"It's a job that's never started that takes the longest to finish."
J.R.R. Tolkien
So how about starting today and doing something that’s never been done before: a campaign with the sole purpose of eliminating ONE BILLION plastic bottles, plastic bags, incandescent bulbs and other plastic items from our lives. I call it the Billion Bag, Bottle, and Bulb Challenge.
We may not be able to accomplish this kind of goal as separate individuals each promoting similar causes, but if we pull together just imagine the impact we can have!
We have nothing to lose. So let’s see if we can spread this idea far and wide and have tens (or hundreds) of thousands of smart, connected people talking about the Billion Bag, Bottle, and Bulb Challenge! If it doesn’t work we’ll still have eliminated thousands of plastic items from our landfills and oceans. But if it works, we will make an even more enormous difference in our footprints on our earth and may even make history.
Consider that the global community produces approximately sixty billion tons of plastic each year, primarily in the form of one-time use items such as disposable silverware, containers and bags. And unfortunately plastic is made from carbon and hydrogen elements that as yet, show no signs of biodegrading.
While recycling plastic is a natural solution to the non-biodegradable issue, currently only two of the seven grades of plastic have any recyclable value. Plus there is significant evidence that up to 95% of all plastic is NOT recyled and still lands in the landfill. Therefore, there is no doubt that cutting back on our consumption can definitely make a difference! If you want more info on plastic bag, bottle and bulb use and alternatives, please visit the “Learn” section of this website.
If you want to participate great! If you don’t want to participate that’s fine too, but we’d still like to hear your ideas on how to make this campaign something that can serve, years from now, as a case study in the power of ordinary people to affect real positive change.
We have created a space for the Billion Bag, Bottle and Bulb Challenge on our website where you can learn more, as well as this blog where we can exchange ideas.
Let’s get together and make this thing rock!
Greg Peterson
YourGuideToGreen.com
Editor
