Tag Archives: personal change

Plastikophobia

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While scrolling through images of plastic litter being turned into art, I came across this sculpture. I immediately clicked on it and began to read about it. I was drawn to the brightness of it and was curious about what materials it was made of. The sculpture was created by Von Wong and Joshua Got and is named “Plastikophobia”. The name comes from the fear the artist’s felt while creating this sculpture. The sculpture is made from over 18,000 single use plastic cups. With the help of  around three dozen volunteers, the cups were collected from local food centers across Singapore. The collection process took about roughly a day and half. The cups were then cleaned off and  assembled to form a shiny crystal cave. They installed fairy lights throughout the cups to finish it off. The sculpture itself took around seven days to complete.

The picture above shows Max Pagel, one of the volunteers, dressed up as a scuba diver posing in the sculpture. The picture below shows contemporary dancer Jialin Neo posing  in the sculpture.  The sculpture is currently on display in the Sustainable Singapore galleries in the Marina Barrage.

The beauty of the sculpture attracts tourists to come take pictures with it while also spreading awareness on the dangers of single use plastic cups. The goal of the sculpture was to show how the plastic we consume on land can end eventually end up in the ocean. It’s crazy to think that all of the cups used in the sculpture were gathered in a day and a half, strictly from local food centers in Singapore. There needs to be more sustainable or reusable options. The term “Plastikophobia”, created by Von Wong,  has already started to gain popularity and is being used by local artists and photographers to start the conversation around the problem with plastics.

Making Art with Plastic Waste

 

Making The Change

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Change can be hard for a lot of us, but if we don’t start now will we ever? Change can be especially hard when it comes to items that we use everyday. Every morning I have a routine; I use the same products, wear the same clothes, and eat and drink the same foods. However, almost all of the products I use are made of plastic and can be replaced with something more sustainable. I have always tried to be environmentally friendly by using a Hyrdo Flask instead of plastic water bottles, using cloth masks instead of disposable ones, and bringing my own cloth bags to the store instead of using the plastic ones they provide for you. But even in doing that, the amount of other items I use that are plastic outnumber and outweigh that. I’ve never thought about changing any of these products until completing Beth Terry’s grocery shopping and personal Care/Cleaning worksheet.

Most of my plastic footprint comes from my personal care items. Face wash, shampoo, conditioner, moisturizer – the list could go on. However, many of these items I can switch to products that are more sustainable. The first thing I would change is my shampoo and conditioner. Right now I use Kevin Murphy, which is 60$ for both. I would switch this to The Unwrapped Life bars of shampoo and conditioner. Not only do these save a tremendous amount of plastic, they are also cheaper. 30$ for shampoo and conditioner however they do come with less. This would not be a big change for me because I actually used to use these before. Another product that I would change is my hair oil. Right now I use Verb Ghost Oil, but I would switch it to Love Hair Oil. Love Hair uses materials that are manufactured using 100% renewable energy, which is recyclable at the end of their life cycle. The last item I would change is my cotton swabs. I use so many people during the day when I do my makeup. The cotton swabs I currently use are Q- tips, but I switched over to bamboo swabs from Well Earth Goods. The bamboo cotton is biodegradable unlike the Q-tips One item that I am not willing to switch is my facial wash. I have very sensitive skin and certain products cause me to break out very easily. I currently use CeraVe cash wash and it has taken me a while to find a facial wash that actually works for my skin.

Change can be very difficult but if it’s going to benefit the environment and the earth then I am willing to do it. I intend on making all of the changes I said before and I hope others will try to make changes as well. 

 

Personal Change for Organic Growth

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Things I would consider changing in my life to be more plastic-free would be the replacement of the daily use items I have.

I feel like multiple changes would slightly change my plastic footprint but also be a way to slowly ease my way into living a sustainable life. This is because the items I chose are all things I use daily.

For example:

Type of Grocery Item  The brand I Buy Now 

Less-Plastic Alternative 
Bagels  Thomas’ everything bagels  Buying straight from a bagel store 
Rice  Botan Rice  Tamaki Kenko Hagia short grain rice  
Apples  Fuji apple bundle  Get them each separately than in a case 
Type of Product  The brand I Buy Now  Less-Plastic Alternative 
Tampon  Tampax  o.b. original 
Bleach  Clorox  Clean cut organic cleaning 
Toothbrush  Oral B  Bite toothbrush 

While I’d be more than willing to replace these items, I am a finically struggling college student and currently, don have the means to fund all those changes, I did however try one of them. I bought grocery items that were useless to no packaging. It was interesting having to bring my own reusable bag to the store and then having so many loose items in said bag. I did like not having to deal with the packaging once I got home though. It was also nice to feel like I wasting anything due to there being no packaging on my fruits and vegetable and very little on my other items. I did not like having to find super random brands to get the food that I wanted. It wasn’t fun having to get items that I didn’t know if I would even like either.

However, I will say there is a challenge with giving up some items with plastic as its main component. For myself, it would be my phone (though plastic may not be its main component there still are important aspects of its makeup that need plastic) It would be very hard for me to give up something that makes life so much easier and sometimes safer.

Overall I do think I will stick with starting to change over my ways into a more sustainable lifestyle. I want to keep trying to make environmentally conscious decisions, also when I am at stores to try and find more options than I had when previously looking. I really want to stick with this because it makes me feel better about myself and makes me feel a little more in control of my own environmental choices.

These choices although they are small can make a large impact, not only on my personal footprint but can also encourage others I know to make similar choices. Thus a cycle of sustainability starts, even if it’s just by a couple items from a couple of people. Society needs to start the beginning of the sustainability cycle and that starts with everyday choices. It starts with you and me making the decision to pick the slightly pricier option to make a change. Especially because pollution is a direct cause of plastic use and that results in human and animal death. It’s all of our responsibility to keep our planet clean. But for our choices to be made easier, it starts with companies making more options for consumers and having more ethical practices for their products.

Water Pollution Statistics | Alliance Disposal

(Figure 1 deadly pollution graph)

My Advice for those contemplating making similar choices would be don’t be afraid to try new things and you may even find you like it better. Also, you can find items that aren’t super expensive while still being sustainable. I would give the advice as well that you don’t have to start all at once and change your whole life overnight. You can start small and work your way up to it. Do not be afraid of change or how long it takes, take it one step at a time!