December 11, 2019

by drplasticpicker

This is the third post in this weekly series. Five reasons to be Hopeful, has become a favorite part of blogging for me. Every day brings another dire ecological warning. Then when I read other frivolous news stories, I despair thinking why are not others panicking? But then I look back at my Plastic Picking Totals https://drplasticpicker.com/plastic-picking-round-up/and Donations Page https://drplasticpicker.com/donation-round-up/– and I realize that all I can do is move forward bag by bag, day by day, blogpost by blogpost. This is how things are achieved and I have hope. Eternal hope.

1. Dr. Plastic Picker Celebrates 100! Our blog celebrates the 100th grocery bagful of ocean plastic pollution collected and our 100th Instagram follower. Since this is a nonmonetized blog, and I’m not interested in fake followers but real like-minded people who are passionate about plastic picking – this is HUGE.
2. Greta Thunberg Arrives in Madrid: Like millions of world citizens, I have been following this young climate activist and she arrived safely at COP25 Madrid and the international climate talks.
3. Oahu Bans Single-Use Plastics: Huffington Post reported that the Honolulu City Council passed the strictest single-use plastics ban which includes plastic straws, utensils, and containers made out of polystyrene. Everything in effect by 2022.
4. Dr. Plastic Picker’s Plans to decrease Mr. Plastic Picker’s Plastic Use: Today I had a management meeting cancelled and ended up working in Mr. Plastic Picker’s office. I have a half completed blogpost about today. It was a really fun day. But we had lunch together at the hospital salad bar. I used a paper plate. He used a single use plastic salad take-out container. He did use a real fork that he has from our home, and I used a plastic spoon I had brought that was reused. Mr. Plastic Picker accepted the reusable water bottle I brought, and thought it might work for his office. Also he is open to me buying a Tiffin or Reusable Salad Container since I told him our old friend Dr. Craig Canapari used one https://drplasticpicker.com/dr-craig-canapari-pediatrician-and-environmentalist-2/. I looked up a company called lunchbots on line, and I’m going to email them tonight and will see if I can’t score two in return for a blog post!
5. Dr. Plastic Picker Has Piqued some People’s Interest: Our blog has gained some interest among my old residency friends back in the Northeast and physician friends even outside my department. I know it seems silly, but I think I’m influencing folks. My silly-tongue-in-cheek crazy avatar drplasticpicker. I walked around and gifted an old medical school classmate Who Gives A Cr@p Toilet Paper https://drplasticpicker.com/who-gives-a-crp-toilet-paper-and-drplasticpicker-is-not-sure-if-i-got-the-toilet-paper-for-free/. If you are interested in their product, here is the link https://us.whogivesacrap.org/. I didn’t receive anything from their company except a few rolls of toilet paper. But if I can interest a family in the 1% to buy bamboo or recycled toilet paper, than that’s a huge change.

And one of the most treasured parts of this journey, is the loved ones that are going through this with me. My mother is part-proud and part-horrified at my journey. My sister says sometimes I look like a vagrant. But the above stuffed animal I found at the beach, I later rinsed and washed twice with our clothes. He was a beautiful little Beanie Boo pug. My mother, who never takes anything used, wanted it. As I left her one evening, she was holding it in her hand and gently rubbing it against her face. She said, “Do you think a dead person lost it? That would be scary.” I told her, “No. Probably a small child misplaced it, and it washed up just where I was.” With that, I left and my mother was smiling. It’s probably because I’m visiting my parents more often because at their house, I can eat without using any plastic utensils.

Here is the following week’s Hopeful Wednesday post if you want to continue enjoying the gratitude train! https://drplasticpicker.com/12-18-19-five-reasons-to-be-hopeful-and-grateful/