MY PROJECT

My learning goal for my personal project is to learn the difficulties of cutting out the use of single-use plastics from my life for 1 month. I was initially interested in the topic of going plastic-free when I first learned about the idea of a way to combat climate change as an individual. I contemplated the concept for a while, but never tried it myself for obvious reasons like how drastically it would change my lifestyle, and how difficult it would be to live that way. And I think that I was scared of the amount of effort and work that looked like would go into living that way. It was a big commitment in my head. I couldn’t imagine doing that for the rest of my life. So I think a big part of this project was getting over the idea and mindset of not doing things because they sound difficult and may take more work than the easier lifestyle that I was living before. I think that this goal was really personal to me because I have always been super interested in conservation and sustainability. So living a sustainable lifestyle that can help to mitigate the effects of plastic pollution and climate change has always been a big dream of mine. Before starting this process I knew a little bit about the effects of plastic usage and pollution on our planet and environment. I had done some research into the implications of plastic consumption on our oceans and natural resources mainly for school projects. I learned about the effects plastic ingestion has on our marine life and seabirds such as albatross through a summer program where we dissected Albatross’ boluses. These are indigestible materials such as squid beaks and unfortunately plastic that the birds regurgitate back up. Through this, I learned the massive impacts plastic pollution has on our sea life. I have skills of already trying to reduce my single-use plastic consumption on a daily basis. I do this by trying to not use plastic utensils, especially straws. I also try my best not to buy things that come in plastic and I won’t be able to reuse them again. I have organization skills that will help me to plan my month of living plastic free. This will also help me to create the rules I need to make when it comes to how I will be living and to what extent I will completely cut out plastic.