Tag: oceans

America's Effort, Global Impact, Individual Change

Plastic Free Aisles

Taylor Houghton

Let’s be Plastic-Free!

If you haven’t heard the rage about plastic free products, you might be living under a rock! I am just kidding! Let me tell you!

Image result for plastic in our oceans

A lot of the products we produce are sold in plastic packages. This is a problem because plastic is ending up in our oceans and our environment! We need to do away with plastic things! 300 million tons of plastic are produced globally but only 12% are being recycled. Where does that leave the 88%? Something has to be done.

Supermarkets are now being urged to have plastic free aisles! This helps prevents tons of waste that is already effecting our Earth! Image result for plastic free aisle

Supermarkets including Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s said they would respond to the proposals once discussions with campaigners had taken place. I have also seen activists going into local super markets with their team. What ever they purchase, they take the plastic off with it and the purchase it.

Sarah Knapton from the telegraph news for science stats, “We have more choice than ever for everything. There are countless gluten-free, organic or kosha aisles, and yet we have absolutely no choice about buying food that is packaged in plastic.” Image result for plastic free aisle

It is true. How can you expect us to take part of this movement if there is way we could? Our only option right now is to buy plastic things. We must provide plastic free aisles to the public and then see the change happen!

She always tells us, “It is a double whammy problem because not only does it make us feel guilty about all this packaging we are using, but science is starting to show us that wrapping food in plastic can bring health problems.”Image result for no more plastic

If that doesn’t motivate you, I don’t know what will. Plastics are destroying our health and our home!

#ChangingOurPlanetOneAisleAtATime

 

*Check out the link below to see a video of the first plastic free store! 

America's Effort, Global Impact

Two Alternatives when Building Roads!

Taylor Houghton

Roads made from waste plastics and Solar Roadways:

I can across a video on Facebook that has left my jaw wide open. Engineering Toby McCarthey has invented paved roads that made from Image result for toby mccartney plastic roadsrecycled plastic and plastic that is in the ocean! He replaced bitumen with recycled plastic pieces and created something better than what we had before. The plastic roads are 60% stronger than the traditional asphalt roads and last 10 times longer. The popularly of these plastic roads is rising! It is time for the United States to take part!

Image result for toby mccartney plastic roadsImage result for toby mccartney plastic roads

Currently, there is over billions of liters of oil make up our roads and over trillions of plastic materials that have no use or that are just simply floating in our oceans. This is yet another great use for plastic! This will help solve some of the plastic waste problems, help reduce global carbon emissions, and in return make our roads more durable! Plastic paved roads are the future!

Another alternative this made me think of was solar roadways. It was popular a couple of years ago and I’m sad it didn’t take off because I was really excited about it. I am going to share this with you anyways! 

Solar Roadways is basically solar panels that replaced our roads, sidewalks, driveways, etc. They were invented by an engineering couple named Scott and Julie Brusaw.Image result for solar roadways

Because their solar panels, they basically pay for themselves, so it lowers the cost of energy. Not to mention these are heated! You never have to worry about ice or snow on roads! YES! That includes no more Image result for solar roadwaysshoveling in your driveway! You can ride your bike, moped and motorcycle year round! Think about the salt we put down on our roads. Not only does it destroy the roads themselves but it also rusts your car!

Solar Roadways are so easy to replace, and you won’t have to worry about filling in pot holes. They each are an individual panel. They are also pressure censored so they can warn people telling them to slow down for people crossing, deer crossing, or even branches falling. The solar Image result for solar roadwaysroadways also light up with LED lights! They light up the lane changes, warning signs, parking spots, etc. And you never have to worry about repainting them because all you have to do is re program them! It also helps with water run off. It re directs the water and doesn’t contaminant it like traditional roads do!

The best part of it all… the solar panels are made from recycle materials!

 

 

Both of these are great Eco-friendly alternatives! I am excited to see our future paved roads! 

 

Check out this video below. It goes into more details about Solar Roadways! 

America's Effort, Global Impact, Individual Change

The Last Straw!

Taylor Houghton

Straw’s Suck…LITERALLY!!!

Image result for no straw please

This week I heard about about not using plastic straws. They started campaigns called The Last Straw or No Straw Please, which I thought was very clever! I have always been one to not use a straw if I didn’t have to. I’m glad the rest of the world is finally taking notice as well!

Disposable straws are not recyclable. I actually told some of my friends this and they were surprised and didn’t know this. They often end up in landfills, oceans or our environment! According to the National Park Service, Americans throw away a half a billion straws everyday! That’s insane! It is insane to think that a tiny little piece of plastic could have such a big impact on our Earth. It is also crazy to not realize how many times you use a straw! Eight million tons of plastic enter our marine environments every year! They say by 2050 there will be more plastic then there is fish! These fish are also eating these plastic materials! This matter because we eat fish! I eat fish! This means were eating plastic! We are killing ourselves!

Image result for plastic straws in the ocean

CNN tells us that the average American uses two plastic straws a day, “Every day, Americans throw away 500 million plastic straws, enough to circle the Earth twice, or fill 125 school buses. That means the average American uses over 35,000 of them in a lifetime.” Image result for turtle and plastic straw

The movement started in 2011 by nine-year-old boy named Milo Cress. His campaign was called Be Straw Free.  It started when he went to restaurants and they gave him a straw without him even asking. He really didn’t need one and they gave him one without asking! He started going to local restaurants and asking them to not give anyone straws unless they ask. Those restaurants reported that they used 50% less straws!

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This campaign, however, started in our very own Seattle. The campaign saved over 2.3 million plastic straws in as little of three months! Restaurants are switching to paper straws. The city is even looking into having an official ban on straws and plastic utensils! Image result for no more plastic straws

 

I’m not asking you to stop using straws. I simply asking you to not use plastic straws! There are other alternatives like reusable glass, stainless steel, copper, bamboo, and several other kinds of reusable straws. I challenge you to go straw free for a full week! I am asking you to make the switch and say no to plastic straws!!

Image result for alternatives to plastic straws

 

Check out this video!