Plastic Planet

We are consuming plastic at an alarming rate..just think how often you use plastic everyday...grocery bags, food packaging, plastic water bottles, bread bags....the list is endless!

So its not the first time you heard that plastic is bad for the environment, but did you know it was bad for your health? Plastics leach into our food and water and can cause hormone havoc and toxic buildup, which can eventually lead to an array of health problems.

Most of us have heard of BPA in baby bottles and water bottles, this chemical can act as estrogen in your body. Dr. Frederick vom Saal at the University of Missouri-Columbia reports "studies of laboratory animals, BPA changes play behaviour, weakens gender differences, decreases sperm count, stimulates prostate cancer, and causes symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder" (pg. 61).  BPA is not the only chemical in plastic that has health affects..so your best bet is to reduce your exposure to plastics as much as possible. Here is a cute cartoon video that gives you another perspective on plastics






Here are some tips to reduce your exposure to chemicals in plastics
1. Use a stainless steel water bottle
2. Use glass to store foods (you can replace plastic food containers with glass ones or if your on a budget like me just recycle glass containers to store food (e.g use an glass salsa container to store left over chili etc.)
3. Buy glass options when available ( foods, pop etc.)
4. If you use plastic never use it in the microwave- the heat breaks the plastic down and you end up eating it.
5. Use recyclable bags at grocery stores
6. Try and select produce with no or minimal packaging
7. Learn the numbers on plastic and what each means
8. Try and buy can food options that don't use plastics to line the cans (did you know can e.g. soup use plastic to line the cans?) This can leech into your food..tomatoes are the worst because the acidic tomatoes break down the plastic..who knew?
9. Recycle the plastics you use

Check out this web-site for information on what  each of the plastic numbers mean : http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/recycling-symbols-plastics-460321


Here's another great 5min video that outlines some great facts, resources and what you can do to make a difference! P.S It has some great tunes!





Check out "No Impact Mans" Blog

http://noimpactman.typepad.com/

I can't wait to read this book and watch the documentary!

Remember.... "the power is yours!" ha ha Remember Captain Planet? Favorite show as a kid..no surprises there.