Plastic on my mind

I've been a regular follower of Fake Plastic Fish for ages. If you haven't been to her blog, you should. On her blog, Beth itemizes and photographs the plastic garbage that she creates on a weekly basis. She has been doing this for over 2 years now, and for as long as I have been reading her blog I have been inspired by her dedication, and advocacy for plastic free living.

Recently Beth tweeted that folks might want to follow @midwayjourney. So as an obedient reader, I did. The short version is that Midway Journey involved a group of artists (including the amazing Chris Jordan) traveling to the midway atoll to spend two weeks documenting the plastic that is washing up on these islands in the middle of nowhere. Plastic that is killing animals in huge numbers. The team left Midway last week, and before leaving, Victoria Sloan Jordan wrote that she is going home a changed person. Indeed as a lowly observer it is hard not to feel changed looking at the images of this beautiful place that is part military ghost town, part tropical paradise, and part canary in the plastics coalmine.

A week or so later Beth posted a reminder that she is hosting a Plastic Challenge where she is asking participants to upload pics and details of their weekly plastic garbage.

And finally something clicked for me. I've been feeling a bit stagnant lately with my footprint reduction effort. I needed something to get fired up and excited about. After seeing the pics and video from midway, I'm definitely fired up.

So, I've signed up for the challenge. And I'm feeling a bit nervous as I suspect that plastic garbage is going to prove to be one of those things that I think I am doing well with but in fact, am not. But I'm sure Beth would say that, THAT is what the challenge is all about. Being aware of our impact.

I'm in!

Here are some videos from the Midway team.

The first one will hit you in the gut. The second will give hope.