The last time I bought cat food and treats, I blithely picked up my usual brands and didn't think about how they were packaged, until last week. They are bagged in plastic, of course. I have browsed around at several shops since, and pretty much all cat food is now sold in plastic bags (except the stuff in cans). Some dog food is still available in paper bags, though. The Bulk Barn does carry some pet foods and bird seeds in bulk, though I confess I forgot to look closely at all the options.

This is one area where I don't think homemade alternatives are realistic for every day. Homemade dog food is quite possible, and several of my friends do this. However, cats need taurine, which they cannot synthesize in their bodies. Without it, they suffer eye problems and blindness, among other problems. Natural sources of taurine include shellfish, salmon, dark poultry meat, eggs and dairy. Making cat food would require dinner to be prepared fresh every day, in tiny quantities, and with the assumption that my cats will turn their noses up at whatever is made at least half the time. Also, taurine is destroyed by cooking, so the ingredients will have a very short shelf life.

If I could turn my moggies out to fend for themselves by eating birds and mice, they would probably do just fine (except for the risks inherent in local traffic, skunks, and other neighborhood critters). Also, they kill a lot of birds: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/9-leading-causes-of-bird-deaths-in-canada-1.1873654. A LOT OF BIRDS: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/killer-cats-take-down-billions-of-birds-report-says-1.1312489. Stray and feral cats are among the biggest culprits, so I'm proud to say that both of my girls (like all their predecessors but one) are rescues. All have been neutered.

This Pandora, most commonly known as Dora Exploradora because she is such a snoopy kitty. She came to me after landing up at a friends house as an unwed teenaged mother. Barely past kittenhood herself, she had four kittens with her. Happily, all were adopted (and neutered). She is now two years old.





This is Gatita. She was adopted while I lived in El Salvador and she is a bit of a survivor. She had to be declawed in front because she kept escaping from the house (ripping out the heaviest screens we could buy); this was an issue because she would come home with razor wire cuts and we worried she would eventually hit one of the electrified fences. In 2007, she escaped from the house and hid during a rain storm. It kept raining for days and we couldn't find her, although we would occasionally hear her meowing. Eventually, we had to leave for a long-planned holiday to western Canada for two weeks. When we returned, there was still no news. Finally, after eight weeks, I spotted her in the neighbour's driveway. The kids and I followed her around the neighborhood for over two hours and I was finally able use tossed bits of canned salmon to coax her close enough to wrap her in a towel and carry her home. She had lost almost half her body weight, but eventually she was fine. I still have a hard time believing that she could find enough food with no claws, even though I saw her bring home birds in El Salvador. She is now 14 years old. My daughter (who is allergic to cats) will not be pleased to discover that Gatita has taken over her bathrobe.

Half way there. It hasn't been too challenging because I don't buy much. Mostly it has been about acknowledging the plastics I already have in the house, and the near impossibility of eliminating it all - even if I do still more stuff from scratch. Today's sad moment came from opening up my pantry to the many bags of spices I have stashed away. I buy them in plastic bags because they are less expensive, then transfer them to glass jars (which have plastic lids). Even if I were to buy all my spices at the Bulk Barn, I would need some sort of bag that doesn't allow all the spices to fall through the cloth. Plus, the cloth would be heavy compared to the spices, so I would end up paying a lot more. One possibility might be to bring in my own jars and ask the cashier to weigh them before I start. That would require a quiet day and a patient cashier, though.

I am thankful my kids are grown. My challenge doesn't need me to cope with disposable diapers, baby wipes, or endless plastic toys, bottles and bottle liners.

This company http://www.plascoenergygroup.com/ filed for creditor protection yesterday. You can read more about it here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/plasco-obtains-creditor-protection-80-jobs-terminated-1.2951751.

This raises several issues for me, leaving aside the obvious ones related to the bankruptcy:
1) Would it ever have worked? From what I have read, breaking down plastic is really hard.
2) Do we really need fuel that much? Were any environmental implications outweighed by the benefits? I have this question largely because I haven't done sufficient homework.
3) What more could we do, as a society, to minimize use of plastics and divert more from the landfill so that such an option wouldn't be necessary?
4) Ditto the above, but for all other solid waste - especially construction waste, which is now the largest single component of our landfills.
5) How much do we value innovation and investment in social goods? This was always an enterprise that would rely on government funding because that is to whom we entrust the responsibility for waste disposal. If it had been in the business of producing something for the private sector, would it have faced equal risk aversion from investors?

I keep thinking that there must be more important things to write about than personal grooming products, but the fact is that most of my plastic seems to revolve around the bathroom. Today, for example, I am thinking about razors.

I use a disposable plastic razor for the minimal amount of body hair removal that I feel is essential. I wish I could stop shaving my legs, but I have been a little traumatized about leg hair ever since that time in university when my boss threatened to fire me from a retail job for showing up in a dress, high heels and bare, unshaven calves (my job was entirely behind a service counter). In the past, I often neglected shaving my lower legs for the whole winter, because I was wearing pants every day. I admire those who don't shave their pits, but I feel smelly if I don't shave. Besides, I'm a swimmer, and even the guys shave everything when they are serious about winning.

I re-use that razor until I get regular nicks from it. By shaving only intermittently, I can make it last far longer than the manufacturers would recommend. I have owned an electric razor since high school and should use it more often, but that will require me to rethink my morning routine. At present, I remember to shave sometime after I have staggered, bleary-eyed, into my morning shower. Using an electric razor during or immediately after that shower would be a very bad plan. For the rest of the month, however, I will use the electric razor.

Since I am not going to share a picture of my hairy legs, here is a news story a friend shared: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/food-industry-overuses-hard-to-recycle-plastic-packaging-report-indicates-1.2940535. This is why my rare fast food indulgences are usually shawarmas from an independent shop, and why I always have my Saturday coffee in the coffee shop (ceramic mug), even though the shop has only biodegradable cups and straws, plus recyclable lids.

I tried. I really did!

I went out to look for ingredients for the homemade shampoo and conditioner. That meant a trip to Walmart, which was ok(ish) since I needed skirt hangars too.
The liquid glycerine I need for the conditioner comes in a plastic bottle. The vitamin E is in a glass bottle with a plastic lid. The soap was wrapped in plastic. The girl was with me so she "needed" pads (individually wrapped in plastic), moisturizer (plastic bottle), a new comforter (technically, a new comforter was on the list, but not one with a plastic cover - my plan was for a visit to Ikea), and a scented candle (glass container with a plastic lid). I did avoid the plastic bags at the check-out, but only because I insisted on unpacking everything and ignoring the nice cashier who was worried I would get the comforter dirty if it wasn't hermetically sealed in still more plastic.

I am reading "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman. It's a fascinating book that imagines what would happen to the physical remnants of our civilization if all humans suddenly disappeared, and how long it would take, using the latest science. This morning's chapter was "Polymers Are Forever" and focused on plastics in our oceans. Key quotes:

"Except for a small amount that's bee incinerated, every bit of plastic manufactured in the world for the last 50 years or so still remains. It's somewhere in the environment."

Although plastic may photodegrade if exposed to sun on the land, it takes much longer to photodegrade in water, and it biodegrades "at such a slow rate that it is of little practical consequence". "Even though a ghost fishnet made from photodegradable plastic might disintegrate before it drowns any dolphins, its chemical nature will not change for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years".

Plastic pieces do break down to smaller and smaller pieces, and experiments have shown that bottom feeders such as barnacles and sand fleas will eat them. "When they get as small as powder, even zooplankton will swallow them".

There is a really depressing description of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (aka the Great Pacific Garbage Patch). In 1998, researchers found six times as much plastic by weight as plankton on the ocean's surface. Here's a link to some pictures from this patch (one of at least six in the world): http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/great-pacific-garbage-patch/?ar_a=1.

Cleaning it up will be nearly impossible, at least until microbes evolve so they have the enzymes to handle it.

So what do we do it avoid those un-biodegradable plastics? Biodegradable plastics have been developed, but "since the idea of packaging is to protect food made from bacteria, wrapping leftovers in plastic that encourages microbes to eat it may not be the smartest thing to do". However, we could certainly go back to the days of selling non-food (and maybe even some food) items without plastic packaging - it will mean changes to how we manage inventories and prevent shoplifting. It might mean hiring more employees, or rethinking how we attach bar codes. I think it's worth considering.

Just thinking about this has reminded me to use my ceramic bowl to heat my lunch. It's not yet a habit, but looking at all those pictures of plastic trash are a wonderful reminder of why I want to reduce my plastic consumption (or maybe skip lunch altogether!)

This is going to be tough, especially since I didn't plan ahead and therefore can't cheat because I bought a house full of stuff at the end of January.

Day One wasn't too bad. I convinced the girl to buy a bar of saddle soap (in a paper wrapper) instead of a spray bottle. However, we did buy two sponges that were wrapped in plastic. I can only conclude they had plastic on them so there would be a place to attach a price tag/bar code. It's not like they would get damaged by dirt or water, or broken.

The grocery store was a bit worse. The girl had convinced me she needed potato chips, so we bought a plastic container of sour cream to make dip. I also got a plastic container filled with feta cheese to make a baked egg dish that nusbacher had posted on FB a few weeks back. I debated getting some reusable vegetable bags, but a) they were wrapped in plastic; b) they were $5; and c) I know I have some at home (time to clean out that front hall closet again). I also bought canned tomatoes and pasta sauce (cans now have plastic liners), and the girl needed menstrual pads (plastic package, individually wrapped in plastic, and then plastic in the pads themselves: http://www.natracare.com/p146/en-gb/our-environment/sanitary-waste.aspx). I have explored options such as menstrual cups and reusable pads, but I don't know if I could be that diligent, and I know the girl couldn't!

Now that I'm thinking about the month, I'm going to fuss about the fact that I don't have enough meat to see me through, even though I have a fair bit in the freezer. This is one way to increase my bean consumption, I guess.

In an amusing prelude to the month, the girl didn't understand why I wanted to get a replacement canister for my Sodastream machine. "Why can't you just drink plain water?", she asked. This from the girl who abandoned two/two Dasani water bottles in my living room this weekend. As I write this, I am sad that I didn't get around to refilling my Sodastream bottles; the water at my office is so heavily chlorinated that it is undrinkable, so I have taken to bringing in a bottle or two. I had a bottle for plain water in my bag, but it was almost empty (and is now completely drained).