Life, But Greener: Seven-part guide to minimizing the impact of fossil fuels, plastics, and plastics on the global climate crisis

CNN has a newsletter called Life, But Greener. Our seven-part guide helps people minimize their role in the climate crisis.

Despite fossil fuels being used in some of these products, companies continue to market them as sustainable and lead to improper disposal of plastic waste. Biodegradable plastic for instance, while bio-based, can still be made at least in part with fossil fuels.

According to a report from Beyond Plastics, the process of making plastic is so energy intensive that it would be the fifth largest greenhouse gas emissions in the world.

Ultimately, the world needs large-scale change to address the climate impact of the fossil fuel and plastics industries, Savitz said. Oceana is working with volunteers from across the country to pass new laws to reduce single-use plastics in an effort to spark change at the national level.

It is a climate killer, according to Enck. “We’re finally seeing an increase in renewable energy and energy efficiency. Plastic production is the plan B for the fossil fuel industry because they lost market share on transportation and electricity generation.

“If you look at where more than 90% of the climate pollution is released by the plastic industry, it’s in 18 communities in the whole country, and they’re all low-income communities and the residents are more likely to be people of color,” Enck said, outlining other findings in the report. Environmental justice is associated with the production of plastic.

“When the bathtub is overflowing, you don’t want to just run for the mop; first, you want to turn off the faucet,” Savitz said. “Recycling is the mop. You are not going to get very far if the faucet is on. So what we have to do is reduce the amount of plastics that we’re producing at the source, and that’s turning off the faucet.”

You won’t know what you can change until you take stock. You should keep a record of all the plastic in your home. Most of the single-use stuff you’ll find around the kitchen and the bathroom. You can start to make replacements if you have a list of where you use plastic the most.

Reusable Bags, Plastic-Free Solutions, and Reuse: How to Stop Using Plastics to End the Crash of the Climate Crisis

Reusable grocery bags — You can easily go a step further by not using the plastic produce bags the store provides for your apples and broccoli. You should have a bag with you at the checkout if you decide to put produce directly in the cart. There’s no rule that says you have to wrap your fruits and veggies at the store.

Choose paper (or no) packaging over plastic — If you’re looking at two versions of the same product and one is packaged in paper or cardboard and the other is in plastic, then the choice is obvious. Look for plastic-free options.

Refuse plastic cutlery — Take your own utensils to restaurants that typically provide plastics. Or, if you’re ordering takeout, tell the restaurant they don’t need to add it to your bag.

Ultimately, Savitz said consumers need to continue urging major corporations to provide plastic-free solutions and help support refill and reuse programs to encourage society to shy away from plastic use and stave off the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

She said that the country is burning and that hurricanes are coming earlier and earlier. I think that it is really shocking that one of the things that leads to that is plastic, which is really hurting us in many different ways. If we could reduce our production of plastic in order to fight climate change, we would be making a difference.

What is it like to be plastic? What are we drinking now? What do we do in the UK? What have we learned from the plastic boom?

A barbecue was held at my apartment. I put out three containers for waste: A trash can, a recycling bin and a compost bin. As my friends helped me clean up at the end of the night, I learned that we had very different ideas of what was compostable. Is there vegetable scraps? It’s definitely composted. Is meat something to worry about? How about used paper plates? How about paper towels?

More than 1,600 people in the UK have signed up to be part of a citizen science study designed by Purkiss and other University College London researchers. Purkiss said other people can also take part in the “Big Compost Experiment” to help scientists learn more about the impact of these products.

The author of the book “Plastic: An Autobiography” tells me that when scientists took a sample of dirt from national parks, they were surprised to find plastic particles in it. National parks are thought of as being very clean. So since then, scientists have found tiny plastic particles everywhere on earth, in the Arctic where there really aren’t people. These tiny particles are being carried all over the earth.”

I asked, “How about the plastic tubes in a respirator, a blood bag, and a tiny IV tube for a premature baby?” “Plastics have transformed the medical industry. Think about artificial limbs made of plastic. So there are incredible important applications for plastic.”

We have never looked back after the plastic boom was on. Plastic is now a part of almost every element of modern life – from the keyboard I am writing this on to the computer that allows me to upload it to the internet to the phone that you’re reading it on.

The UK has banned plastic utensils, straws, drink stirrers, plates, and Styrofoam containers. Nearly 100 countries have banned plastic grocery bags.

The efforts have ended up in the profit margin. Winnie Lau, who works on reducing plastic in the US, said that it was one of the cheaper materials in the world. We had spoken with one manufacturer of food who said plastic is much faster for their machinery to use than paper or other things. So if they can make things faster, it’s cheaper for them overall.”

Part of the change will need to come from individuals. We are a throwaway culture in the United States, thinking nothing of tossing a half-full water bottle or the Styrofoam packaging that came with your latest online purchase.

“What it does take is everyone, every company, every government, every individual putting in the effort to make it happen,” Lau told me. “And no one can sit on the sidelines, no one can say someone else will do it. If we all come together and put in place solutions, we can solve this in the future.

Beyond Plastics: Making Plastics Green in a Home Composter and Implications for Biomedical Systems and the Social Goods of the Future

“In the lab, where [these plastics] have been tested and have been paid for by a manufacturer, they behaved in one way and they’ve been determined to be compostable in a home composter,” Danielle Purkiss, researcher and lead author of the study, told CNN. “But what’s happened is we’ve seen a lot of these pieces of packaging with certification still don’t break down in these different home composting conditions.”

According to Judith Enck, a former EPA regional administrator and now president of BeyondPlastics, despite the fact that they are being described as being green, they are still resource and energy intensive to produce.

In addition to the greenhouse gases released from industrial facilities making these products, the crops used as source of food, such as corn or sugar beets, also require significant amounts of fossil fuels, farmland and water to create them, Enck said.

Composted products are only designed to digest at the industrial compost facilities that regulate the temperature to achieve peak composting efficiency. Most of these products end up in regular landfills, where they will persist for many years, just like conventional plastics, said Enck and Purkiss. Or they will be burned in trash incinerators, where they release methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

“A citizen has lots of ways they can affect change, and one way they can really influence behavior is through their buying decisions,” Purkiss said. “They need to put pressure on manufacturers and business to move towards more properly sustainable models.”

Have reusables and refillables ready — Bring reusable bags when you go to the grocery store, not just for all your items but also for your favorite produce. Use refillable mugs or thermos cups for your coffee or tea while on the go, and same goes for a refillable water bottle.