Dave Keliher
7/10/2023 12:13 PM
It still kinda hurts a bit. But I'm okay.
July 1 - July 31, 2023
Dave Keliher
"My Mission is to be Impossible, but also maintain my dignity and be kind to all."
POINTS TOTAL
- 0 TODAY
- 0 THIS WEEK
- 925 TOTAL
participant impact
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UP TO59disposable cupsnot sent to the landfill
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UP TO89pieces of plastic cutlerynot sent to the landfill
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UP TO62plastic bottlesnot sent to the landfill
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UP TO122plastic containersnot sent to the landfill
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UP TO60plastic strawsnot sent to the landfill
Dave's actions
Bedroom
Sunshine Bleached
I will hang-dry my laundry to use the sun as a natural bleach alternative, or use another natural bleach alternative.
Bedroom
Ditch Dryer Sheets
I will use wool dryer balls or another plastic-free alternative to dryer sheets to keep my clothes static-free.
Bathroom
Brush with Bamboo
I will replace my plastic toothbrush with a bamboo toothbrush.
Kitchen
Fill a Water Bottle
I will use a reusable bottle and stop purchasing bottled water, saving 4 disposable plastic bottle(s) a day.
Kitchen
Use a Reusable Mug
If possible, I will avoid sending 3 disposable cup(s) to the landfill per day by using a reusable mug or bringing my own travel cup.
Kitchen
Use Reusable Utensils
I will keep 3 plastic cutlery out of the landfill per day by using my own reusable cutlery.
Kitchen
Go Strawless
I will keep 6 plastic straw(s) out of the landfill per day by refusing straws or using my own reusable straw.
Kitchen
Glass Bottle Baby
I will replace 3 plastic bottles with glass or stainless steel alternatives.
Kitchen
Choose Reusable Food Storage
I will only use reusable containers instead of single-use plastic storage items (such as plastic wrap, single-use sandwich bags).
Kitchen
Clean Plate Club
When I need to replace my dish soap, I will switch to a bar or refillable option.
Kitchen
Travel Eating
If traveling, I will bring my own snacks and meals in my own containers to avoid the waste of take-out containers.
Kitchen
Plastic Free Lunch Boxes
I will only pack reusable cutlery, drinkware and containers in my family's lunches to reduce plastic waste.
Kitchen
Minimize Packaging
I will purchase food items with the least amount of packaging.
Kitchen
Skip Plastic Bags
When possible, I will not use disposable bags when shopping, including produce bags.
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?
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Dave Keliher 7/25/2023 4:07 PMI was going to write about Your Why, but then realized, there are so many of you and, well, let's be honest, can we really know another person? Even knowing my "Thyself" has been a journey of dozens of steps. And it's going to be a major motion picture. Think Oppenheimer Meets Barbie. -
Dave Keliher 7/13/2023 3:53 PMhttps://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/07/12/1187261701/plastic-is-suffocating-coral-reefs-and-its-not-just-bottles-and-bagsPlastic is suffocating coral reefs — and it's not just bottles and bags
Finding new species of fish was the goal when marine biologist Hudson Pinheiro was diving in the Verde Island Passage in the Philippines. And he found them. But while he was down there, he found something else that was deeply troubling: plastic — loads of it smothering the coral reef where the fish were living.
"It's sad," Pinheiro, currently a researcher with the University of São Paulo, told NPR. "It's super, super sad."
Pinheiro expanded his research focus beyond fish to the plastics they live with. Of particular interest to him: The kinds of plastics covering the reefs and how they were impacting the health of the corals and their fish communities.
Researchers have previously found that plastic can not only "suffocate and kill the corals, sponges and other invertebrates," says Pinheiro, but also increase the likelihood of a coral getting a disease by 20 times, according to a 2018 study published in Science.
Over the next several years, Pinheiro and 18 other researchers examined trash from 84 reefs across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans — often spending 5 to 6 hours per dive. In harder to reach locations, the team used video recorders mounted on underwater vehicles.
The result was what Pinheiro calls the most comprehensive catalog to date of the acres of plastic debris impacting corals. His team found that it sits atop 92% of the reefs they studied, including some of the most remote and uninhabited ones. His study appears in this week's issue of Nature.
What Pinheiro and his team found was that the trash wasn't just plastic bags and bottles. The lion's share was actually plastic fishing debris, "like ropes, long lines, nets that get entangled and get stuck in the reef," he says.
Even after all this fishing gear settles on the coral, it keeps on killing other marine animals. It continues to catch fish even after it's been discarded or lost – a phenomenon known as "ghost fishing."
The researchers were also surprised to discover there was more plastic enmeshed in deeper reefs than shallower ones.
That may be because "most of the fish are already overfished in the shallow water," says Pinheiro. "So the fishermen [are] moving to deeper reefs to catch the same amount that they used to catch before."
Plastic pollution was denser on reefs near cities and markets, which is logical. More people equals more plastic waste. But there was also a great deal of plastic found in marine protected areas, underwater regions intended for long-term conservation, where you would think people would be more careful about littering. That was curious at first, says Pinheiro, but made sense when he considered that's where fish (and therefore fishermen) are found in relatively higher abundance.
Pinheiro says that low and middle-income countries (like Brazil, the Philippines, and the East African nation of Comoros) tend to have more plastic pollution due to limited resources allocated to waste management and improving fishing gear. "If you don't take care of collecting and recycling and having a good destination" to dispose of the trash, explains Pinheiro, "it easily [gets into] the environment."
"We need to be thinking about how higher income countries can help lower income countries pay for their solutions," says ecologist Chelsea Rochman who studies plastic pollution at the University of Toronto and wasn't involved in the research.
It's often been the case that where people look for plastic pollution, people find it," she says. But what makes this study special, says Rochman, is that the authors have counted the plastic in the same way across many locations to show "this global distribution in a way that you can make comparisons, which will be really important for management."
Pinheiro says he's worried by what he and his colleagues found, but he's committed to try to turn things around for the reefs. He says that governments need regulations that reduce single-use plastic and improve trash collection.
And he stresses the importance of working with and supporting communities dependent on fishing. "How can we change the ropes, the nets?," he asks. "We need to find a biodegradable material, like made from fibers as we used to do before."
He points to a couple success stories like the prohibition of single-use plastic bags (in California, for example). In other places like Honduras and the Maldives, says Pinheiro, they're offering incentives to produce biodegradable materials for products like clothing. And he points to Fernando de Noronha, a Brazilian volcanic archipelago that has banned plastic packaging and is encouraging the use of eco-friendly materials.
The overall goal is for all this plastic to stop finding its way to the reefs, he says. And perhaps start cleaning up what's already there.
Next up for Pinheiro: He will expand his work on plastics and fish communities to cover rocky shores and rocky reefs. And he plans to work at the regional level to make policy recommendations to managers and governments.
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REFLECTION QUESTIONKitchen Clean Plate ClubHow easy was this swap for you? Did you have any concerns before making it?
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REFLECTION QUESTIONKitchen Glass Bottle BabyHow can you take your commitment to sustainable living beyond yourself and your family? How can you, personally, work toward broader change?
Dave Keliher 7/10/2023 12:11 PMI had a dream. In this dream Evel Knievel appeared before me and he said, “Yo, Little Platypus Man, I have been watching you and your progress for the Eco Challenge and I see you are more of a tail on the dog than a nose leading the way.”I said, “Do you know what time it is?”He said, “Little Platypus man, the world does not have time to waste. And that mean you must do more or you will become doo-doo.”“What, Great Evel, must I do?”He said, “Don’t tell anybody I said this. It’s just between you and me and the heavens and the internet. You have heard that most humans alive today have micro-plastic in your blood stream, in your lungs, in your brains.”“Right. That’s one big bummer.”“Yes it is. But you have more than the average plastic in your brain. You have even more than Cher!”“What!”“But don’t worry. You have plenty of space in your cranium and what you need to do is consume more plastic. That is how you can do your part.”“So if I eat more plastic I will save the world?”“Now I didn’t say that. But if you pledge to eat more plastics it will help your team rally and win this challenge. So will you do it?”“Sure, why not. What do I need to do?”“Go outside and fill those lungs! Don’t stop breathing until this challenge is over!”And that is my pledge. (This has to be worth at least another 50 points. See you at the top!-dave-
Autumn Hilden 7/11/2023 3:21 PMlol
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Dave Keliher 6/30/2023 12:32 PMI was just thinking. What if the Biblical story of Adam and Eve had nothing to do with a snake and an apple? You how that game of telephone--you whisper something to the person next to you and they whisper to the next and you end up with crazy talk? Well, what if it wasn't a snake (why pick on snakes?) but it was a corporation and instead of an apple being offered to Adam and Eve it was plastic? It could have even been a plastic snake. So that's what I was thinking. What are you thinking?