Day 32: ME IV

Hello hello! Today was the farmer's market and it was cloudy all day. Then in the evening, it cleared up for a lovely star-gazing kind of evening. We got takeout, which meant we made it out in time for the sunset. Yippeee!

Soup & Sermon

Microplastics. They are everywhere. Literally. Even on the North Pole. In our bodies. In the bodies of newborn babies. In whales and their babies, in birds, in the arctic, in the air…literally everywhere. Again we know this is not good for public health. Here is an editorial article in Nature Medicine https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-024-02968-x

Where does it come from:

Larger pieces of plastic and plastic manufacture. By avoiding plastic things in general we can reduce the production of plastic and the spread of microplastics. Especially single-use plastics. On top of that fracking is the primary source of plastics and here is a link about more on plastics becoming microplastics https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/microplastics.html

Microplastics in our every-day life…

“These sources include plastic bags, bottles, personal care products, construction materials, and clothing. Plastic incinerators, which generate bottom ash that contains microplastics, are also a land-based source of these particles” (Yang et al. 2021). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10072287

What can we do? 

Bags: Choose not to accept plastic bags. I made bags and have had cloth bags given to me (for in-the-fridge vegetable storage) If you are wealthy and need to buy something these are much great for lettuce or greens because of the way they open and have lots of room https://nondisposablelife.com/shop/large-bento-bags-all-basics-colors they are linen and made in Marin. When shopping I keep one or two smaller regular cloth bags in your bigger  carry bags. I use the smaller bags only for things like peas or mushrooms where they are small and many and would go everywhere. Even lettuce now I just pack it on top in my larger  bag and it’s just fine. The farmers market makes this easy.

Bottles: I try to choose local products packed in glass (eg. milk) or I make it myself (eg. yogurt, kimchi), yes I realize the glass is heavy and when you ship it, it uses more fossil fuels - choose local. Try to avoid packaged food in general especially if it comes in plastic. 

Personal care products: I use fewer and fewer, but still get hung up on things. The bathroom is a good place to try to eliminate plastic. It’s not trivial. Did you know that people throw out 900 million toothpaste tubes globally EVERY YEAR? Here is an article for more information: https://www.sustainablejungle.com/zero-waste/zero-waste-toothpaste

There are many new options for many things where you can reduce your plastic usage - some of them might work for you.

Construction materials: Not using any at this moment but that too would be non-trivial. Hats off to the fully green builders trying to use no plastic! Here is where you can learn more: https://www.tradesmansaver.co.uk/tradesman-insights/going-plastic-free-in-the-construction-industry/

And a feel-good story: SFO is trying to become the first plastic free airport

Clothing: This is huge. Nylon, polyester, acrylic, and spandex all kinds of plastic clothing give off microplastics when laundered. Just pause and think about that…everything that is stretchy or slick, or sometimes silky, or plasticky. Many t-shirt have stretch, jeans, sweat pants, and yoga pants. Every article of clothing suddenly started having stretch a few years ago and they are leaking microplastics and rubbing off into our skin and we are breathing them. This is nontrivial but possible. I’ve started to try to only purchase natural fiber clothing. Cotton, linen, flax, hemp, wool, preferably organic. Rayon, lyocell, and other human-made fabrics are heavy on the environment to create them but at least not plastic. Also the “stretch” means the clothing item doesn’t last as long and I’ve found no-stretch to be just as comfortable. 

Recycled or upcycled plastic clothing is still going to leak microplastics.

More info: 

Microplastics in your laundry: https://www.greenamerica.org/your-green-life/microplastics-lurking-your-laundry

Health Effects of Microplastics: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10151227/

Microplastics and Human Health: https://www.undp.org/kosovo/blog/microplastics-human-health-how-much-do-they-harm-us

Health Harms of Microplastcs EWG: https://www.ewg.org/news-insights/news/2024/03/new-study-links-microplastics-serious-health-harms-humans

Sorry, this one was so long. Less formed and more alarming. This is all the work of Big Oil again. The immediate action should be stopping the companies polluting the world meanwhile there are environmental and health considerations as well.

Embrace change and have a great evening.

Sending love, Tawnia

Birds. Nothing fancy, but a solid 13 species, including a skulking common yellowthroat at the farmers market:

1 Canada Goose
1 Mallard
1 Ring-billed Gull
1 Herring Gull
1 Downy Woodpecker
1 Blue Jay
1 American Crow
1 Black-capped Chickadee
1 White-breasted Nuthatch
1 European Starling
1 House Sparrow
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 Northern Cardinal