Learning more in-depth of the impact and ripple effect that human consumption of single-use items has on the planet made me reconsider how a few easy-to-change habits could significantly contribute to the larger picture. For example, I’ve been using cotton bags for grocery shopping for a while. However, seeing firsthand how much plastic ends up scattered around during our beach cleanups and watching the Great Pacific Garbage Patch video made me want to do more; so I’ve started collecting cloth/ cotton bags at any event or place that gives them out (which is not rare when you’re in college) and sharing them or handing them to my family. While I know that this won’t prevent more single-use plastic bags from being produced, I think it’s a great way to prevent one more plastic bag from going to the ocean and destroying ecosystems or directly tangling up with some form of sea life. Additionally, I started paying attention to how much plastic gets "saved" from refilling my hydro flask at the school's filtered water fountain and I'm all for it. The fountain displayed to have saved over 30 plastic bottles in a couple of days; that's huge! I encourage you all to do the same if you have the chance to do it!
Anyway, here's a picture of my most recent acquisitions 😅:
