Does it make you sad to walk into most grocery stores and struggle to find items that aren’t wrapped in some type of plastic? Maybe you haven’t given it too much thought. Or maybe you’re in the same boat I am and feel like we could be doing so much better, but struggle to get fully into a zero-waste or low-waste lifestyle. I know I really want to do better. Mostly because our combined use of plastic is causing some pretty serious problems.

Here are some startling facts from: UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization:

• There are now close to 500 dead zones in our world oceans

• More than 220 million tons of plastic are produced each year!

• 100,000 marine mammals and more than 1 million sea birds die by plastic every year

This is not great news.

So what are we supposed to do? Fortunately, organizations including Plastic Free July (great name by the way!) are bringing the challenge of reducing our use of single-use plastics to the masses.

Plastic Free July is a global movement that helps millions of people be part of the solution to plastic pollution – so we can have cleaner streets, oceans, and beautiful communities. Will you be part of Plastic Free July by choosing to refuse single-use plastics?

Learn more about their organization here.

I am taking the challenge and have already failed to completely eliminate plastic from my day-to-day purchases. I struggle with wanting to be as kind to our world as possible while succumbing to the convenience of pre-wrapped salads. Keep up the good fight and let me know how it’s going for you!

Image via: down.for.earth