RROP: Reducing Reliance on Plastic

Over the past year I have taken some steps to reduce my plastic consumption.  For each of these items, I had not previously realize the cumulative effect of using plastic in this way or about alternatives.  Perhaps one of these will be new to you as well.

Toothbrush

   Dentists recommend you change your toothbrush every three months.  That means each year I would personally send four chunks of plastic to the landfill that will never decompose.  In my lifetime so far, I have probably "consumed" 200 toothbrushes, plus those I have purchased for my husband and children.  Some toothbrushes do linger in my home as cleaning aids for hard to reach places!

   I discovered last year that there are toothbrushes with bristles made of plant products and a handle made of bamboo.  Even though they are sturdy, they will eventually decompose or safely be burned.  Yes, they cost more.  No, they don't come in flashy colours.  But they have given me the courage to say, "No, thank you" when the dentist offered me a complimentary toothbrush at my last visit.  I still need an alternative to dental floss...[1]

Straw

   I don't use straws often at home and haven't purchased a box of them in years.  When we go out for a meal, the server is likely to add a straw to a soft drink or chocolate milk.  That has changed in some establishments lately, and it alerted me to the problem of plastic drinking straws and the litter they cause world wide.

   One of the summer dates my husband and I went on last year involved walking to a diner about a kilometre from home and each having a milk shake.  We brought our own reusable straws, which were sturdy plastic and had been part of a teacher gift: a large sturdy plastic cup, lid and straw.  However, since then I have purchased a bamboo straw that will serve me better. A cloth carrying case in the store seemed a bit overpriced, so I'll have to improvise to keep my purse sanitary.

Food wrap

Cotton food wrap

   I've never been a plastic wrap user.  Over the past twenty-one years, I may have bought one small box of it that dispenses from a cardboard tube. I have found other ways to cover food and leftovers, including reusing a bread bag to put around the container and removing air before adding a twist tie or Tupperware® with a sealed lid.

   When I found out about beeswax infused cotton to use as a cover or wrap for leftover food, I purchased a few of them and have been pleased with the results.  They are washable in cold water, so as not to melt off the wax.  After they lose their clinging power (I've had mine over a year and they are still fine), you can cut them into small pieces and put them in the compost/green bin

Shampoo

Partly used shampoo bar on wooden soap dish

   For the past six months, I have completely switched over to washing my hair with a shampoo bar instead of a liquid shampoo.  Even though most shampoo bottles are recyclable and I do recycle any piece of plastic with a recycling symbol on it, I'd rather not add plastic to the environment when there is an alternative.  I first became aware of shampoo bars by receiving one as a gift.

   Today, when we think of soap it is highly specialized.  Dish soap, laundry soap, hand soap and hair soap are not interchangeable, but in the past (and even in many places around the world), soap in the form of a cake or bar was used to wash clothes, hands, hair and floors.  Using a shampoo bar also enables me to support a local producer of soap and care products!

[1] Footnote in 2024. There is a Canadian made product made of corn silk that works just as well as dental floss. The product name is FLOSSPOT Gold. It comes in a reusable and refillable stainless steel dispenser!

Reading Strategies and my books of 2018

   Each of the 85 books I read last year had an effect on me. As I teach my students, "Reading is thinking."  Every book requires of its readers a level of engagement. Being touched by the books we read proves that we have taken them seriously and that we are not just passive recipients of knowledge being poured into our brains.
   There are specific reading strategies that help us to get the most out of the books we read. As I go through each strategy, I will highlight a book or two I read in the past year which especially required this strategy of me.

Visualization

When reading, it is helpful to picture in one's mind the action that is taking place.  As the author

describes people and place, they come to life in our imaginations. Two books I read last year that became vivid in my mind were The Trumpet of the Swan by E B White and Stolen Child Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch. The first book highlights Sam Beaver, a boy who comes to a remote part of Canada and who becomes bound up with a family of swans. The wilderness setting was a bit similar to a green space near my suburban home. When Louis the swan leaves his family to find his voice, the sights and sounds are told in lovely detail. Stolen Child is set at the same time period that my father and his siblings came to Canada as immigrants. Some of the scenes of the country school and the simple and practical home built by new settlers I imagined to take place on and around the property of my dear aunt and uncle who lived on a farm in the Niagara Peninsula.

Prediction

As we read fiction books, we use our own background to try to predict what a character will do next or what events might follow. By making conscious or unconscious predictions, we invest in the story and care more about the outcome. The book from 2018 that I found myself making predictions for was My Secret Sister by Helen Edwards and Jenny Lee Smith. This lengthy biography of two sisters separated early in life and raised in different households had alternating narrators. As narrators switched, I found myself trying to figure out how the story would continue.  So many things in the story were difficult to predict, such as one family moving to South Africa for a period of time, and the surprising revelations about other siblings who had been raised by others and remained unacknowledged by their birth mother.

Connections

Every story we hear or read connects to our lives in some way because there are common experiences in being human.  Stories can also connect to other stories we've heard or to world events we are aware of. The books that led to many connections for me in 2018 were Meet Viola Desmond by Elizabeth MacLeod and The Soul of Shame by Curt Thompson. Both are non-fiction books.  The first one is a picture book that tells the story of African-Canadian, Viola Desmond. In 2018, this woman's image was revealed on the Canadian $10 bill. Learning about her story enabled me to connect it to the story of American civil rights activist, Rosa Parks.  Both women did not give up their seats in order to assert their human rights, and both were punished at the time.  However, in time, they have both come to be admired and exonerated. The book The Soul of Shame provided me with connections because all humans deal with guilt and shame. Hearing the author speak at two different conferences helped me make deeper connections between what he said in his book and my own life experiences.

Questions & Evaluation

As we read, we can ask question in our minds. What is the author's purpose? Do I agree with what this character has chosen to do? What would I do in this person's place? What will I do with what I have learned? Is this story true to life? The book I read in 2018 that led to the most questions was Good to Great by Jim Collins. On the surface this is a business book, but the principles it holds up apply to all kinds of organizations. I found myself asking how I could apply the things I was learning to myself as a leader, to various aspects of the organizations I am part of. I even did a bonus group assignment to explore how school leaders can invite more timely feedback from parents, teachers and the community to address problems early.

Clarifying

Finally, clarifying is a reading strategy that focuses on understanding words and sentences. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde required this of me the most of all the books I read in 2018.  Wilde wrote this work in 1890; its structure and vocabulary reflect a highly educated and literary level. My son studied this novel in a university English class and encouraged me to take it up. As much as I encourage my students to read books that stretch their reading ability and comprehension, I need to practice this myself.