September 2, 2020

by drplasticpicker

I am overdue to write this month’s Plastic Picking totals post https://drplasticpicker.com/plastic-picking-round-up/ and August’s Secondary Environmental Net Positives. I have a reasonable goal of 20 bags a month. This month I hit closer to 35 due to some big items left at several beach bonfires. I think I’ve salvaged over 100 items that were recycled or going to the GoodWill. There was a pair of gray vintage shoes that were still in a shoebox. I found reusable masks that are now regifted to other friends or upcycled as a office display on our daughter’s colorful and sparkly Build a Bear. I laundered them all twice. But I will write those post later this week because today is Wednesday (Hump Day) and I think everyone needs a bit of hope today!

I snapped the above picture while I was beach plogging (jogging and picking up litter) yesterday. It was an interesting moment, and reminded me when one road closes – you just take another road. The road was only closed to thru automobile traffic, but you likely get my meaning. So much about life is perspective and how one views the world. I feel like CNN, Politico and the major news outlets are viewing the world in the same kind of dystopian negative lens. I write these post in order to give myself and the readership perspective and hope. I refuse to be paralyzed by fear. And these post allow me strength to continue my own work. Because I embrace the adage, the best antidote to despair is action. Every day I have different environmental projects I am trying to move forward, and each one is an action that combats despair and darkness. So let’s go to the post.

9-2-2020 Five Reasons to Be Hopeful This Wednesday

1. Unilever to Cut Fossil Fuels from Cleaning Brands. ““What Unilever is trying to do is very comprehensive,” said Katy Armstrong, a researcher at the University of Sheffield who works on reusing carbon. “With great ambition, it is looking at the entire supply chain.” Definitely take a look at this article if you have time. It’s fascinating that they are looking at their impact at all levels. They are investing $1 billion into this venture and it sounds like the real deal. They own Seventh Generation which is a brand that we preferentially buy. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-01/unilever-promises-fossil-fuel-free-cleaning-products-by-2030
2. Glimmers of Hope for the Great Barrier Reef. “Marine scientists recorded small increases in coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef according to underwater survey results released today.” “Hard coral cover increased on average from 12% in 2019 to 14% in 2020.” This is based on the Australian Institute of Marine Scinece’s Annual Summary Report 2019-2020 drawn from underwater surveys. It’s still a dire situation but some glimmers of hope. There was also large increases in coral trout https://www.aims.gov.au/news-and-media/small-start-coral-recovery-great-barrier-reef-large-increase-coral-trout
3. Indonesia gets UN funds to fight climate change, deforestation. “Indonesia has received an injection of cash from the United Nation’s Green Climate Fund to help reduce carbon emissions and tackle forest fires at a time when the country has had to scale back spending in the area due to coronavirus budget pressures . . .The $103.8 million fund was granted under the REDD+ programme, a U.N.-backed forestry conservation scheme to tackle climate change, based on progress Indonesia made in 2014-2016, Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said.” https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-08-27/indonesia-gets-un-funds-to-fight-climate-change-deforestation Keeping Indonesian forest intact is vital to mitigating climate change. Honestly this is the reason we are making Homemade Peanut Butter! https://drplasticpicker.com/project-homemade-peanut-butter/
4. Great Source for California Bills and Efforts to Reduce Waste. There were several bills that were on the california state legislative agenda regarding waste (SB54 and AB1080) and I’m not sure if they passed or not. But I’m doing an Ecosia search for updates on the bills, I found the best website and organiztion. California Against Waste which has summarizes of all the bills. I will go here now to look for information https://www.cawrecycles.org/
5. Annual survey of US beekeepers finds honeybee colonies are doing better. “The Bee Informed Partnership recently conducted the 14th annual survey of managed honeybee colony losses in the United States. American honeybee colonies have rebounded back after a bad year, the annual beekeeping survey finds. Beekeepers only lost 22.2% of their colonies this past winter, from Oct. 1 to March 31, which is lower than the average of 28.6%, according to theBee Informed Partnership (beeinformed.org) annual survey of thousands of beekeepers. It was the second smallest winter loss in the 14 years of surveying done by several different U.S. universities.” https://fruitgrowersnews.com/news/annual-survey-of-us-beekeepers-finds-honeybee-colonies-are-doing-better/ Bees are super important. If you have a chance, Honeyland is a great documentary on the last female beehunter in Europe. It won the Sundance Film Festival. It’s one of those slow melodic movies. I watched it with my mother-in-law and father-in-law. It was interesting that the three of us really were riveted by this movie.

And that is it! This blog series for me is such a great exercise in hope. I feel stronger now to go forth today and combat despair with some action. I have a lecture on Pediatric Obesity to give to 3 family practice residents. I’ve revamped my lecture and pretty much talk about Dr. Plastic Picker and my take on the pediatric obesity epidemic as a symptom of the degrading planet and it’s ecosystems. I believe it and it works. I’ll try to blog about this later. And I have 3 plastic containers to go into my guerilla gardening/compost project. My goal is butterflies all over our HMO. Butterlies everywhere!!! And I will also take care of myself by eating more plant-based food. I’m organizing this amazing journal club with a Pediatric GI specialist and a Culinary Medicine doctor on plant-based eating and vegetarianism in pediatric medicine. This is going to be so revolutionary!!!