Dallas Zoo

It's so easy to forget that plastic is a part of every aspect of our lives. I tend to focus most on food wrappers, but it's also in clothes, cleaning products, and decorations for my home. Reducing plastic use is truly an all-day, everyday exercise.

There do seem to be more landfills in low income areas of Dallas. There are landfills in richer areas, but they're fewer and more spread out. It looks like there's about the same number of paint, medical, electrical, etc waste sites in richer vs poorer areas, though.

Picking up litter makes me pay closer attention to what is being thrown away around me and how easy it is for the wind to blow trash out of hands, strollers, or even trash cans. 

I occasionally see a restaurant providing straws only when asked or offering straws made of plastic alternatives. I definitely see more reusable straws around now than I had in the past.

Styrofoam is cheap, easy packaging, so it's used in a lot of grocery items and takeout meals. That means lower income families have a harder time avoiding it.

Every step of the plastic lifecycle negatively impacts human and environmental health. I did find it interesting that the end of one of the articles mentioned that plastics used responsibly and in very specific ways could actually reduce energy use and help the environment. We just have to stop viewing plastic as something to use so universally...

It can be hard to remember to bring reusable bags instead of getting plastic bags at the store. One of the handles broke off of one I kept in my car that was able to squish down into a little ball, unfortunately. At Barnes and Noble this weekend they had a deal where if you bought 3 hardcovers you got a free reusable tote bag. 

I can’t even begin to imagine how many plastic water bottles I would have gone through this week if o didn’t use my refillable bottle. 

I completely forgot this was starting! I'm glad I remembered fairly early still.