1-8-2020: Eight Reasons to be Hopeful

January 7, 2020

Brought my own reusable container for the Chinese place across from work. Dr. Dear Friend and I had wonton soup and salt-and-pepper chicken wings (small lunch serving). The waitresses got a big kick out of it, and two workers from the kitchen came out to look at my container. We caused a bit of a sensation but it makes a lot of sense. We usually scoop the left overs ourselves into the styrofoam cup anyway. These little victories count! Reducing food waste as well by eating our left-overs.

January 8, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I am writing this post actually Janaury 7, 2020. Even though it is Tuesday, and this blogpost is a Wednesday series – I will publish today because it will be wonderful to have our blog’s 100th blogpost be a Hopeful Post. Again, this continues to be a joyful blog-post series and such an uplifting part of my week. This marks the 100th blogpost and that is something to be super hopeful about. Usually I get 200-300 pageviews a day, so that is 200-300 plastic picking posts people are reading a day. Who is reading? I am not really sure but folks are reading. And that might encourage someone to remember their reusable water bottle, refuse a plastic fork, donate to the Rainforest Trust or pick up a few pieces of plastic when they go to the beach. So this week, we have Eight Reasons to be Hopeful.

Earthshot Prize: One of the top stories on CNN and BBC was the announcement that Prince William of The United Kingdom launched the Earthshot Prize, which will be given yearly for five winners a year for the next 10 years. This is to reward efforts to tackle the climate crisis. Fifty chances and fifty more awards to motivate the brilliant minds out there to save our planet – the Earthshot Prize.
Ireland First Country To Divest from Fossil Fuels: I was not able to report on this as this was announced 7/12/18 and our blog did not start until September 2019. But we can still take joy in this. Ireland stated then that in the next 5 years (so it has been about 1.5 years now) that this sovereign country will pull out $400 million from carbon-producing companies. This reminds me that we have our money in Bank of America, and I think it may be time to outreach to them about our accounts and move to a different bank.
Ecosia Planted 80 Million Trees: I plan to blog about this green search engine later. But Ecosia is 10-years-old and this non-profit/Google counterweight deploys all it’s profits to plant trees in the best and most cost-effective and environmentally-effective way. I’ve been reading about them carefully and drplasticpicker is a huge fan. Please check them out and consider changing your search engine. Every 45 searches (since you are searching anyway) plants 1 tree. They also do not store your data which is great.
Rainforest Trust Cote d’Ivoire Marine Protected Area Project 62% Funded: I continue to donate every month what a reasonable person can, and Rainforest Trust continues to be a high yield charity. Last month we donated $100 which was quadruple matched and that became $400. At 0.35 an acre, our donation helped establish a Marine Protected Area which is bang for our environmental buck. Initially when I started following this project it was only at 20% and last night I saw that it had jumped up to 62%! Soon small contributors like us and a generous donor like the person funding the Rainforest Trust SAVES campaign will finish another tangible project to save 1,754,448 acres of coastal mangroves, beaches, and nested habits for multiple turtle species. At this blog, we love turtles!
Hoboken Bans Plastic Bags and Styrofoam March 8, 2020: Did you know that Mr. Plastic Picker was raised in New Jersey? Not Hoboken though. I am still amazed most days that I am married to a guy from Jersey. But Hoboken, which is in Jersey, as of March 8, 2020 will ban all single-service styrofoam products and all carry-out plastic bags. We are all connected, and the Atlantic Ocean is connected to the Pacific Ocean.
Bike Park Opens up in the Community of Bonita, California: More outdoor space for children to be active and to interact with others. This is all connected because as we rebuild or add to our community, we can stop the climate crisis. I have noticed that moutain bikers, skaters and adventure seekers tend to more environmentally friendly folks. So drplasticpicker wholely supports this new community development!
Rewilding Movement: If you have time watch Alan Watson Featherstone’s TedxFindhorn talk on Restoring the ancient Caledonian Forest. It sums up pretty much everything I am trying to do. I will email him now to thank him for his inspirational video.
Rewilding Movement is Local: Here right in my own neighborhood there is a ReWild Mission Bay movement and we can stand for clean water, wildlife and wetlands. I am going to really try to be there Saturday, Feb 1 at the Kendall-Frost Marsh.

So eight and not just five reasons to be hopeful. And if you are reading this blogpost, you make me Hopeful my blog-friends.

Click here to read 1-15-2020 Ten Reasons To Hopeful https://drplasticpicker.com/1-15-2020-ten-reasons-to-be-hopeful/