The Green Leaf Diaries

It has been 7 days... SEVEN WHOLE DAYS since I started intentionally avoiding plastic. Have you ever stopped to take a look at everything around you that is plastic? Let me save you the trouble and just tell you that it is pretty much everything. According to a recent article from Thrive Global , "an estimated 500 million plastic straws are used every day in the US alone... Every minute one garbage truck of plastic is dumped into the ocean and by 2050, scientists project that there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by weight." My poor boyfriend had the pleasure of being on the phone with me on my way to the grocery store for my first shopping experience sans plastic. It might have gone something like this... Me: Seriously reconsidering my decisions here, I think I'm only going to be able to buy produce. Him: I'm sure you'll figure something out. Me: But I'm really craving cookies and I can't buy them! Him: Could you make them? ...

It's been quite some time since I've felt inspired to write and publish a blog, but guess what?!? I have found inspiration! And a CHALLENGE. Do you remember the girl from several years ago who was in the news because of the minuscule amount of trash she produced in 5 years? The one that all of our eyes bug out because we make 10x that amount of trash in just one day? This girl? Well her name is Lauren Singer, and I want to be her when I grow up. She has an awesome blog, Trash is for Tossers , and business, Package Free Shop , which have both inspired me to try going trash free! So I'm going to give it the old college try. I know that I can't make an immediate change, but I can take small, intentional steps in the right direction. All it takes is seeing video clips like this one to make me seriously reconsider my purchasing habits: I feel like I need to save those penguins! I'd say they could move in with me, but I don't do well in the cold ...