“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”
-Robert Swan

Am I being real about my plastic waste footprint?

I consider myself to be a pretty conscious consumer, but when I learned a few months ago that over one million plastic water bottles are bought every minute – and most of them end up in landfills and our oceans, I felt disgusted and decided I needed to be more real about my single-use plastic consumption.

I also committed to take my friend Samuel Ian Rosen’s challenge to ‘drink different’ and not consume single-use plastic water bottles for 30 days.

Cut to today, I can proudly say I’m plastic water bottle-free for over 100 days.

For some, it might seem futile to think that one person can have any kind of impact in solving this problem. But in reality, we’ve got to start somewhere, and if we care about our planet and it’s future, choosing tap water, going for non-plastic bottles (ie. glass, boxed, or can), or carrying your own reusable bottle doesn’t seem like too much to ask of ourselves.

Still not convinced? Check these other facts about plastic’s impact:

•At least two-thirds of the world’s fish stocks are suffering from plastic ingestion.
•There are believed to be 46,000 pieces of plastic in every square mile of ocean.
•100,000 marine creatures a year die from plastic entanglement and these are the ones found.
•It can take anything between 20-1000 years for a plastic bag to break up (as in they break up into smaller pieces. They don’t break down and those that do, break down into polymers and toxic chemicals).
•If you joined the estimated plastic items in the ocean end on end they would circumnavigate the globe 4,200 times.
Source: oceancrusaders.org/

So I invite you to join me in the Tap challenge to #DrinkDifferent.

To learn more about Tap, the challenge, and its inspiring founder – Samuel Ian Rosen, then tune into Episode 206 of Are You Being Real?. Samuel shares a previously untold story about a traumatic event from his childhood (that could have derailed him, but ultimately inspired him), the stories behind his two world-changing endeavors – MakeSpace & Tap, and how anyone can make a positive difference.

Wishing you an incredible close to the week — and remember:

“If you think you can make a difference, you can make a difference.”
-Samuel Ian Rosen

Much love,
Mark