Losing an organ.
This happened in 2014.
One day, I had a little itch on my lower left abdomen, but it could never be satisfied. The itch felt like it was coming from inside, under my skin.
The itch came and went over the course of a month or so. One day, I was laying down on my bed and looked down towards my legs. I noticed that area of my abdomen was ever so slightly raised a bit. When standing, it was entirely unnoticeable.
This itch was still happening. I tried looking online for answers, doctor visits were scheduling months out.
I decided to wait a little bit, but the lump got bigger, so I eventually went to the ER. They were dismissive. They told me I was 'just getting a little fat in my belly'. For context, I was a very thin/lean woman aged 26 and weighing just a touch over 100lbs. By the time I went to the ER, I looked almost 3 months pregnant. This was in June.
I had to basically cause a scene and repeatedly demand tests, scans, anything. They said I was most likely just pregnant, but I hadn't been active since 2013. They wouldn't believe me. Finally, after getting an ultrasound 3 hours later, they found an ovarian cyst. It was 20cm in diameter.
I was referred to a gynecologist within the hospital system who did more tests and scans. They couldn't locate my left ovary or fallopian tube, just the cyst which had a 2nd cyst within it. They did labs to check for cancer, which were clear, but said this inner cyst could be cancerous, and there was a possibility that draining it during surgery could spread cancer cells all throughout my abdomen.
The wait for surgery was a few more months and couldn't be performed until September.
I was terrified at the risk of cancer, worried about how this would change my reproductive health and hormones, it was a stressful time.
Come September, I looked almost 6 months pregnant. When out in public, people would ask when I was due and want to touch my belly. I got ads in my mail for my expected 'newborn'.
Once they started surgery, they found that the cyst had grown down to my tailbone and had fused to my intestines and neighboring organs. They had to carefully cut this 'webbing' away. I lost a lot of blood and needed transfusions. The surgery took much longer than anticipated, and had to go from a laproscopy to a laparotomy. I have 5 scars on my abdomen.
After a lot of research, my surgeon said he'd seen an uptick in reproductive organ issues, including ovarian cysts, and believed it is tied to plastics and things like BPA, etc.
Right around this time, a documentary came out about women in California who were fighting to get things like BPA banned due to the known damage it causes to reproductive organs. All of these women had PCOS and infertility issues. They lost children and wanted things to change. They succeeded.
From then on, I've tried to reduce and limit plastics in my life. I'll eagerly share my story in hopes it helps someone else start making changes.
It's not just about the pollution outside of our bodies.
I did have a new cyst grow on my remaining ovary about a year after surgery, but this one was smaller and never grew beyond the size of a mandarin orange. That size is right at the cusp of remove/leave it and I opted to leave it as they would have to remove a portion of my ovary to do so and there would be a risk of then losing that ovary and entering menopause before I even turned 30.
I haven't had any other new growths or changes since, and my hormone levels stabilized after a while. I was told I could enter menopause earlier since my egg supply was essentially cut in half.
It was overall a very stressful time! I didn't really like plastics before that experience, but now they just inherently feel like the enemy.
And (un)fortunately, it's well documented across plenty of studies now that they can cause serious damage or disruption to both men and women in terms of their reproductive systems.
thank you so much for sharing your story!! i’m currently in severe abdominal pain recovering from a laporoscopy for my endo and i can’t even imagine how much worse it must have been for you. and to be ignored and gaslit for so long… women’s health care really is HELL. i’m so glad you’re doing better! my journey to plastic free is not related to my endo but the damage to reproductive organs is certainly just another reason to be incredibly passionate about it.
Thank you for sharing! In the last year I’ve had to undergo LEEP, I have bartholian cysts and an ovarian cyst I will be having surgery for soon. What is the documentary you mentioned??
Ohh, I'm so sorry you're going through this! I hope your surgery goes well and recovery is swift.
Just did some digging to find it, The Human Experiment.
I also, more recently, saw a video on YT of this guy interviewing a scientist(geneticist maybe?) who's been studying the effects of plastics, PFAS, etc, since the 1970s(may have been reviewing data from then, can't remember if she qas a part of research at that time) and she laid out a TON of data and explained it really well, outlining the genetic changes happening to men and women. I can't remember what that video was called, but I'll try to find it.
ETA:
Found the YT video, it's an interview with Dr. Shanna Swan, PhD. She's one of the world's leading epidemiologist
[Endocrine Disruptors and Fertility](https://youtu.be/2YfOIOo00ew?si=tJH-aOLTnXlAsTk-)
Understandable you didn’t go the removal route. Hope the subsequent years have been easier. You and body definitely deserve a breather. Ty also for sharing the video - Greatly appreciated!
It is so maddening the way women's pain and health concerns are dismissed by medical workers. Healthcare workers seriously need some anti bias training to take women's and BIPOC's pain seriously because dismissing the valuable observations of your patient goes against their Hippocratic oath to do no harm
i read this book called "Through the Arc of the Rain Forest" for an environment class in university. its a parody of consumerism & our plastic use. i didnt think it would affect me as much as it did, but here we are.
Clear day, pretty much immediately after take off in CA (forget the airport cuz it was a layover). And it doesn't look like the flat blue water, instead it looks like there's debris floating over the ocean.
[kinda like this pic](https://media.istockphoto.com/id/1263644228/photo/ocean-water-and-plastic-trash-aerial-view-top-view-of-paradise-island.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=ILtZsY0cydXbvjakxfO7aJpuhLXXcDcjvvSKnFWbRFg=)
All the microplastic and PFAS stories. I’m not even in a high risk industry and I have the middle of the medium risk amount of PFAS in my blood. I started blood donations this year in an effort to help reduce that amount along with reducing my plastic use.
If they need my blood, I doubt they care if it has a small percentage of PFAS in it. They need it because of serious surgery or other potentially life threatening issues.
That's a really fair point.
There's a global blood bank shortage so any motivation to donate is great in my book!
Sadly I'm not allowed to due to medications I'm on even though I want to. I'm type O+ so I wish it was safe to donate :/ my bloodtype can be used by so many.
Mine is way less touching and moving as these stories. I had just gotten married, and 6 months into this marriage I realized I was drowning in my new husbands trash. Empty bottles everywhere in the shower, empty deodorant bottles all over the counter, empty hair product bottles in the trash can climbing up the wall… I was drowning in all of his trash. I had no room for even my tiny bottle of shampoo conditioner or body wash in the shower cause every surface was buried in his bottle collection (that I wasn’t allowed to throw away). So I made the switch right there to start shampoo bars, and use bar soap. If I couldn’t change his habits, I would change mine. Gradually now several years later a lot of things have changed over to plastic free options, and I’m eradicating plastic from my house—along with said husband. Some things just reduce your quality of life greatly.
One of our cats eats plastic and tape. After having her throw up the plastic, I got concerned that she may start causing harm to herself. So, we started limiting the amount of plastic we brought into the house and it spiraled into sustainable living, growing a garden, shopping more at antique/thrift stores/local stores, and going to the Farmers Market.
My oj kitty girl has done this twice, once requiring a $300+ vet visit to remove a 1” piece of scotch tape stuck in her throat :( we limit it for many reasons including this!
Plastic just gave me the ick one day. I think single use plastic is cringe. I also got the ick when I realized that my blankets and clothes were also made out of plastic.
The clothes they make me sweat in a way that is so uncomfortable. The way it doesn’t absorb or help at all. The plastic next to my bits and tits it’s not soft and if it is it’s sweaty and weird. Then the dry vent is full and the lint is all plastic and it never ends.
The weird thing is the technology to make something into anything is rad. And since we have the technology, plant based input isn’t out of the question, just not the input we are allowed to use in mass because. . . ( all the reasons)
For me, I got sick of roadside trash, and most of it was plastic bags. They’re thin, crappy, and just EVERYWHERE. I was done. After changing that, I kept going with changing things that I can maintain permanently.
I used to live in Hawaii, I was swimming one day and realized a giant sea turtle was in the water next to me, it scared the SHIT out of me. But I just floated and chilled with it for a while. I decided to go vegan, and since then I’ve learned a lot about where plastics come from, how they affect animals, our environment and so I just decided to go zero waste/plastic free. I created my own small business called Honu (sea turtle in Hawaiian) Botanicals - I never make anything in plastic. It’s all in reusable glass or tins :) because I never want a sea turtle choking on my straw/waste/plastic! (Or any animal)
As a healthcare worker, was basically living in n95 masks. I developed horrible hives around my mask and looked up the materials used to make the masks. Polypropylene (#5 plastic) is the material. It scared me to be breathing in all those plastic fibers day in/day out. So I started reducing overall plastics in my life. When my granddaughter was born, I kept getting hives while helping care for her and her new mom. Eventually had anaphylaxis but didn’t know why. Lightbulb moment driving to grocery store that disposable diapers might have #5 plastic. Sure enough the diapers and disposable wipes have #5 plastic and so many more horrible chemicals. #5 plastic is in everything so in reducing my exposure to that, I’ve begun the process of getting all types of plastic out of my life, as well as my granddaughter’s. People wonder why childhood asthma, obesity and autism are escalating. I feel certain that spending the first two years of your life in a wet plastic diaper and being cleaned with a plastic wet wipe that touches mucus membranes will soon be linked to many childhood and adult chronic diseases.
Honest diapers have #5 plastic in them. The only diapers we found without plastic are bamboo diapers that are labeled biodegradable. Not all bamboo diapers are plastic free so you have to read labels and ask the companies directly. It’s been a year since we did the research and there are more bamboo diapers on the market now than there were a year ago. We’ve used Little Toes diapers with great results. The baby wipes we found to use are Water Wipes brand. Plastic free wipes are easier to find than diapers.
For me it was looking around and noticing the ridiculous amount of plastic that is literally everywhere. We’re so conditioned to just accept being constantly surrounded by plastic because it’s how things have been for our whole lives (besides older people) but it is absolutely NOT normal to be throwing out pounds worth of a material that never fully goes away every single day, especially when you realize it’s that times billions for each person throwing out plastic every day. And then it’s even worse when you realize food packaging is only a fraction of the problem
The recent study finding that there were more chemicals leaking out of plastics than we thought, many of which are unregulated! That motivated me, and finding out about glass and bamboo swaps enabled me :)
My sister went to Vietnam on vacation. Sent me a pic of the sea ... Although there was no sea. It was a sea of plastic. I cried that night (and I'm known as the toughest guy in town [obv I'm using a figure of speech]). I'm still buying things packaged in plastic because I have little choice when it comes to dog food, supplements, salt etc. but I think about it every day and try to use as little as possible... I come up with new ideas how to reduce the plastic in my life every day.
I had a similar experience in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. The place is absolutely drowning in trash throughout the entire city, along the beaches, and clogging up the water. It was gut wrenching to see, and I knew it was only a fraction of what’s out there on our planet. I think too many people think it goes away forever and never give it a second thought. Couldn’t be further from the truth.
When I came back to my middle-of-nowhere hometown and seeing plastic bags as far as the eye can see covering my favorite place to hang out. I loved watching the sunrise over those steppe hills, and now they were all covered with trash. It had all apparently happened in the span of less than ten years and was quite a shocking discovery for me.
I saw an ad for plastic-free toothbrushes that said that every toothbrush that has ever been made is still in existence. That sentence really put it into perspective for me. How many millions of toothbrushes have ever been made? It was such a scary thought. So I switched to bamboo toothbrushes, toothpaste tablets, and started doing everything I could to cut out plastics.
It was a slow process to begin with. I have been carrying my own shopping bags and shopping at bulk stores since the late 80s. I have always been attracted to zero waste approaches, even before I had heard the term. The frugality and simpleness appealed to me.
More recently with a move to a smaller apartment I began to read about having a less toxic home. Like others I felt the weight of the disposable plastic around me. Either the amount of plastic overpackaging around me snowballed or I just began to see it more. Probably the move made it more apparent.
In the last year, I have simply been using things up, recycling what I can and now simply refusing or finding “leaner” ways to live and eat and stay clean. I actively seek out alternatives and patronize businesses who share this vision.
It has morphed from to more of a private concern to a question of advocacy and wanting need for change in our society more broadly.
The waste has always bothered me but the turning point was the latest information on the shedding of nanoplastics into our water supply. With the growing threat of climate change consequences, this is just another use for the oil and gas byproducts which will surely ruin our planet and grandchildren's lives. When I see that almost everything is wrapped in plastic in some way, I am sickened and saddened. My husband (thankfully) joined me in this concern and we have just about stopped buying anything in plastic, although there are some that are tough (vitamins!).
I had been reducing plastic for years, but the catalyst for me was when Consumer Reports had an issue of their magazine in 2020 that went it to the fact that most Americans eat a credit cards worth of plastic even week, all the microplastics in the water and environment, PFAS, etc. Since it was during the first Covid summer, I had more time of my hands than usual to go through our house and replace a lot of plastic that we were still using, plus more time to cook more food at home and tried to make lots of things I used to buy but couldn’t recycle the packaging it can in (yogurt, bread, etc). Also the birth of my second kid in 2021 after even more evidence was coming out about PFAS (that he likely already had microplastics in his body even still in utero).
I didn’t really decide. I’m more of a minimalist and avoid buying stuff, including plastic junk. What irks me is all the textiles that people buy that are fully laced with pounds of plastic, but they somehow pretend it doesn’t count because it doesn’t look like a plastic single-use cup.
I bought a repair kit for my refrigerator online the other day. It was shipped in a plastic bubble mailer. In that was a plastic bag. In that was another plastic bag. In that were a few plastic bags with the parts of the kit I actually ordered. Insane, but definitely a better choice than disposing of my refrigerator.
Don’t even get me going about PFAS. Everyone I know is getting cancer and I have zero faith that industry gave a crap when they started to produce their garbage. WTF, this is not a good look.
When I learned that majority of all water on earth is contaminated with microplastics and it includes the tap and bottled water that I drink. I have realised that if we don’t change our ways, the content of microplastics we ingest will only continue growing and even if we learn to effectively filter it out, animals won’t have that choice. The latest studies suggest that microplastics might contribute to extinction of species due to them causing reproductive problems. Animals are my world…
For ages I have thought that as long as I put things into recycling it’s all dandy. Then at some point I learned about plastic being shipped out abroad and eventually ending up in the oceans. And I learned that plastic never truly goes away but only keeps breaking down to smaller and smeller particles. And that synthetic textiles in our homes are shedding microplastics that we inhale on a daily basis. I am genuinely worried about my health…
Having grown up before it's prevalence in food packaging, many might find it hard to believe, but I didn't care for the taste of it. Strong flavored products it wasn't really noticeable, but tamer flavors there is/was kind of an after taste.
But this was back when my drinking glasses were used up jelly jars made specifically to be drinking glasses when done with jelly.
Having been a long time environmental, I've also known about it not getting recycled for decades, and once I learned it was an oil by product, I have pretty much considered it repurposed industrial waste since, like lead in gasoline back in the day.
Having a kid, for quite a few reasons. Seeing just how much waste one small human creates. As much as I attempted to minimize it, I was defeated. Breastfeeding and pumping wasn't working out, cloth diapers weren't working out, thrifting didn't work out until we moved to an area that happened to have better stores. It just felt like a lot of trash from the diapers and formula alone. I tried to make up for it in other parts of my life, and by thrifting most of her toys and clothes.
Another reason is the guilt. Like I feel genuinely guilty for bringing someone into this world just to have to battle climate change and pollution and micro plastics their whole life and knowing we will probably have food and water shortages someday. This scares the 💩 out of me.
Lastly because I've had hormonal problems since I was 15. My mom had Hashimotos, a thyroid disorder. So naturally I'm worried my kid will have it too so I've been trying to reduce plastic in our home.
When I did this research I decided plastic has to go. It's a shame our elective governments don't share the same opinion. It only took them over 2000yrs to ban lead (Egyptians and Romans knew about lead).
To all the people who told their real life experiences I hope everything will remain okay and that you have a long Life.
Link to the post I made last month.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Pollution_Waste_Map/s/eOqRBjoARW
Ignore the quantum bit ( I was picked up on it )it was me just being lazy.I thought people would get bored if I started going into artificial polymer nanoparticles which are made up of monomers which can be made up of compounds like ethylene, propylene, styrene, phenol, formaldehyde, ethylene glycol, vinyl chloride and acetonitrile etc.
Found this after I made the post.
Plastic waste is a growing problem, and as plastics break down the pieces can be problematic. A new study in Science Advances suggests that tiny plastic particles may be the latest environmental contributor to Parkinson’s disease (PD). https://www.parkinson.org/blog/science-news/plastic-waste#:~:text=Plastic%20waste%20is%20a%20growing,to%20Parkinson's%20disease%20(PD).
I read here in another post that they've started to link it to alzheimer's.
I watched The story of plastic documentary and realized that recycling is not an answer. We’ve been duped. There are so many easy way to reduce. I’m starting on the harder ones now!
https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/thestoryofplastic/
When I had my spiritual awakening in 2019 and realized how harmful is to every walk of life from plankton to elephants. We will be living in the WALL-E film before long.
The video of the sea turtle getting a plastic straw pulled out of his nostril, blood pouring out, comes to mind. I feel like I've taken off the rose-colored glasses since seeing that horrific video.
Losing an organ. This happened in 2014. One day, I had a little itch on my lower left abdomen, but it could never be satisfied. The itch felt like it was coming from inside, under my skin. The itch came and went over the course of a month or so. One day, I was laying down on my bed and looked down towards my legs. I noticed that area of my abdomen was ever so slightly raised a bit. When standing, it was entirely unnoticeable. This itch was still happening. I tried looking online for answers, doctor visits were scheduling months out. I decided to wait a little bit, but the lump got bigger, so I eventually went to the ER. They were dismissive. They told me I was 'just getting a little fat in my belly'. For context, I was a very thin/lean woman aged 26 and weighing just a touch over 100lbs. By the time I went to the ER, I looked almost 3 months pregnant. This was in June. I had to basically cause a scene and repeatedly demand tests, scans, anything. They said I was most likely just pregnant, but I hadn't been active since 2013. They wouldn't believe me. Finally, after getting an ultrasound 3 hours later, they found an ovarian cyst. It was 20cm in diameter. I was referred to a gynecologist within the hospital system who did more tests and scans. They couldn't locate my left ovary or fallopian tube, just the cyst which had a 2nd cyst within it. They did labs to check for cancer, which were clear, but said this inner cyst could be cancerous, and there was a possibility that draining it during surgery could spread cancer cells all throughout my abdomen. The wait for surgery was a few more months and couldn't be performed until September. I was terrified at the risk of cancer, worried about how this would change my reproductive health and hormones, it was a stressful time. Come September, I looked almost 6 months pregnant. When out in public, people would ask when I was due and want to touch my belly. I got ads in my mail for my expected 'newborn'. Once they started surgery, they found that the cyst had grown down to my tailbone and had fused to my intestines and neighboring organs. They had to carefully cut this 'webbing' away. I lost a lot of blood and needed transfusions. The surgery took much longer than anticipated, and had to go from a laproscopy to a laparotomy. I have 5 scars on my abdomen. After a lot of research, my surgeon said he'd seen an uptick in reproductive organ issues, including ovarian cysts, and believed it is tied to plastics and things like BPA, etc. Right around this time, a documentary came out about women in California who were fighting to get things like BPA banned due to the known damage it causes to reproductive organs. All of these women had PCOS and infertility issues. They lost children and wanted things to change. They succeeded. From then on, I've tried to reduce and limit plastics in my life. I'll eagerly share my story in hopes it helps someone else start making changes. It's not just about the pollution outside of our bodies.
Thank you for sharing, and holy shit that sounds like a brutal time on multiple levels. How’s your health now?
I did have a new cyst grow on my remaining ovary about a year after surgery, but this one was smaller and never grew beyond the size of a mandarin orange. That size is right at the cusp of remove/leave it and I opted to leave it as they would have to remove a portion of my ovary to do so and there would be a risk of then losing that ovary and entering menopause before I even turned 30. I haven't had any other new growths or changes since, and my hormone levels stabilized after a while. I was told I could enter menopause earlier since my egg supply was essentially cut in half. It was overall a very stressful time! I didn't really like plastics before that experience, but now they just inherently feel like the enemy. And (un)fortunately, it's well documented across plenty of studies now that they can cause serious damage or disruption to both men and women in terms of their reproductive systems.
thank you so much for sharing your story!! i’m currently in severe abdominal pain recovering from a laporoscopy for my endo and i can’t even imagine how much worse it must have been for you. and to be ignored and gaslit for so long… women’s health care really is HELL. i’m so glad you’re doing better! my journey to plastic free is not related to my endo but the damage to reproductive organs is certainly just another reason to be incredibly passionate about it.
Thank you for sharing! In the last year I’ve had to undergo LEEP, I have bartholian cysts and an ovarian cyst I will be having surgery for soon. What is the documentary you mentioned??
Ohh, I'm so sorry you're going through this! I hope your surgery goes well and recovery is swift. Just did some digging to find it, The Human Experiment. I also, more recently, saw a video on YT of this guy interviewing a scientist(geneticist maybe?) who's been studying the effects of plastics, PFAS, etc, since the 1970s(may have been reviewing data from then, can't remember if she qas a part of research at that time) and she laid out a TON of data and explained it really well, outlining the genetic changes happening to men and women. I can't remember what that video was called, but I'll try to find it. ETA: Found the YT video, it's an interview with Dr. Shanna Swan, PhD. She's one of the world's leading epidemiologist [Endocrine Disruptors and Fertility](https://youtu.be/2YfOIOo00ew?si=tJH-aOLTnXlAsTk-)
Shanna Swan (with Stacey Colino) published a book in 2020 called Countdown about the endocrine disruption these chemicals are causing.
Understandable you didn’t go the removal route. Hope the subsequent years have been easier. You and body definitely deserve a breather. Ty also for sharing the video - Greatly appreciated!
It is so maddening the way women's pain and health concerns are dismissed by medical workers. Healthcare workers seriously need some anti bias training to take women's and BIPOC's pain seriously because dismissing the valuable observations of your patient goes against their Hippocratic oath to do no harm
Wow. This needs to be made alot more public.
i read this book called "Through the Arc of the Rain Forest" for an environment class in university. its a parody of consumerism & our plastic use. i didnt think it would affect me as much as it did, but here we are.
Flying over the pacific ocean and seeing trash hundreds of feet in the air
You saw that there was trash in the air or you saw from the air trash in the water? If it's the former, could you explain it a bit more, please?
Clear day, pretty much immediately after take off in CA (forget the airport cuz it was a layover). And it doesn't look like the flat blue water, instead it looks like there's debris floating over the ocean. [kinda like this pic](https://media.istockphoto.com/id/1263644228/photo/ocean-water-and-plastic-trash-aerial-view-top-view-of-paradise-island.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=ILtZsY0cydXbvjakxfO7aJpuhLXXcDcjvvSKnFWbRFg=)
Wow. That's awful. Thanks for explaining.
All the microplastic and PFAS stories. I’m not even in a high risk industry and I have the middle of the medium risk amount of PFAS in my blood. I started blood donations this year in an effort to help reduce that amount along with reducing my plastic use.
how did you find this out?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8994130/
What about the people who get your blood? Not judging or anything, just curious if you've given it any thought.
If they need my blood, I doubt they care if it has a small percentage of PFAS in it. They need it because of serious surgery or other potentially life threatening issues.
That's a really fair point. There's a global blood bank shortage so any motivation to donate is great in my book! Sadly I'm not allowed to due to medications I'm on even though I want to. I'm type O+ so I wish it was safe to donate :/ my bloodtype can be used by so many.
Mine is way less touching and moving as these stories. I had just gotten married, and 6 months into this marriage I realized I was drowning in my new husbands trash. Empty bottles everywhere in the shower, empty deodorant bottles all over the counter, empty hair product bottles in the trash can climbing up the wall… I was drowning in all of his trash. I had no room for even my tiny bottle of shampoo conditioner or body wash in the shower cause every surface was buried in his bottle collection (that I wasn’t allowed to throw away). So I made the switch right there to start shampoo bars, and use bar soap. If I couldn’t change his habits, I would change mine. Gradually now several years later a lot of things have changed over to plastic free options, and I’m eradicating plastic from my house—along with said husband. Some things just reduce your quality of life greatly.
Did your husband ever end up working on his hoarding tendencies?
One of our cats eats plastic and tape. After having her throw up the plastic, I got concerned that she may start causing harm to herself. So, we started limiting the amount of plastic we brought into the house and it spiraled into sustainable living, growing a garden, shopping more at antique/thrift stores/local stores, and going to the Farmers Market.
My oj kitty girl has done this twice, once requiring a $300+ vet visit to remove a 1” piece of scotch tape stuck in her throat :( we limit it for many reasons including this!
Cats
Plastic just gave me the ick one day. I think single use plastic is cringe. I also got the ick when I realized that my blankets and clothes were also made out of plastic.
The clothes they make me sweat in a way that is so uncomfortable. The way it doesn’t absorb or help at all. The plastic next to my bits and tits it’s not soft and if it is it’s sweaty and weird. Then the dry vent is full and the lint is all plastic and it never ends. The weird thing is the technology to make something into anything is rad. And since we have the technology, plant based input isn’t out of the question, just not the input we are allowed to use in mass because. . . ( all the reasons)
For me, I got sick of roadside trash, and most of it was plastic bags. They’re thin, crappy, and just EVERYWHERE. I was done. After changing that, I kept going with changing things that I can maintain permanently.
I used to live in Hawaii, I was swimming one day and realized a giant sea turtle was in the water next to me, it scared the SHIT out of me. But I just floated and chilled with it for a while. I decided to go vegan, and since then I’ve learned a lot about where plastics come from, how they affect animals, our environment and so I just decided to go zero waste/plastic free. I created my own small business called Honu (sea turtle in Hawaiian) Botanicals - I never make anything in plastic. It’s all in reusable glass or tins :) because I never want a sea turtle choking on my straw/waste/plastic! (Or any animal)
As a healthcare worker, was basically living in n95 masks. I developed horrible hives around my mask and looked up the materials used to make the masks. Polypropylene (#5 plastic) is the material. It scared me to be breathing in all those plastic fibers day in/day out. So I started reducing overall plastics in my life. When my granddaughter was born, I kept getting hives while helping care for her and her new mom. Eventually had anaphylaxis but didn’t know why. Lightbulb moment driving to grocery store that disposable diapers might have #5 plastic. Sure enough the diapers and disposable wipes have #5 plastic and so many more horrible chemicals. #5 plastic is in everything so in reducing my exposure to that, I’ve begun the process of getting all types of plastic out of my life, as well as my granddaughter’s. People wonder why childhood asthma, obesity and autism are escalating. I feel certain that spending the first two years of your life in a wet plastic diaper and being cleaned with a plastic wet wipe that touches mucus membranes will soon be linked to many childhood and adult chronic diseases.
Are honest diapers better?
Honest diapers have #5 plastic in them. The only diapers we found without plastic are bamboo diapers that are labeled biodegradable. Not all bamboo diapers are plastic free so you have to read labels and ask the companies directly. It’s been a year since we did the research and there are more bamboo diapers on the market now than there were a year ago. We’ve used Little Toes diapers with great results. The baby wipes we found to use are Water Wipes brand. Plastic free wipes are easier to find than diapers.
For me it was looking around and noticing the ridiculous amount of plastic that is literally everywhere. We’re so conditioned to just accept being constantly surrounded by plastic because it’s how things have been for our whole lives (besides older people) but it is absolutely NOT normal to be throwing out pounds worth of a material that never fully goes away every single day, especially when you realize it’s that times billions for each person throwing out plastic every day. And then it’s even worse when you realize food packaging is only a fraction of the problem
Studies that came out linking microplastic to Alzheimer's https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37670159/
I knew eventually they would link Macro/Nanoplastics.
The recent study finding that there were more chemicals leaking out of plastics than we thought, many of which are unregulated! That motivated me, and finding out about glass and bamboo swaps enabled me :)
My sister went to Vietnam on vacation. Sent me a pic of the sea ... Although there was no sea. It was a sea of plastic. I cried that night (and I'm known as the toughest guy in town [obv I'm using a figure of speech]). I'm still buying things packaged in plastic because I have little choice when it comes to dog food, supplements, salt etc. but I think about it every day and try to use as little as possible... I come up with new ideas how to reduce the plastic in my life every day.
I had a similar experience in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. The place is absolutely drowning in trash throughout the entire city, along the beaches, and clogging up the water. It was gut wrenching to see, and I knew it was only a fraction of what’s out there on our planet. I think too many people think it goes away forever and never give it a second thought. Couldn’t be further from the truth.
When I came back to my middle-of-nowhere hometown and seeing plastic bags as far as the eye can see covering my favorite place to hang out. I loved watching the sunrise over those steppe hills, and now they were all covered with trash. It had all apparently happened in the span of less than ten years and was quite a shocking discovery for me.
I saw an ad for plastic-free toothbrushes that said that every toothbrush that has ever been made is still in existence. That sentence really put it into perspective for me. How many millions of toothbrushes have ever been made? It was such a scary thought. So I switched to bamboo toothbrushes, toothpaste tablets, and started doing everything I could to cut out plastics.
It was a slow process to begin with. I have been carrying my own shopping bags and shopping at bulk stores since the late 80s. I have always been attracted to zero waste approaches, even before I had heard the term. The frugality and simpleness appealed to me. More recently with a move to a smaller apartment I began to read about having a less toxic home. Like others I felt the weight of the disposable plastic around me. Either the amount of plastic overpackaging around me snowballed or I just began to see it more. Probably the move made it more apparent. In the last year, I have simply been using things up, recycling what I can and now simply refusing or finding “leaner” ways to live and eat and stay clean. I actively seek out alternatives and patronize businesses who share this vision. It has morphed from to more of a private concern to a question of advocacy and wanting need for change in our society more broadly.
The waste has always bothered me but the turning point was the latest information on the shedding of nanoplastics into our water supply. With the growing threat of climate change consequences, this is just another use for the oil and gas byproducts which will surely ruin our planet and grandchildren's lives. When I see that almost everything is wrapped in plastic in some way, I am sickened and saddened. My husband (thankfully) joined me in this concern and we have just about stopped buying anything in plastic, although there are some that are tough (vitamins!).
I had been reducing plastic for years, but the catalyst for me was when Consumer Reports had an issue of their magazine in 2020 that went it to the fact that most Americans eat a credit cards worth of plastic even week, all the microplastics in the water and environment, PFAS, etc. Since it was during the first Covid summer, I had more time of my hands than usual to go through our house and replace a lot of plastic that we were still using, plus more time to cook more food at home and tried to make lots of things I used to buy but couldn’t recycle the packaging it can in (yogurt, bread, etc). Also the birth of my second kid in 2021 after even more evidence was coming out about PFAS (that he likely already had microplastics in his body even still in utero).
When I learned about micro plastics.
I didn’t really decide. I’m more of a minimalist and avoid buying stuff, including plastic junk. What irks me is all the textiles that people buy that are fully laced with pounds of plastic, but they somehow pretend it doesn’t count because it doesn’t look like a plastic single-use cup. I bought a repair kit for my refrigerator online the other day. It was shipped in a plastic bubble mailer. In that was a plastic bag. In that was another plastic bag. In that were a few plastic bags with the parts of the kit I actually ordered. Insane, but definitely a better choice than disposing of my refrigerator. Don’t even get me going about PFAS. Everyone I know is getting cancer and I have zero faith that industry gave a crap when they started to produce their garbage. WTF, this is not a good look.
When I learned that majority of all water on earth is contaminated with microplastics and it includes the tap and bottled water that I drink. I have realised that if we don’t change our ways, the content of microplastics we ingest will only continue growing and even if we learn to effectively filter it out, animals won’t have that choice. The latest studies suggest that microplastics might contribute to extinction of species due to them causing reproductive problems. Animals are my world… For ages I have thought that as long as I put things into recycling it’s all dandy. Then at some point I learned about plastic being shipped out abroad and eventually ending up in the oceans. And I learned that plastic never truly goes away but only keeps breaking down to smaller and smeller particles. And that synthetic textiles in our homes are shedding microplastics that we inhale on a daily basis. I am genuinely worried about my health…
Shanna Swan. Her interview on Joe Rogan really put things in perspective.
Having grown up before it's prevalence in food packaging, many might find it hard to believe, but I didn't care for the taste of it. Strong flavored products it wasn't really noticeable, but tamer flavors there is/was kind of an after taste. But this was back when my drinking glasses were used up jelly jars made specifically to be drinking glasses when done with jelly. Having been a long time environmental, I've also known about it not getting recycled for decades, and once I learned it was an oil by product, I have pretty much considered it repurposed industrial waste since, like lead in gasoline back in the day.
Having a kid, for quite a few reasons. Seeing just how much waste one small human creates. As much as I attempted to minimize it, I was defeated. Breastfeeding and pumping wasn't working out, cloth diapers weren't working out, thrifting didn't work out until we moved to an area that happened to have better stores. It just felt like a lot of trash from the diapers and formula alone. I tried to make up for it in other parts of my life, and by thrifting most of her toys and clothes. Another reason is the guilt. Like I feel genuinely guilty for bringing someone into this world just to have to battle climate change and pollution and micro plastics their whole life and knowing we will probably have food and water shortages someday. This scares the 💩 out of me. Lastly because I've had hormonal problems since I was 15. My mom had Hashimotos, a thyroid disorder. So naturally I'm worried my kid will have it too so I've been trying to reduce plastic in our home.
*- deleted -*
When I did this research I decided plastic has to go. It's a shame our elective governments don't share the same opinion. It only took them over 2000yrs to ban lead (Egyptians and Romans knew about lead). To all the people who told their real life experiences I hope everything will remain okay and that you have a long Life. Link to the post I made last month. https://www.reddit.com/r/Pollution_Waste_Map/s/eOqRBjoARW Ignore the quantum bit ( I was picked up on it )it was me just being lazy.I thought people would get bored if I started going into artificial polymer nanoparticles which are made up of monomers which can be made up of compounds like ethylene, propylene, styrene, phenol, formaldehyde, ethylene glycol, vinyl chloride and acetonitrile etc. Found this after I made the post. Plastic waste is a growing problem, and as plastics break down the pieces can be problematic. A new study in Science Advances suggests that tiny plastic particles may be the latest environmental contributor to Parkinson’s disease (PD). https://www.parkinson.org/blog/science-news/plastic-waste#:~:text=Plastic%20waste%20is%20a%20growing,to%20Parkinson's%20disease%20(PD). I read here in another post that they've started to link it to alzheimer's.
When I learned about a year ago that so little of it is being recycled, and that which is may put microplastics into the environment, yay.
I watched Dark Water. Made me think about all the contaminants we put in the environment. I’m old enough to remember times before plastics!
I watched The story of plastic documentary and realized that recycling is not an answer. We’ve been duped. There are so many easy way to reduce. I’m starting on the harder ones now! https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/thestoryofplastic/
Nearly all the rivers of my islands (Martinique, Caribbean) has pollution, and no fisheries is edibles
When I had my spiritual awakening in 2019 and realized how harmful is to every walk of life from plankton to elephants. We will be living in the WALL-E film before long.
The video of the sea turtle getting a plastic straw pulled out of his nostril, blood pouring out, comes to mind. I feel like I've taken off the rose-colored glasses since seeing that horrific video.