all the way to Midway Island or even up the coast to Kehoe Beach.  I can just jump on BART and ride a few miles south to Oakland’s Damon Slough, one of Save the Bay’s Top Five Trash Hot Spots year after year, which is what I did yesterday morning with other members of Green Sangha.  Armed with a pair of hemp gardening gloves (to avoid the disposable plastic gloves I knew would be provided to us by the park service) and my good intentions, I set off down the shoreline to pick up trash — and take a lot of pictures. (Click on pictures to see larger versions.)

From a distance, the area looks pretty clean, right?

Until you look closely at your feet and notice how plastic has infiltrated seaweed so closely that it’s hard to tell anymore what is natural and what is man made.

Signs of what humans have done naturally for millennia, preserved in plastic.

The evidence of how we both enjoy and destroy ourselves.

Plastic straws camouflaged to match the surrounding sticks.  I’m both amazed and aghast.

No plastic here?

Not so fast!

What about here?

Look more closely…

Turn over handfuls of twigs, leaves, sand, and earth.  You won’t find an inch without some kind of plastic.

Some of the stuff flaunts itself brazenly in the morning sun.  The bright colors entice me despite all I’ve learned about plastic and its drawbacks.  I feel like I’m on a treasure hunt… but the “treasure” is a lie.

It dares me to laugh in spite of myself…

Other bits seek shelter in cracks and crevices…

In return, living creatures attempt to make plastic their home.

Some of these things have been here so long, they crumble in your hand when you try to remove them… reminding us that plastic never goes away, it just breaks apart into smaller and smaller pieces.

Alison Vogel, a Green Sangha member, sent out an email the evening before our Damon Slough outing to encourage people to come.  Her words made me cry.  Not being one to hoard my tears, I thought I would share some of her email with you.

This shoreline we are cleaning up on Saturday is a beautiful part of the East Bay Regional Parks, with gorgeous views of the Bay, San Francisco and Mt. Tamalpais. And it’s terribly polluted with empty alcohol bottles, plastic cigar holders, crumbling Styrofoam that breaks into little fish egg size balls that get mistaken for food, plastic Halloween size candy wrappers by the hundreds, plastic bags, plastic toys, tons of little broken bits of plastic….and worst of all….lots of syringes. We found 8 last time in just two hours. There is no paid staff to get out there and clean this stuff up.

This area is home to hundreds of birds.

Last time I got to see an incredibly gorgeous Snowy Egret through my friend’s binoculars. Something I had never seen up close like that, or maybe ever for that matter. Not that I recall. It was so majestic looking, standing on one leg to conserve energy with it’s fluffy white feathers blowing in the wind. I was filled with a mixture of awe and respect and amazement, along with shame for our ignorance, disconnect and destruction as a species, and then more gratitude, inspiration and hope that all of us cared enough to be cleaning this stuff up! This is their home and ours too. Though they live in harmony in a closed loop that keeps it in balance, we with our “higher” consciousness have not yet evolved in a way that is non harming. It’s always deeply puzzling to me that the most intelligent species, other than perhaps dolphins and whales, have come to this place in history and our Earth, our only home, is in such a crisis.

It comes up a lot, in a waxing and waning sort of manner, “What is the point of my existence here? How can I make this life mean something?” And it always comes back to selfless service. Just get out there and do something that needs doing that will bring peace, joy, happiness or simply less suffering for others.

It’s so simple, so easy, so rewarding and the options unlimited.

Last night, walking to dinner with Michael, I picked up a smashed blue dental floss container and several plastic Easter eggs that were lying in the gutter.  What will you pick up the next time you leave your house?  What will you notice?  And how will you let it change you?

That mission?  To spread the message that we can refuse disposable plastic! And that there are lots of great alternatives.

Take the Quiz. Win a Book.

I also wanted to disabuse people of some common fallacies about plastic.  So I asked people to take the Plastic-Free Quiz & Pledge for a chance to win a copy of Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too.  Now I offer you guys the opportunity too. Please leave your answers in a comment below, and I’ll choose a winner next week.

1)       True or False: Most of the plastic in the ocean comes from ships at sea.

Answer: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/science/july-dec08/plastic_11-131.html

2)       True or False: A number in the arrows at the bottom of a container means the container is recyclable.

Answer: http://myplasticfreelife.com/2007/09/wait-are-you-sure-thats-recyclable/

3)       True or False: Plastic labeled “BPA-Free” is always safe to eat or drink from.

Answer:  http://myplasticfreelife.com/2011/04/bpa-free-does-not-mean-safe-most-plastics-leach-hormone-disrupting-chemicals/

4)       True or False: Airports will not let you bring your own water bottle on a plane.

Hint:  http://myplasticfreelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/airport-water-bottle-security.jpg

5)       What one change will you make this week to use less plastic?

I can’t give you the answer to number 5, but I can help.   How about choosing a alternative from the Plastic-Free Guide?  Or collecting your plastic for a week and taking the Show Your Plastic Challenge?  How about writing a letter to a company?   And while you’re at it, how about signing the petition to urge Trader Joe’s to reduce plastic produce packaging?  There’s a lot to be done this week.  Get to it!

1) Ask attendees to BYO: bring their own reusable cups, bottles, utensils, containers, and even shirt!

Green Sangha’s website announcement of its Plastics 360 event in Lafayette last month included the following:

Refreshments:  Light, earth-friendly snacks will be provided at registration (9:00-9:30 am).  BYO lunch!  We will provide coffee and beverages.  (BYO mug if you can.)

And at the Zero Waste Youth Convergence in San Francisco the next day, attendees were ask to do the following:

Bring: $15, plate/tupperware, fork, cup/mug and a plain, light-colored T-shirt for screen-printing your conference t-shirt. Don’t forget a notebook and pen, if you want to take notes; together we will redefine Zero Waste; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rot.

Yes, in addition to asking the kids to bring their own foodware, they also asked them to bring an old shirt so that instead of acquiring yet one more tee shirt, they could screen-print the conference logo onto a shirt they already had.  For kids that forgot to bring a shirt, the organizers provided second hand tee shirts from thrift shops.  I thought this was the coolest idea ever.  (Yes, the acrylic textile ink comes in a plastic jar and is itself a kind of plastic, but any tee shirts would have been printed with similar ink, whether ordered from a tee shirt company or printed by hand.)

2. Provide durable dishes, cutlery, and glasses.

If  people don’t bring their own foodware, or if you don’t want to ask them to, it’s easy to provide durable, washable dishes.

You can go all out, like the Reuse Alliance’s ReUseConex in Portland, Oregon, last year, where all the foodware was reusable and the spread was amazing.

Or keep it simple and provide finger foods with reusable mugs from thrift shops.  That is what Save Our Shores did at their event a few weeks ago.  More on that later.

3. Charge a fee for compostable paper cups.

Although Green Sangha asked attendees to bring their own mugs, the organizers did provide compostable paper cups for those who had forgotten.  The key was that they charged $1 donation for each cup.  That donation not only benefits the organization but hopefully will encourage people to remember to bring their own next time.  (Note: the compostable paper cups contain a corn-based plastic lining rather than a polyethylene lining like most paper cups.  They are not perfect, but better than plastic cups.  Another alternative are cups made entirely from plant fibers with no lining.  )

4. Provide filtered tap water.

At all the events I’ve attended recently, water was provided in bulk containers rather than plastic bottles.  Containers were glass or metal or plastic.  (Life Without Plastic makes a cool stainless steel bulk water container.)  Green Sangha provided water from U.S. Pure Water, which came to the event and set up its water bar filtration system in the venue’s kitchen.

5. Provide zero waste or plastic-free food.

Save Our Shores‘s Marina Maze shopped the bulk bins at Whole Foods to provide food for my plastic-free talk in Santa Cruz last week.  No one thought to take a picture of the spread, so this photo of Marina shopping for the event will have to do.  Marina said:

We purchased bulk almonds and put them in an old aluminum cookie can. Bulk dried cranberries and put them in an old glass honey jar. Bulk yogurt covered pretzels we put in an old glass spaghetti sauce jar. Tangerines from the produce section, no plastic bag necessary :). 2 loafs of bread in paper sleeves (the only waste we created). Lastly we ground fresh peanut butter and put it in an old glass applesauce jar.

It was so easy to get it all plastic free! Just takes a bit more planning.

6. Save paper by finding multiple uses for each sheet.

In addition to the ingenious tee shirt idea, the organizers of the Zero Waste Youth Convergence figured out a way to give everyone name tags and also make sure they held into their program agenda.  They printed the agenda on the back of each fold-out name tag.  I think this is a really cool idea.

7. Collect plastic name badge holders to reuse.

I know you were wondering about that plastic name tag holder and wondering if I had gone nuts.  But if organizations would just make a point of collecting them at the end of events instead of letting people walk off with them (people who really don’t want them anyway but just forget to take them off), then they could be used over and over again for future events.  I try to remember to give mine back at whatever event I go to, but it’s nice when the organizers, like those at the Zero Waste Youth Convergence, plan for it.

There are just a few of the steps organizations and individuals can take to reduce waste when planning events.  I plan to use this post as an example for organizers who would like to schedule a plastic-free talk in the future.  What is missing from this list?  What strategies do you use to reduce plastic or waste at large gatherings or public events?

The Great Cloth Diaper Change

by Janice Roodsari of Momma Words

Have you heard about the Great Cloth Diaper Change? All around the world people are learning about how using simple, reusable, cloth diapers can make a BIG impact on a family’s finances, environmental waste and pollution, as well as the health of your baby. To help spread the word about the benefits of cloth diapering, an event called The Great Cloth Diaper Change was dreamed up and the Real Diaper Association turned this dream into a reality.

The Great Cloth Diaper Change is an annual event (in its third year) where parents and caregivers gather with their babies to change a diaper in an attempt to set a world record for the most cloth diapers changed in one day. You don’t even need to be a cloth diaper user to participate because most sites will let you borrow a cloth diaper for the event (and once you try it, you might find it’s easier than you think!)

All around the world local hosts set up a location for “the change”. Some locations will be intimate, smaller gatherings, and some events are so large that they need multiple venues to contain their hundreds of participants! Many locations, like my Ventura, CA location, take this opportunity to invite relevant people and businesses from their community to make this event a baby/parenting fair where parents can learn about businesses and services that will benefit them. All events focus on cloth diapering advocacy and education. We also collect donations for the Real Diaper Association so that they can continue in their efforts to advocate and support local advocates in cloth diapering. Last year there were 8,251 qualifying participants!

If you are a parent of a child in diapers, are expecting your first child or are a business that supports natural minded parenting, I encourage you to visit GreatClothDiaperChange.com and search their map to find a location near you! Your local host would love to have business sponsors and as many participants as possible!

Save the date on Saturday, April 20th, 2013 for the Great Cloth Diaper Change and meet your local cloth diapering resources and community. Talk to cloth diapering families and see how much money they have saved. Ask about laundry, leaks, poop and blowouts. I think you might be surprised at how doable it is to use cloth diapers. I cloth diapered twins! P.S. What’s a blowout? (Cloth diapering parents might not even know what a blowout is!)

Read more from Janice about twin parenting, cloth diapering and green living at http://mommawords.com.  

Share The Love

by Toni Keltner of Toni the Chic Momma

I first began cloth diapering back in 2011 after meeting Jennifer Labit the owner and CEO of Cotton Babies and creator of bumGenius, Flip and Econobum cloth diapers.  I had been curious about cloth diapers and Jennifer graciously gave me my cloth diaper start by personally sending me some bumGenius cloth diapers.  She introduced me to the world of fluff and I have been cloth diapering full-time ever since.  When I first heard about the Share The Love program, I knew I just had to be involved.  Jennifer Labit was such a blessing to my family and I wanted to help pay it forward.

So it is such a relief to finally have some help this summer.  I met Ericka Alicea a few years ago after giving a presentation on plastic-free living for a class at San Francisco State University.  Ericka will be all over this site, moderating and responding to comments, posting in the forum, responding to email, and conversing on Facebook and Twitter and other social media sites.  She’ll also be working with me to get a Trader Joe’s campaign off the ground finally.  (Yay!)

Here’s a little about Ericka in her own words:

Greetings! I’m Ericka Alicea, Beth Terry’s new intern. I’ll be helping out with managing her blog, myplasticfreelife.com. I’m currently a student at San Francisco State University where I’m majoring in Geography; my focuses are environmental studies, renewable energy and sustainability. I first met Beth when she gave a talk to my ‘Geography of Garbage’ class. Yes, this is a real class and I wish everyone had the opportunity to take it. I run into plastic challenges everyday and enjoy learning new ways of limiting my plastic consumption and becoming a better steward of the earth. Besides being a student I’m also a home brewer, snowboarder, weight lifter, and dessert maker. I look forward to interacting with members of the blog and hope for the opportunity to even meet some of you.

Please welcome Ericka and leave a comment with any words of encouragement or questions for her.

Give a Talk with Me

Are you reducing plastic in your own life?  Do you have information about resources and strategies where you live?  Then please consider joining me on stage or at the front of the room for a plastic-free presentation.  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.

Let’s Talk

If you would like me to come to your town for a talk and book signing, please contact me or leave me a comment here with your contact information.   I can let you know what kind of sponsorship I would need in order to come (because, unfortunately, I am not independently wealthy) and what dates I have available.  And if you are willing to get on stage with me and share your story, that would be even better!

Switching to Biodegradable Material

Yesterday, Ryan emailed me a link to the company’s new Kickstarter campaign. The campaign is to fund the development of Turtleback 2.0, a version made from biodegradable plastic (Mirel), a plant-based plastic that is certified to not only biodegrade on land but also in sea water. In fact, it is the only bio-plastic certified to break down in the ocean, as far as I know, and it has also been tested by the folks at the Algalita Marine Research Institute, whose mission is to solve the plastic pollution problem.

Why does the company need a Kickstarter to make the change? For one thing, Mirel is freaking expensive at this point. It’s not cheap like fossil-based plastic because there is not yet the demand for it.  What’s more, the new Turtleback will be manufactured in the United States instead of China.

Keeping It Real

While I think switching to bio-based, biodegradable materials is a great step, I want to encourage Turtlebacks to change their advertising images.  I am still seeing that ubiquitous red solo cup (which is made from polystyrene) in many of their images, as well as disposable plastic bottles and other non-biodegradable plastics.  Wouldn’t the Turtleback cup holder look great holding a stainless cup or water bottle?

How about something like this?

Please Show Your Support

When companies listen and take action, it’s important for us to show our support.  Here are some things you can do:

1) Contribute to the Kickstarter campaign

2) Leave a thank you comment on Turtleback’s Facebook page

3) Forward the Kickstarter page to your friends / post on Facebook / Tweet

4) Give a helpful suggestion — ask Turtleback to change its marketing materials to show reusable cups and bottles instead of disposable plastic.

Every Friday, the priests pick up plastic trash around the office with the neighborhood children.

Cambodia has had a tragic past and has only quite recently begun to open up to the modern world. Our cities are urbanizing very rapidly. But as people reach out and embrace modernity, a lot of other things such as disposable plastic is seeping through and is turning Cambodia’s beautiful rustic landscape into a littered mess. Cambodia does not need these problems, and perhaps this coming Lenten season will be a good opportunity to pray and discern together how better still to serve this beautiful country.

Last year’s Lenten season was my first time to fast from plastic, avoiding purchasing or consuming anything that came in disposable plastic. Immediately, I was compelled to consider the packaging and material of the things I ate and used. Our lifestyle here in Cambodia is already quite simple, so this abstinence quickly began to revolve around food. The first to go were instant noodles, of which we eat a lot, then cookies, candies, and other snacks that come in throw-away wrappers. Bottled water, though recyclable, still takes energy to process and is something that could be avoided in the first place. It was best to keep things simple and use my own BPA-free bottle.

I was then forced to be creative and look for alternatives. This is a crucial stage where many could get discouraged, but I hope more and more people get to cross this threshold. I began to use my own containers for things that I bought, and looked for food that was more traditionally cooked and packaged. Although sometimes that meant choosing not to eat something tasty, or simply not to eat anything for a while, it made me healthier and later realize that I do not need to eat all that I want to eat. After all, I wasn’t being deprived of nutrition, but only of a tasty snack.

The plastic fast actually helped form my experience of Lent. It gave me a sense of the desert by doing away with many items in my daily life whose effects I had not previously discerned. It led me to a reconsideration of my eating habits, my purchasing actions and values, and an evaluation of my own lifestyle and how I affect others, the greater society, and creation.

Proposal to the Church of Battambang, Cambodia, for Plastic-Free Lent 2013

(Download a PDF copy of the proposal to use as a model for your own congregation.)

“The Church has a responsibility towards creation, and she considers it her duty to exercise that responsibility in public life, in order to protect earth, water and air as gifts of God the Creator meant for everyone…” Pope Benedict XVI, Message for World Day of Peace, January 2010

1. SUMMARY
For many years now, during the season of Lent, the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang has incorporated environmental themes into the prayers and practices of the faithful. For example, some weekly themes identify the garbage around us with the garbage of sins in our hearts. This year, as the Church invites us once again to prepare our hearts through acts of penance, prayer, and corporal works of mercy, perhaps it would also be a good idea to be more mindful of the garbage we generate through our everyday actions and actually reduce our trash output by fasting from plastic. Thus, for the coming 40 days of Lent, let us try to abstain from purchasing or using items that come packaged in disposable plastic, as our way of reducing our own harmful impact on creation.

2. RATIONALE
Fasting from food and abstaining from meat, from other things that give us pleasure, or from our bad habits, bring much spiritual benefits if we offer our sacrifices to God. We enter into our own desert experience with Jesus.

If we try to abstain from disposable plastic during this Lent, we can also reach our own deserts.   We will have to think about the things we buy and why we buy them, to examine our consumer values and clarify what is important to us. Usually, we throw away disposable plastics without much concern or thought. But as it leaves our sight, it does not really go away; it just becomes someone else’s problem.

Thus, our abstinence from disposable plastics helps other people and the rest of creation. As we reduce the amount of garbage in our homes and communities, we reduce its harmful effects on nature and act in solidarity with creation.

3. WHAT IS WRONG WITH DISPOSABLE PLASTICS?

The main concern about plastic is that it is not biodegradable. Plastics are normally made of materials extracted from crude oil, the same type of oil that is used to make fuel for cars and motorcycles. The most common type of plastic bag is made of polyethylene, a new substance made by humans that microorganisms do not recognize as food. Since no existing bacteria can break down plastic, it cannot biodegrade like other organic materials.  What happens to plastics is that it photodegrades. When plastics are exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet radiation for a long time, the polyethylene material becomes brittle and begins to crack, breaking into many tiny pieces. This process is estimated to take between 500 and 1000 years, but even when the plastics break into smaller fragments it remains non-biodegradable and toxic for the animals and humans that eat them.

Plastics clog waterways and can cause floods in cities. Eventually, they make their way to the sea. In fact, plastics are the most pervasive form of ocean litter. There they pose a serious danger to birds and marine animals that often mistake them for food. Thousands of animals die every year from swallowing or choking on plastic items.

So why do we continue to use disposable plastic bags to carry our things for only a few minutes, but which will then become a problem for creatures and the Earth for hundreds of years?? It does not make sense.

4. WHAT CAN WE DO FOR THIS LENTEN SEASON?

• As you buy things from a store, try not to accept the plastic bag that they will usually use to put the items that you bought. Instead, put the purchased item in your own bag.
• Refrain from purchasing or drinking water from disposable plastic bottles. Recycling consumes energy and just because they can be recycled does not mean that they are actually recycled. Use your own re-useable water bottle.
• Abstain from the use of plastic straws, polystyrene lunch boxes, and other food items that come in disposable wrappers, such as noodles and candies. These items cannot be recycled and are either thrown away or burned, both of which are not good to do.
• If you do have to buy plastic, make sure that it is recyclable, and that you dispose of it in a way that will assure that it will be recycled.
• Of course, exceptions are made for medicines and other important items that offer no alternatives.
• Take good care of the things you already have so that they last longer and are not easily destroyed and thrown away.

Gabriel Lamug-Nañawa, SJ
Jesuit Service-Cambodia

What Else Can Houses of Worship Do to Reduce Plastic Pollution?

Coincidentally, just yesterday I also received an email from a man who has invented a dishwasher rack to hold reusable communion cups so churches can get away from disposable plastic cups.  The device itself is plastic, but it could save lots of disposable plastic in the long run.  I thought it was pretty cool.

Has your church or place of worship instituted any measures to reduce plastic? What are they? And what ideas could you suggest this year?

I tried on the ChicoBag Bag Monster costume at SF Green Festival in 2009.

But have you encountered the Reusable Bag Monster?  Witness the one in my kitchen:

Good lord!  How many reusable bags do two people actually need?

Apparently, I am not alone.  My friend Amber Strocel has blogged about having too many reusable bags.  And in her post, she links to others in the same situation.  Reusable bags have become the swag du jour at many events.  Some of them are so cheap that companies buy them and hand them out like disposable bags.  Usually, the give-away bags are not cotton, like the ones in my growing collection, but cheap non-woven polypropylene bags that look like cloth but are actually plastic.

Reusable Bags are not magic

It seems like some companies think that just providing a reusable bag with their product will suddenly make the product “green.”  Here’s a recent example:  When my employer asked me to order a new computer monitor, I chose Lenovo because their monitors are all certified GOLD by EPEAT, an organization that rates and ranks electronics by their environmental impact. So when I opened the box, I was shocked to find mostly a whole lot of Styrofoam and plastic packaging.  Ironically, the monitor itself, tucked into all that Styrofoam, was covered with a reusable bag that read, “Going green with Lenovo.”

“Oh!” I shouted, slapping my forehead.  ”That’s why it’s green.  Because it comes with a reusable bag!”

A reusable bag is not green in and of itself.  It doesn’t magically counteract the impact of Styrofoam just because it’s added to the package.  it isn’t green lying in a pile of other unused reusable bags.  Reusable bags require materials and energy to manufacture, and just like anything else, are only green if they take the place of disposable bags.  Many disposable bags.  Which means, we not only have to remember to bring them with us whenever we go out, but we should resist the urge to accumulate more of them.  The person with the most reusable bags does not win.

I like to carry a couple of ChicoBags with me in my purse because they stuff up very small, so I am never without a reusable bag, no matter where I find myself.  And I carry several canvas bags when I am going on a planned grocery shopping trip or to the farmers market.  Some people keep a few in their car.  I don’t have a car, so I just have to remember them.

What to do with Extra reusable bags

Michael carries extra bags with him and offers them to people in line at the checkout counter who don’t have a bag.  He says, “Here, would you like one of these?  Just please remember to bring it back with you and use it again.”  There are still a lot of people who don’t have their own reusable bags.

We can also offer them on sites like Yerdle, Freecycle, Craigslist, or use them to drop off unwanted items at thrift stores.

My goal is to reduce that pile to only the number of bags we will actually use, and to USE THEM!   What ideas do you have for remembering to bring your bags and for spreading the wealth if you have too many?

Dear Richard Branson & David Cush,

This letter serves two purposes.  First, to express my sincere gratitude for all you have done to make Virgin America the only airline I can fly without crying the whole time, and second, to ask you to address the issue of plastics on your flights.  First, the good stuff.

I’m a nervous flyer.  On takeoff, I’ve been known to cut off the circulation in my partner’s hand from gripping it so tightly.  And years ago, I had flight attendants offering me free alcohol even before the plane took off (and even though I was sitting in coach) just to calm me down.  But nowadays, after a little hypnotherapy and the advent of Virgin America, I actually enjoy flying.  Which is fortunate, because after the release of my book last year, I’ve found myself sitting on planes probably more often than in all other years combined.

The Flying Womb

From the moment I enter a Virgin America plane, I feel calm.  Perhaps that is because of the soothing blue and lavender mood lighting.  Really, your cabins are just lovely.

The seats are soft and comfy.  And as soon as I sit down, I can plug in my headphones (my own that I bring with me) and listen to pretty much any kind of music I want through the personal entertainment system at my seat, even during take-off and landing.  Federal law requires passengers to shut off electronic devices on take-off, which used to make it impossible for me to listen to the music that would help keep me calm during the most stressful part of the flight.  Call it superstition, but I believe Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android” keeps the plane in the air.  I have to play it every time the plane takes off.  Please don’t ever remove it from your playlist. Seriously. I’ve Tweeted about it.

During the flight, I can choose movies or shows to watch or even access the Internet via Wifi.

I can even check the progress of my flight any time I want.

I know the healthy adult thing would probably be to meditate instead of zoning out in front of a screen, but when I’m on a plane, I don’t want to be an adult.  And curling up on one of your planes feels to me like being in a giant flying womb, all warm and soft and safe.  I don’t know if that was what you were going for, but if so, you succeeded.

Guilt About Flying

While I might feel all snug and happy on your planes, I also carry a heavy load of guilt for all the flying I’ve had to do in the past year.  You know more than I how much CO2 the airline industry generates.  And since I am an environmental activist giving talks and presentations about reducing our plastic consumption, it’s ironic that the more I get out there and spread the word, the more my carbon footprint increases.  So I was interested to learn what you guys are doing to address issues of environmental sustainability.  I checked out the sustainability page on your website.  I’m happy to know you are working on developing more efficient planes, that your buildings are LEED certified, and that through your partnership with San Francisco International Airport, your new terminal is LEED-gold certified.

I personally have been impressed with the recycling/compost station in SFO’s Virgin America terminal

and even more so with the water bottle filling station.  The station encourages passengers to fill up their own bottle before getting on the plane instead of consuming water from disposable plastic bottles.

A plane full of plastic bottles

In light of your environmental efforts and educational signage about bottled water, I’m always surprised by the mini plastic bottles of water offered to passengers on your flights.

And despite your messaging in the airport terminal encouraging passengers to bring their own bottles, your own safety video that is shown before every flight portrays a passenger drinking water from a disposable plastic bottle.

On other airlines, flight attendants pour water from bigger bottles.  If, on a long flight, I run out of the water I brought with me from the bottle filling station, I can at least ask to have my reusable bottle filled from the bigger bottle and save a little plastic.

It might not seem like such a big plastic savings… switching from little bottles to bigger ones, but you would decrease the number of plastic caps by half.  Think how many bottle caps would not end up in the bellies of sea birds.

Of course, even better would be a large water dispenser instead of individual plastic bottles.  Why not have a way to refill bottles on the plane as well as in the airport?

Reducing Aviation’s Plastic Footprint

Sir Richard, last summer you wrote a blog post asking your readers to suggest alternatives to the plastic wrap used to secure bags at airports.  And recently, I was thrilled to discover a blog post announcing that you are supporting the Whole World Water Campaign to eliminate plastic bottles at your home of Necker Island and instead bottle your own water in glass.

Virgin America is a leader in the airline industry.  I’m wondering, in addition to worrying about small things like plastic bottles, what could be done to minimize the impact of all the plastic used inside airplanes?  From floor to ceiling, the plane is one big plastic box.  What about developing a more sustainable material?  Plastic from plant waste?  Plastic from recycled materials?  I realize that plastics make planes lightweight, and that reducing the weight reduces the CO2 emissions.  But plastics also contain toxic chemicals that can leach out and offgas.  And the production of plastic from fossil fuels is a dirty business.

What ideas do you have for reducing aviation’s plastic footprint?  And for making my little womb in the sky, which helps me reach people all over the country with the message of plastic-free living, as non-toxic and sustainable as possible?