Throughout this semester I have seriously been trying to cut down on my plastic usage. For the last couple of years I have been somewhat conscious of my plastic usage, but this semester I have really been trying to use the smallest amount of plastic possible. Throughout my transition to less plastic it has been extremely fulfilling to know that I am making a difference in the worlds emissions and pollution problems. It is also difficult because my roommate uses an extremely large amount of single use plastic items and just refuses to change his ways no matter how much I lecture him. He grew up in a household where they used a large amount of single use plastics so he just does not know any other way and just struggles with changing. It is hard to have all these single use plastic items in our house and kitchen and avoiding them, but it has progressively gotten easier for me to not be tempted to use those items.     

I have learned from this experience that it is astounding how many people and restaurants use single use plastics. A large amount of restaurants give people straws without even ask their customers. Also a majority of restaurants use plastic cups or lids rather than compostable materials. Having so many restaurants which only have single use plastic options makes it extremely difficult to avoid plastic usage completely, but I have been able to reduce my plastic use significantly. Every time I have had the option of using plastic or avoiding it I have chosen to not use it, but so many restaurants bring drinks out with straws without even asking you. This resulted in me thinking that at times I was failing in avoiding plastic use, but I have to realize that those instances are not my fault. I think I will be able to keep reducing my plastic use, it is just difficult to completely avoid using plastic. For example gatorade only comes in plastic bottles so it is essential impossible to avoid plastic use there, but usually I reuse my gatorade bottles.I have also cut down on my gatorade consumption since cutting down on my plastic use. My oldest brother is extremely environmentally focused and he just recommended that I drink water from a reusable bottle and then only drink other drinks that are not put in plastic bottles. It is also just small things you have to give up, like not using plastic coffee stirrers and small tedious things like that make the whole process of cutting down on plastic difficult.  

Ben Jackson

Intro to Environmental and Sustainability Studies

February 19^th, 2019

Fighting pollution: Toledo residents want personhood status for Lake Erie

McGraw, Daniel. “Fighting Pollution: Toledo Residents Want Personhood Status for Lake Erie.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 19 Feb. 2019, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/19/lake-erie-pollution-personhood-status-toledo.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/feb/19/lake-erie-pollution-personhood-status-toledo

• Citizens of Toledo have been dealing with algae blooms and large amounts of “microcystin” bacteria in Lake Erie for past four years
• Lake Erie supplies Toledo with a majority of its water supply
• Numerous times the water has been labeled unsafe for children, the elderly, and pregnant women to even shower in
• Citizens proposed idea of the Lake Erie bill which will be deciding if the Lake has the same rights as a person
• Voting for the bill is February 26^th
• Unfair to the residents of Toledo to be forced to deal with contaminated water
• Relates to our conversations about pollution from large factories and the importance of cutting back on waste runoff. Also relates to environmental ethics with the Lake Erie Bill

This afternoon I had the extreme pleasure of attending a presentation of solving the global water crisis. The presentation was run by Maude Barlow, who lives in Ottawa, Canada and has a decorated resume in environmental rights, specifically clean water acts. She has even helped construct laws at the United Nations level, so I was very fortunate to be able to hear her perspective and ideas on the environment and water scarcity. She also wrote the novel Blue Gold which was one of the first books discussing water and the scarcity of it in the near future. Barlow wants to prove to people that the problem of water scarcity and pollution is just as important and prevalent as climate change, if not more prevalent and terrifying. She discussed how many people in the past believed this good such as water and fossil fuels were endlessly abundant and led to people overusing the resources to an extreme degree. Now a large majority of the world is stuck with water shortage or stuck with extremely polluted water. Even the United States has extremely polluted water in areas such as Flint, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio, but most every place has at least harmful microplastics in the water. Barlow stated the fact that 2.5 billion people in the word do not have access to proper sanitation, which shocked me. It is unbelievable how sheltered and how lucky people like myself are to grow up in a place where we are never forced to worry if drinking water will be clean or if I will even have running water at home. I quite honestly cannot imagine going through some of the hardships third world countries are forced to go through just to receive a small amount of sanitary water, but that could be the very legitimate future if we proceed to waste water in the manner we have been. She had many points that truly opened my eyes regarding the danger of our future and water supply. She discussed how just recently the United States discovered that we only have half as much ground water as we originally believed. That other half is contaminated by chemicals or has absorbed too much salt water and has become undrinkable to humans. I also thought it was very interesting that she touched on the large algae blooms and bacterial growth in Lake Erie considering I discussed that problem and the voting of the Lake Erie bill just an hour before the talk. It was very disheartening when she said that the United States are moving in the complete opposite way of protecting natural environment and water. Barlow discussed how Trump just recently announced the largest cut back on the Clean Water Act since it was established in 1962. She opened my eyes showing that the fight for clean water is a fight that we must keep fighting and be extremely persistent with. Corporations will proceed to ignore the idea that we do not have enough sanitary water for the future, but we must keep fighting until everyone realizes and accepts the truth regarding the world water crisis.