Going Green
I’ve got my bamboo tooth brush,
what about you?
In the last couple years I have made great strides to minimize my waste. To do so requires significant changes to general consumption and serious renovations to everyday habits, but most of all it requires the will to do so.
One of the best things about this virtual landscape we all spend so much time pruning and curating, is the ability to share good ideas! So I must disclaim that the methods I employ to reduce waste are not revolutionary, nor are they unique, they are a band wagon that I and many others have jump on:
I have a reusable water bottle, many a cloth tote, avoid plastic, primarily buy second hand, frequent the bulk section of a local food market, love a good farmers market, compost, try to avoid chemicals in food & beauty, I don’t own a car, limit flying, ask for no straw, shop quality & methodically, keep a mostly animal free diet, and twice times a day I brush with a bamboo toothbrush.
(that’s right just twice, I have sensitive gums)
A hopeful person, even I sometimes feel skeptical about the impact of these small shifts in everyday living. It is a delicate balance of voting with your dollars and of buying into the green wash. Recognizing that small changes are small, but collectively small changes become substantial, hopefully turning into even more legitimate actions like legislation that bands single use plastics or products containing micro-plastics.
This bamboo toothbrush really sums up this balance of skepticism and hope, green and green washed. For many spending $4-6 dollars on a toothbrush is shocking, not financially feasible, or perhaps a transition of expectations is needed. One is not right or wrong here, everyone’s situation is different. If you are still using a plastic toothbrush, perhaps you contribute to the health of our planet in a different way: public transport, limited flying, vegetarian or vegan diet, growing food, participating in your local beach clean up, or apply foundational reusables like a water bottle, tote, straw...etc. There are so many ways to impact the health of our planet, and only collectively can we achieve something.
It is empowering to let go of plastic and seek alternatives, to know this toothbrush wont out live me. And at the same time, I watch my reflection brush her teeth knowing full well that my toothbrush will not reverse the melting ice sheet in Antarctica, nor will it decrease the escalation of fires in Australia or world wide.
It will not prevent the baby Albatross on Midway Island in the North Pacific, 2,000 miles from the nearest continent, from dying of plastic consumption. It will not bring rain to California or stop rains in Yorkshire.
It will not influence the micro-plastics cruising the gyres of our oceans, beads of plastic manufactured 30 years ago penetrating and compromising the ever fragile ecosystems of today.
But, I am trying to help and I’m sure you are too.
I have faith in simple addition:
many small changes + made many times + many people = make for big changes
