Full transcript
0:04Let me tell you about the moment I
0:07realized plastic is absolutely
0:10everywhere. I had ordered a book online
0:14called Life Without Plastic. It's a
0:17practical step-by-step guide to avoiding
0:20plastic.
0:22A few days later, the book arrived at my
0:24home. This is true. Wrapped in plastic.
0:29>> [laughter]
0:31>> it. A book about avoiding plastic came
0:33to my home wrapped in plastic like a
0:36slice of American cheese. Quite the
0:39paradox, almost a Zen Coen. Uh, and it
0:43made me laugh, but it also made me a bit
0:45sad because it is such a perfect symbol
0:49of the plastic crisis we face and the
0:53urgent need for solutions.
0:57The reason I ordered the the book was
1:00that I'm a writer and I was writing an
1:03article for the New York Times. And the
1:05premise of the article is that I would
1:07attempt something very difficult. I
1:10would attempt to spend a day without
1:15using any plastic products or even
1:18touching plastic. Now, I knew this would
1:21be hard, but I did not know how hard. I
1:24barely survived the day, which was part
1:27of the point of the article. It was to
1:29show the omnipresence of plastic and
1:32also explore ways we can break our
1:35plastic addiction because plastic can be
1:38a very useful material, but in the way
1:40we use it and with our throwaway
1:42culture, it poses a grave danger to our
1:46bodies and to our planet. Now, my day of
1:50no plastic started out fine for the
1:53first 10 seconds. Uh, I woke up, I put
1:57my feet on the bedroom carpet, which is
2:00made of plastic. It was made of nylon.
2:03Uh,
2:04then I had to open the bedroom door, but
2:07the door knob is coated with plastic.
2:10So, I asked my wife, "Would you mind
2:13opening the door for me?" Uh, she did
2:17with a long This is going to be quite a
2:21day sigh.
2:23I went into the bathroom and that is a
2:25plastic landmine. My toothbrush plastic.
2:29My shampoo bottle plastic.
2:32Every part of my morning routine was
2:35disrupted. So, I couldn't use my iPhone.
2:38That's plastic. Uh, I couldn't wear my
2:41underwear because it has a plastic
2:44elastic band. So, I had to wear elastic
2:47free underwear, which I can tell you is
2:49is not optimal. Uh, [laughter]
2:53I uh I spend much of the day acting and
2:58looking like a crazy person. Uh, I live
3:00in New York City and I had to run an
3:03errand downtown. Uh, and I usually take
3:05the subway, but uh, the seats on the
3:09subway plastic. So, in preparation, I
3:13had bought a folding wooden chair
3:17uh, that I brought with me on the
3:18subway. And, uh, even in jaded New York
3:22City. This raised some eyebrows. Uh,
3:26I had to eat, but I couldn't go to the
3:29grocery store. So much plastic wrapping.
3:31Uh, I went to a health food store and I
3:34scooped out some walnuts using a metal
3:38spoon I had brought from home,
3:40sterilized.
3:41Uh, because I couldn't use the plastic
3:44scooper. Then I had to pay for my food.
3:48Uh, I couldn't use a credit card, of
3:50course, plastic. Even paper currency is
3:53problematic because some denominations
3:56have a thread, a plastic, a thread that
3:59stops counterfeits. And my sources told
4:02me that thread is plastic. So I uh
4:07instead dumped a bunch of quarters and
4:10nickels onto the counter.
4:13And uh I apologized to the cashier. I
4:16said, "I'm so sorry." He said, "Don't
4:18worry. I actually meditate every morning
4:22to deal with turmoil like this." So he
4:26was very understanding.
4:28[laughter]
4:29Uh now by my account at the end of the
4:33day I had made 164 violations meaning I
4:38had touched plastic 164 times even
4:41though I did my best not to. And that
4:45was it made [clears throat] me look at
4:47the world in a new light almost like you
4:51have a UV flashlight where you can see
4:53all the germs. Same thing with plastic.
4:57And this is a huge problem because
5:00plastic as I say can be useful but it is
5:05causing tremendous damage to our
5:07environment. Just one example 11 million
5:10metric tons of plastic enter our oceans
5:12every year and leech in to the water and
5:15disrupt the ecosystem.
5:18It's a tremendous problem for our
5:20health. There's tons of studies on how
5:24additives and chemicals mess with our
5:26hormonal systems and cause behavioral
5:30problems in kids and reproductive
5:33problems in adults.
5:36So we need solutions and this during
5:39this and after this project I spent many
5:42hours talking to experts about solutions
5:45and there are several lines of attack at
5:48the consumer level. We can try to buy
5:51fewer plastic products, and there are
5:55many out there. Instead of a shampoo
5:57bottle, buy a shampoo bar, like a bar of
5:59soap. Instead of toothpaste tubes,
6:02there's toothpaste pellets. I wrote my
6:05article using a pencil with no yellow
6:08paint because uh yellow paint contains
6:12plastic. Uh you can also go DIY. I have
6:16uh during this project, I wore a sweater
6:19knitted by a friend because the clothes
6:22you buy at stores have plastic in the
6:25buttons, the zippers, the tags. I read
6:28online you can make your own deodorant
6:30out of tea tree oil and baking soda. So,
6:34I tried that. I smelled a little like a
6:36uh a medieval cathedral uh but in a good
6:40way, I think. So these are good
6:43solutions but they cannot be the only
6:44solutions. We cannot rely on plastic
6:48free saints. Everyone becoming the
6:51perfect citizen because it can be
6:53expensive. It can be time consuming. I
6:56myself am not a plastic free saint. As I
6:58showed in the experiment, it can be hard
7:01to go cold turkey. Instead, I like to
7:04follow the advice of one of my favorite
7:08adviserss in this experiment, Dr. Dr.
7:10Gabby Salazar. She's a scientist who
7:13specializes in how to motivate people to
7:16act in a more environmentally conscious
7:18way. And Dr. Salazar says the one key,
7:23start small and build up. Start with one
7:26habit, bringing a steel water bottle
7:29wherever you go. Once you have that
7:31down, try another small habit, bringing
7:34a cloth bag to the grocery. You start
7:37small, build up gradually. If you try to
7:40do it all at once, you become
7:41overwhelmed and you might give up. So
7:44that's what I try to do. I try to every
7:47day be a little bit of a better, more
7:49plastic-free citizen. But there's one
7:52last point I want to make about
7:53solutions to the plastic crisis. And
7:56that is that it cannot rest solely on
8:00the shoulders of consumers. There needs
8:03to be institutional change. change at
8:07the national level, international level,
8:10corporate level. We need more funding
8:13for plastic alternatives. We need more
8:16research in how to break down plastic
8:19safely. We need more incentives for
8:21corporations to use non-plastic
8:25packaging. So, I will continue to try to
8:28be a better citizen and use less
8:30plastic, but I will also continue to
8:33speak out about the need for
8:35institutional change. And I will also
8:39proudly wear my Keep the Sea
8:43Plastic-Free T-shirt, which is, this is
8:46true, just 10% polyester.
8:51Thank you,
8:53[applause]