“I am only one person. What difference can I make?” It’s a phrase that knocks around in my head every time I broach the idea of somehow combating the scourge of plastics. How could I possibly make any difference in the tsunami of plastic waste which is already in the world and increasing every minute?

“The answer is ‘no’ unless you ask.” This is one of my favorite mottoes. That pile of plastic debris? Maybe it is possible to make a difference, with just One. Small. Step.

For me, it begins with those ubiquitous disposable single-use water bottles. I refuse to use them. Ever. “No, thank you,” I say. If possible, I refer to the fact that there are a million disposable water bottles being used on the planet every minute. At least it is not a million and one. It is a small step. It is a start.

In my fridge are always two or three reusable water bottles ready to grab on my way out the door, and others in the car or my backpack. This habit was easy to build. Even though I know my efforts are minuscule when compared with the overall problem, it feels to good to know I’m not adding to it.

Another One Small Step decision occurs when I reach for the reusable carrying bags stored in my car as I head into stores. If I forget, I make myself go back and get one, or politely decline the store’s offer of a bag (whether paper or plastic). Worldwide, there are something like two million plastic bags used every minute. People say, “oh, it’s not a big deal. They are recyclable.” But what about not using them in the first place? In the phrase, “Reduce-Reuse-Recycle” reducing is the first thing. Choosing to refuse single-use plastic bags is not a difficult habit to cultivate. You just need to promise yourself to take that One Small Step.

“Single-use plastics account for 40 percent of the plastic produced every year. Many of these products, such as plastic bags and food wrappers, have a life span of mere minutes to hours, yet they may persist in the environment for hundreds of years.”

Laura Parker, “The world's plastic pollution crisis explained,” June 7, 2019, accessed at www.nationalgeographic.com on April 6, 2022

The waste generated by food and drinks, especially take-out, is a huge problem. Actually, once I learned that 20% of petroleum use in the USA goes to moving food from one place to another, I began to do most of my own cooking, incorporating One Small Step of buying local foods whenever possible. It just seems odd to realize that the food on my plate has traveled farther than I have.

When I do eat out, I always inquire about earth-friendly leftover containers. If none, then I ask for a sheet of tin foil instead–anything to avoid using plastic or styrofoam. Someday, I will start remembering to bring along a reusable container, but stay tuned for that One Small Step (I am a work in progress).

Take-out food is enclosed and wrapped and draped and sheathed in all manner of plastics, much of it single-use, often with hands-full of napkins or sauce packets that mostly seem to get tossed. (Well, except for my 91 year old friend, Norm, who had easily 140 little packets of sauces from fast food joints in his fridge when Tom cleaned it and, yes, had to send them to the landfill...) One Small Step when eating out is to refuse the ever-present plastic straw that always seems to arrive at the table. Americans use about 500 million of them a day, according to the National Park Service!

Admittedly, there are times when a girl just needs to support her local vendors. So, when the barista tries to use two cups to “protect” my mouth from the heat, I politely inquire if I could please have just one cup (yes, I know the water is hot - that is why they call it hot tea...). One. Small. Step.

The volume and variety of environmental disasters often feels like too much. I even heard (but cannot source) that the amount of plastic wrap used annually could cover the State of Texas. Ouch. My luggage will never be shrink-wrapped! Microplastics are plugging the guts and livers of both humans and animals. The seas will contain more debris than fish by 2050. The litany is dark, and really, really long.

“Every year, about 8 million tons of plastic waste escapes into the oceans from coastal nations. That’s the equivalent of setting five garbage bags full of trash on every foot of coastline around the world.”

Parker

I’ve been called a tree-hugger as if that is some sort of bad thing, but the name-callers are wrong. Thank goodness for the trees! Honoring the natural world is a necessary and good thing. What if more people chose to take One Small Step at a time? The occasional “no-drive day” is a surprisingly sweet treat. Reduce the use of single plastics. Recycle everything possible. Create compost.

Science and technology are creating glimmers of hope: microbes that can digest oil spills; bioplastics instead of petroleum-based plastics; a potential for styrofoam-eating mealworms; cornstarch packaging “peanuts” that dissolve in water. Every correctional effort we can make on behalf of stewarding the only spaceship we all share has to count for something. If we all start to take One Small Step, it has to make some sort of difference in this fragile world. Doesn’t it?

[Please consider watching this (long) informational YouTube by the folks at EarthDay.org, first streamed 1/26/2022: “Turning the Tide on Plastic Pollution: Mobilizing Around a Global Plastics Treaty” here]