“people put limits on their creativity by believing they have to rely on what they know and what they have done” - bertrand piccard
This was going to be a blog about thanksgiving, but since all I had written was this quote, and today is a new day, I’ll write about this quote and how it relates to today!
I haven’t done too much yet, except drink a coffee and throw elbows on the train to grab my holographic new monthly pass - yellow for December - the conductor moves on and I can type again in peace.
But today with the whiff of the coffee grounds, was something else - a bit of positive change! After some time of living a trashy existence in NYC - comp’d take out everyday, squishy plastic poland spring bottles, a bit of fast fashion here and there (but mostly around Union Square) and takeaway coffees upon takeaway coffees- I’m finding my own way!
“No lid?” My friend behind the juice bar presupposes today, and I’m happy.
I don’t want to look up statistics on single use plastics, but there’s nothing grosser than the overflowing trash bins on the platforms at Grand Central on a Tuesday or in SoHo on the weekends. All plastic cups with name and drink order stickers, mine probably among them. I tell myself that commercial fishing is responsible for most of the ocean’s plastics and continue to the next window of a drive-thru Starbucks in Connecticut. I tell myself that iCloud is a series of cables under the ocean. Basically I think about all the big things that my little indulgences aren’t going to make or break. Yet the sight of these overflowing trash bins still troubles me, and I hate so much piling on another plastic cup coated in pulp and juice residue. Evidence that I care about my own body but less for the earth that it came from…
But in the past few months, I realized something wonderful.
Just by using my voice to speak up I can do better! By bringing some of the diverse experiences and habits I’ve learned about into my (formerly) “trashy” NYC style, I can make a new way.
It started with lunch. It seems funny that this is one of my efforts to save the planet, because it’s something so fun, but everyday, instead of paying for the same salad to take away in a plastic bowl, in a bag, I sit at the bar of the excellent TARTINERY by myself and eat in a reusable bowl, or what one might just call “a bowl”. It can be just a 20-minute ordeal, but it’s so much more enjoyable! I chat with the staff. They’re wonderful! And at the end of my meal, instead of a sad smelly pile of plastic in the trash bin by my desk, I give a little salute to my new friends and go on my way.
After a few months of this, I started thinking about the morning coffee cups. I mean, I know it would be very easy to come at me at this point, to point out the true ecological thing would be to grind your own coffee, pour it into a reusable thermos, and pack your lunch. But buying reusable containers just adds more stuff to my world, and I guess for various reasons, the traditional “zero-waste blog” rules just haven’t worked for me. But I am determined to do better! And one renewable resource I can draw upon is my cat-like reflexes! So I order my to-go coffees without a lid!
In Europe, people might probably drink their whole morning coffee relaxed and sitting at a table. The trick ordering to-go coffee without a lid draws on this - you have to enjoy the first few sips sitting down or standing still to get the liquid level down to where it can splash around a tiny bit without spilling over. Then you can start walking, just pay attention! Okay, and it’s true, if you use a rent the runway subscription your clothes are insured for accidents. But so far so good. And if you’re going to pay for customized coffee drinks, did you know you can even ask them to put your ice coffee in a paper cup without a lid or straw?
I know it’s a compromise, somewhere between being a zero waste angel and dead-eyed, caffeine-guzzling consumer, but I feel it’s real and real easy way to reduce single use plastics everyday.
So in the words of a million Tik Tok captions, can we make this trend?
UPDATE: Since the time of writing, I have reached out to the Surfrider Foundation’s Ocean Friendly Restaurants Program to partner for more opportunities to ‘change the way we live + change the way eat’ (2pac) stay tuned!!