Tara Mann

I will host or participate in a beach, highway, river, or other cleanup effort in my community.

Instead of buying new plastic highlighters, I will simply use colored pencils instead for all of my highlighting needs.

Science has shown that focused time in nature calms our over-worked frontal lobe and gives space for the areas of our brain associated with emotions, pleasure, and empathy to take over, providing a sense of calm that is measurable in brain scans and even blood tests. Each day this month, I will spend 5 minutes outside in nature, and share my observations, reflections, and learnings on the Participant Feed.

When I'm ordering takeout, I will bring my own containers for the restaurant to fill.

I will spend 10 minutes learning about the costs of fast fashion and begin trying to practice sustainable fashion in my own life.

Greenwashing can fool even the most experienced eco-advocate. This month, I will spend 10 minutes learning what greenwashing is, how to spot it, and what I can do about it.

Just because something is past its "expiration date," it might not actually be expired! I will spend 10 minutes learning about the difference between best by, use by, and sell by dates and how to tell if my food is actually expired.

Plastic production, not just disposal, pollutes communities and harms people. I will learn about the impacts of plastic production on humans, animals, communities, and the environment.

Single-use plastics are everywhere, but that wasn't always the case. I will spend at least 10 minutes learning about the history of single-use plastics and how it became ubiquitous in our daily lives.

I will spend at least 10 minutes researching the impacts of bioplastics and how to properly dispose of them in my city, and I will share this information with 5 friends, family, and/or colleagues.

When we wash our clothes, the heat and friction causes our clothes to wear down, releasing microfibers into the water stream. To combat and prevent these microfibers as much as possible, in addition to following best laundry practices, I will use a microfiber catcher in my laundry, or install a microfiber filter for my washing machine.

I will plant an herb or vegetable garden using as little plastic as possible and to save from the plastic used buying herbs and veggies.

Globally, packaging manufacturers make about $25 billion each year on plastic beauty and personal care packaging. That's a whole lot of plastic - nearly all of which ends up in landfills. When it's time to buy more, I will replace my beauty products with refillable, sustainable, and/or DIY options.

Using your dishwasher doesn't just save water! I will use my dishwasher whenever possible to extend the life of my sponges and dish cloths, and shed less microfibers from them.

Because many tea bags and most sleeves and sachets contain plastic, I will switch to using loose leaf tea.

To extend the life of my ink cartridges, I will set my printer default to draft mode to use less ink or toner per print job.

Our tax dollars are subsidizing the fossil fuel industry, making the cost of plastics artificially low and encouraging further plastics production. I will spend 10 minutes learning about oil subsidies and how I can advocate for their elimination.

When I need to replace my dish soap, I will switch to a bar or refillable option.

While most stores offer lenient return policies, what actually happens to all of those returns? I will spend 15 minutes learning about what happens to returns and how I can make better purchasing decisions to avoid returns in the future.

Conventional deodorant tubes are typically made from plastics #4 and #5, which are rarely accepted for recycling - especially together. When it's time to replace my current deodorant, I will replace it with a plastic-free option.

Every time we tumble dry our laundry, our clothes' lifespans get a little shorter. The lint trap is evidence of the shedding fibers and our clothes slowly losing their quality. The less time our clothes need to be in the dryer, the longer they'll last. So this month, I will clean my dryer's interior and exterior air vents to help the dryer work more efficiently (and extend the life of the dryer!).

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

Help us make the Plastic Free Ecochallenge the best it can be! Take the challenge pre-survey (and look out for the post-survey at the end of the challenge!) so we can better understand the impact the challenge has and how we can improve in the future. Plus, you'll earn points for completing it! Thank you!

In addition to refusing and reducing my consumption of single-use plastics, I will pick up 3 piece(s) of litter each day of the Plastic Free Ecochallenge.