By Spencer Showalter

In recent years, the public has become more and more aware of the negative consequences of high plastic consumption. Crucially, some cities and companies are taking steps towards slowing the use of plastics. For example, Seattle decided to ban plastic straws and utensils for businesses selling food or drinks, Alaska Airlines stopped using plastic straws this summer, and Starbucks is working on a phase-out of plastic straws. These changes came after Currents ended its feature series last November that encouraged readers to #StopSucking as part of the global #StopSucking and #NoStrawNovember campaign started by Lonely Whale. These are important steps in the campaign against plastic, but banning the use of straws and cutlery alone is insufficient to mitigate the waves of plastic that are still being produced and used around the world.

Unfortunately, straws are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to plastic pollution. They’re easy to focus on because they’re not necessary for most drinkers, though it’s important to remember that straws are necessary for many folks in the disabled community. But there is so much more to plastic pollution than just the use and irresponsible disposal of straws. How much of the packaging for your food goes straight into the garbage? How many times have your ordered clothes on the internet only to have each shirt come in its own little plastic sleeve?

This November, Currents is taking the next step. Rather than just calling for readers to stop using plastic straws, we’re asking you to take a hard look at how much plastic you really use in your life. In part, we want you to think about plastic use because eight million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean each year, where they are mistaken as food by animals and release harmful chemicals into the water—by weight, that’s roughly equivalent to 80 million blue whales. But there’s another reason to consider decreasing your plastic use—plastic production contributes to climate change.

When you make something like a plastic bottle, there are a lot of steps required, each of which use energy and produce greenhouse gasses. These steps include the transportation of the raw materials to the plastic plant; the manufacturing of plastic resins (a process that involves high temperature); the shaping, cleaning, and filling of the bottle; and its transport to the store for you to buy. Extra steps—and extra plastic—are involved when you consider that the filled plastic bottles are often shrink-wrapped for transport. Polyethylene is the most common plastic, and it’s used to make bottles as well as plastic bags. In fact, in 2016, 103 million tons of polyethylene was produced. At minimum, the EPA estimates that 1 ton of CO₂ is released for every ton of polyethylene produced. That much CO₂ is equivalent to the yearly emissions of 22 million cars in the US.

Given the recent IPCC report on the dire future of our climate, it’s pretty clear that we need to reconsider our plastic use habits. But how? It seems daunting to figure out which choices you should make to limit your carbon footprint when it comes to the grocery aisle. To help you out, keep an eye on this Currents feature series, where we’re going to write about how to make low-plastic meals, how take-out meals add to your plastic footprint, and what to do about it. In the meantime, just start paying attention. How much plastic did you put in the trash or recycling today? Could you have purchased a similar item in a way that used less plastic, either in the bulk aisle or from a brand that produces a compostable version of the product packaging? Did you actually bring your reusable mug to Starbucks? Did you pack your lunch in washable, reusable containers, or in plastic bags?

Let us know how you’re reducing plastic in your life by using the hashtag #NoPlasticNovember. Trying to find ways to reduce the plastic in your life can be complicated, but it’s nice to know that by cutting plastics out of your life, you’re helping to address two major environmental issues at once! If we all take the right steps we can make a difference together, and here at Currents we’re rooting for you—and everyone.

First two photos used under CC0. Final photo taken by tigrillagardenia on Flickr, under CC2.