Yesterday #100DoPP d86: One fewer plastic cup. Inspired by @katherine. I tried getting my usual iced coffee drink at my local cafe in a glass jar I brought with me and it worked and tasted fine. No straw needed, no spilling. For years I cannot help but think of the impacts of every single purchase I make, from where do the materials come from (petroleum for plastics), to where do the materials end up (the North Pacific Gyre). Habits are hard to break. Personal change is often slow. Slow incremental change is still worth it, and better than being discouraged by being overwhelmed by not being able to do it all at once, or the magnitudes at work. Every step counts. I have to thank the examples set by friends that demonstrate it can be done. My friend @katherine has been using re-usable containers for years and is closest to zero waste of all the friends I know. I have made small changes along the way, washing and re-using plastic food containers from my market. At first the deli workers at my market were surprised and noted they had not seen anyone else do that before. Eventually they stopped being surprised and just accepted it (or at least me doing it) as normal. Repeatedly doing the right thing can change minds. Even if the actual physical impact of such actions is small, the act itself, taken publicly, communicates much more. Assumptions are questioned, ideas are planted, take root, and grow into more actions. The cycle repeats. I want to believe that even with everything happening today, there is room for small daily positive acts, and that long term the hope they embody will propagate and endure. #coffee #icedcoffee #jar #reuse #zerowaste #smallsteps #changehabits #hope #endure

Yesterday #100DoPP d86:
One fewer plastic cup. Inspired by @katherine. I tried getting my usual iced coffee drink at my local cafe in a glass jar I brought with me and it worked and tasted fine. No straw needed, no spilling.

For years I cannot help but think of the impacts of every single purchase I make, from where do the materials come from (petroleum for plastics), to where do the materials end up (the North Pacific Gyre).

Habits are hard to break. Personal change is often slow. Slow incremental change is still worth it, and better than being discouraged by being overwhelmed by not being able to do it all at once, or the magnitudes at work. Every step counts. I have to thank the examples set by friends that demonstrate it can be done.

My friend @katherine has been using re-usable containers for years and is closest to zero waste of all the friends I know. I have made small changes along the way, washing and re-using plastic food containers from my market.

At first the deli workers at my market were surprised and noted they had not seen anyone else do that before. Eventually they stopped being surprised and just accepted it (or at least me doing it) as normal. Repeatedly doing the right thing can change minds.

Even if the actual physical impact of such actions is small, the act itself, taken publicly, communicates much more. Assumptions are questioned, ideas are planted, take root, and grow into more actions. The cycle repeats.

I want to believe that even with everything happening today, there is room for small daily positive acts, and that long term the hope they embody will propagate and endure.

#coffee #icedcoffee #jar #reuse #zerowaste #smallsteps #changehabits #hope #endure