Plastic Free; How I Kicked the Plastic Habit - Book 8

Plastic found near the Arctic.  http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2014/09/11/oceans-plastic-problem

This book by Beth Terry is THE resource for learning how to live life avoiding plastic.  It is hard to do!  Beth Terry has been at it for years and she's done all the research and footwork so we don't have to!  She became convinced of the problem of plastic for our environment back in the early 2000s. Since then she's been galvanized to make this her life work - to raise awareness of the dangerous threat that plastic poses to life on this planet.

Made without plastic!

I am currently trying to live plastic free for the 40 Days of Lent.  I am hoping giving it up for 40 Days will help me form good habits that prove beneficial for myself and the environment.  This book is chock full of advice, ideas, suggestions and links.  I regret getting it on my Kindle because it is just the sort of book to use as a reference.  The Kindle just doesn't lend itself to easy access to particular information when one needs it.  I am going to have to buy this as a real book, in hardback or paperback.  Honestly though I was thinking of buying several copies and donating them to my library.  I'm that serious about this problem.

Plastic found in Gibraltar.

Terry writes well, in a conservational, sensible way.  She is not high and mighty about her crusade at all.  She warns the reader over and over again how it took her years of dedicated research to figure out all these solutions.  To switch to a more sustainable lifestyle in this day and age, means making conscientious choices.  The easiest thing is to refuse plastic shopping bags and bring your own.  The other easy thing to do is to get into the habit of bringing your own water bottle instead of buying bottled water.  There are all sorts of ways to avoid plastic in all areas of one's life, but it takes a willingness to change and problem solve.  

Giant plastic patch found in Atlantic Ocean.  The scale of our plastic pollution is almost beyond comprehension.  And it NEVER goes away.  It's here for our children and grandchildren and great, great, great grandchildren, and it gets worse by exponential proportions every single day.

I learned a lot from this book.  I learned about organizations like 5 Gyres and Terracycle.  I learned about little entrepreneurial companies trying to do their part against the mammoth corporations who spew out plastic with so little regard to the consequences of their actions; companies like Chicobags and Ecobags, and more little esty businesses trying to cull out an income while helping rather than hurting us.  There's so much more in here.  That's why I really need the actual book.  So I can refer to it again and again.

Beth Terry's website is a great place to start right away in learning about the dangers of plastic and how it is reaching a global crisis level.  Even if you don't read her book, please visit her website so you can join the fight for the future of the planet (and human race).

For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.