Last week I caved to my daughter’s pleas and we made slime. On Earth Day. Oops.
The glitter and glue involved tugged at my eco-friendly consciousness; I wrote last week that glue includes petroleum derived compounds. Glitter is plastic, and worse, it’s small pieces of plastic.
The other ingredients in slime (if you’ve never made it) are a small amount of borax and water.
Feeling environmentally guilty for doing this craft, I tried to remind myself that I celebrate the earth every day, so not making a holiday of Earth Day was OK.
I didn’t find this too comforting, probably because I’ve also been feeling bad about the amount of single-use plastics I’ve been consuming lately, due to the pandemic. Curbside pickup has increased my plastics usage both because the food I order is wrapped in plastic and then because it is all put into plastic bags — often with just one or two items per bag.
The Mountain People’s Co Op has helped me keep some single-use plastics out of my kitchen, but I still miss being able to fill my own bags and containers with bulk foods and veggies.
I’ve found it hard to get through each day without some amount of environmental awareness induced guilt. I’m not plastic free enough, I leave cords plugged in and lights on too long, I’ve fallen into consumerism too much, etc., etc., etc.
I’ve ranted before about how I believe responsibility should be on companies to change their products to be kinder to the earth, rather than each consumer needing to put in so much effort navigating each day to lessen impact on an individual level. But companies do not take responsibility, I do try to take my personal responsibility seriously.
In trying to assuage my slime making guilt I reminded myself about how far I’ve come in my small steps toward zero waste living. This reminder not only helped me feel better, it also served as personal inspiration to continue my efforts.
I’m writing the following not to brag about how eco-friendly I am — as I said I still consume a lot of single-use plastics and am lacking in other eco-friendly conscious respects. Rather, I’m writing it to inspire you to pat yourself on the back for the good you do, too.
It’s taken a few years, but I’ve slowly switched much of my personal care items to zero waste options including bamboo toothbrushes (I’ve saved probably 16-20 plastic toothbrushes from the landfill — not too many, but if I keep it up for the next 50 years it’ll add up to around 200), toothpaste in metal or glass containers, DIY or crystal deodorants, bar soaps, shampoos and conditioners, DIY hairspray and zero waste makeup (FYI cake mascara lasts forever — I haven’t bought a plastic tube of mascara in literally years, although I have bought a couple brushes in that time).
Instead of plastic wrap for foods I use wax wraps, and reuse any plastic sandwich bags which find their way into my kitchen.
These are all small steps, but together add up to keeping quite a bit of plastic products and packaging from my garbage, especially as I continue these habits.
If you take any actions that help our planet I encourage you to take a minute to consider them. Most of us can make a few eco-friendly swaps — small things which fit into our individual lifestyles.
Once these swaps are absorbed into your life you might stop thinking about them, but they can make a big difference.
ALDONA BIRD is a journalist, exploring possibilities of local productivity and sustainable living in Preston County.
