Coalition of North American Zoos and Aquariums

Plastic Free Ecochallenge 2019

July 1 - July 31, 2019

Rose Slick

National Aquarium

"Be part of the growing plastic free culture and help make it accessible and easy for others to join in!"

POINTS TOTAL

0 TODAY
0 THIS WEEK
1,164 TOTAL

participant impact

UP TO

3.0

plastic bottles

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

25

plastic straws

not sent to the landfill
UP TO

85

pieces of litter

picked up
UP TO

4.0

conversations

with people
UP TO

1.0

plastic containers

not sent to the landfill

Rose's actions

Create Your Own Action

Lead a workshop

I will lead a workshop on making your own cleaning products and creating a reusable bag out of an old tshirt

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Personal Care

Brusha Brusha Brusha

I will replace my plastic toothbrush with a bamboo toothbrush.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Personal Care

Just Say No

I will avoid buying toxic plastics, including polycarbonate, polystyrene and polyvinyl.

COMPLETED 13
DAILY ACTIONS

Food

Skip the Straw

I will keep 1 plastic straw(s) out of the landfill per day by refusing straws or using my own glass/metal straw.

COMPLETED 22
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Keep My Community Clean

I will pick up 5 piece(s) of litter each day.

COMPLETED 17
DAILY ACTIONS

Lifestyle

Travel Eating

If traveling, I will bring my own airplane snacks and eat at local restaurants to avoid take-out containers.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Lifestyle

Travel Smart

If traveling, I will bring my own plastic free items (water bottle, grocery bags, collapsible food containers, utensils, straws, etc.) with me.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Community

Share My Actions

I will make my environmental actions visible by posting to my social media networks.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Food

Advocate For More Food Packaging Options

I will advocate for alternatives to single use packaging at local grocery stores, markets, or work.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Pets

Pet Waste

I will spend 15 minutes learning how to compost pet waste at home or research pet waste composting services available in my area.

UNCOMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Family

Provide the Alternatives

I will provide daily plastic free alternatives (straws, water bottles, cuttlery, bar soap, bamboo toothbrushes, etc.) for my family to use.

COMPLETED 3
DAILY ACTIONS

Lifestyle

Buy Only What I Need

I will not buy anything except items required for health and safety.

COMPLETED 15
DAILY ACTIONS

Lifestyle

Homemade Cleaners

I will make my own cleaning products at home.

COMPLETED
ONE-TIME ACTION

Participant Feed

Reflection, encouragement, and relationship building are all important aspects of getting a new habit to stick.
Share thoughts, encourage others, and reinforce positive new habits on the Feed.

To get started, share “your why.” Why did you join the challenge and choose the actions you did?

Rose Slick 7/31/2019 7:12 AM

Last day- we made it through the month! I'm so happy with how much we accomplished and hope everyone had a great time and learned lots!

Read More
Rose Slick 7/28/2019 7:04 AM

Let's finish strong everyone! I think we can do a lot these last few days- one final push!

Read More
Rose Slick 7/27/2019 6:15 AM

I can't believe we only have 5 days left of the challenge! Yesterday I challenged myself to write the best email I could to representatives about reducing plastic use and I'm pretty happy with what I ended up with! Fingers crossed I'll get some (actual, not canned) responses!

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Lifestyle Homemade Cleaners

What did you learn by making your own cleaning products? What is the biggest difference in making vs buying?

Rose Slick 7/27/2019 6:11 AM

I haven't used my new homemade cleaner yet but I'm hopeful it will work well! Making your own is slightly more complicated but it feels really good to not have nearly as much plastic involved in the process.

Read More
Rose Slick 7/26/2019 5:25 AM

I picked up so much trash on my way to the metro after work yesterday! As soon as I threw my current handful of trash away I'd see something else and have to pick that up. I think I could have gone on a lot longer if I wasn't in a hurry to get home!

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Food Skip the Straw

Have you noticed a shift in your community as more messaging about reusable straws becomes mainstream? Cite some examples.

Rose Slick 7/18/2019 8:38 AM

I've noticed that at restaurants, when I ask for no straw in my water, servers remember much more often, and I would definitely attribute that to the movement becoming more mainstream. However, with other drinks like cocktails I haven't noticed any change. Hopefully, that's the next step!

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Community Share My Actions

In what ways is social media an effective tool for sharing your values?

Rose Slick 7/15/2019 6:33 AM

Sharing on social media allows you to reach a much wider audience! It's challenging and interesting trying to write an effective post, since there is so much content everywhere. How to get people to pay attention to your post?

Read More
REFLECTION QUESTION
Community Keep My Community Clean

How does the act of picking up litter connect you more to your community?

Rose Slick 7/15/2019 6:30 AM

In a city like Baltimore, where there are so many homeless people, it has been interesting deciding what trash to pick up. Sometimes I'll come across a half full styrofoam restaurant to-go box that looks like it's being stored by someone to eat later, and I don't pick it up. I feel like I'm getting a tiny view of life in those circumstances. At the same time, every time I pick up a piece of trash from the street, I hope that I'm making the place they live a little nicer! And lastly (as I'm sure we all feel), I hope that if anyone sees me or someone else from the aquarium picking up trash, maybe it will encourage them to do the same!

Read More
Rose Slick 7/10/2019 12:28 PM

The challenge is 1/3 over! It's felt really good to come back and re-examine all the ways that plastic is still in my life, even after trying to cut down so much in the past year! It takes a lot of discipline at first, but most of the time it becomes easy afterwards. It's been fun talking to friends and family about it too!

Read More
Rose Slick 7/06/2019 6:16 AM

I've had lots of conversations with coworkers since the start of the challenge about how easy it is to find pieces of trash to pick up as we walk into work. It's infuriating but it's also cool that we can all pick up trash in a well populated place where we are so visible. Maybe people who see us doing it will be more like to do the same thing next time they see trash, or at least be more mindful about where the trash they create ends up!

Read More