About Me

profile avatarName: Beth Terry
Home: Oakland, CA

Two years ago, recovering from surgery, I read the article and saw the photo that changed my life. The article was “Plastic Ocean” and the photo showed the carcass of a dead sea bird, its belly full of plastic pieces: bottle caps, cigarette lighters, even a toothbrush. I looked at my own life and realized that through my unconscious overconsumption, I was personally contributing the the suffering of creatures I hadn’t even known existed.

That week, a new passion and blog was born: Fake Plastic Fish.

I’ve been blogging away here for over two years now, collecting and tallying my own plastic waste and writing about plastic-free alternatives (See my ongoing list of plastic-free changes) and ways we can do better. Sometimes I succeed. Sometimes I fail. Sometimes I’m a lot preachier than I mean to be, and afterwards I feel like a jerk. Really, I’m no different from anyone else who cares about the planet.

Living with less plastic is really not as hard as it seems, but our awareness of disposable plastic in our lives can be transformative. To that end, I threw down the gauntlet last May and invited Fake Plastic Fish readers to collect and tally their own plastic waste for a week and upload the results to a new Show Your Plastic Trash web site. How can we know where we need to go if we don’t know where we are to begin with? Solving the plastic pollution problem will require more than individual personal actions. But individual actions and personal awareness are essential for creating the kind of world in which we want to live and the impetus to spark bigger actions.

Other places you’ll find me ranting about plastic around the web:

Sustainlane — Premier Partner
BlogHer — Contributing Editor
Twitter
FaceBook
YouTube
Flickr

Feel free contact me directly.
 

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October 19, 2009 by Beth Terry

Comments

10 Comments on About Me

  1. Jeet on Tue, 20th Oct 2009 12:05 pm

    2. Hello!
    I am from India ,I have a keen intrest in knowing about the plastic monster which we have created ourselves.Now finally I got a chance to interact with you .Actually I have an assignment about plastic monster So can you please give me every detail you have or send me sites which would help meto make my project.

  2. Beth Terry on Tue, 20th Oct 2009 2:47 pm

    3. Hi Jeet. I am glad you are working on this project. I have been working on it for over two years. Every detail I have is here on this site or on the sites listed on my right sidebar. I’m not sure what else you are asking for, but please feel free to peruse this site and use the information for your project.

  3. Will Anderson on Sat, 24th Oct 2009 1:26 am

    4. Hi Beth – thank you for your investigative comments on the CR blog. You are right there is much more the consumer should know about Harmless-Dissolve; much more.

    I am very happy to give you all this information and contribute to the great work you are doing through fake plastic fish. Please e mail me or call (I’m happy to call you straight back) so we can take this forward.

    Rest assured Beth, this has passed the EN13432 compostability standard and is totally harmless during degradation and when degraded – its fabulous. And, for someone who has spent most of their life trying to good in the world, its the least I could do as a packaging specialist.

    Look forward to getting to know you.

    Will

  4. Simple Living News Update on Mon, 14th Dec 2009 5:28 am

    5. [...] Fake Plastic Fish [...]

  5. Chandana on Wed, 23rd Dec 2009 5:06 pm

    6. Hi Beth,
    Nice to see others concerned about cruelty to animals and giant garbage patches in our oceans. I think it is time for people like us to unite and take action.

    For every person who is aware of this issue there are hundreds of people who squander away earth’s precious resources. One person’s cut backs are not going to make any big difference. Rather we shall try to make food courts in malls etc install dishwashers and make them use reusable plates, cutlery etc.

    Ikea is a good example, they don’t use plastic cutlery. I want to know the economics of operating a dishwasher in a food court and want to eliminate wastage in a bigger scale than at the individual level.

    Please contact me, we can share ideas and work together towards this goal.

    Thanks,
    Chandana

  6. Beth Terry on Sat, 26th Dec 2009 12:09 pm

    7. Hi Chanda. I completely agree with you that one person’s actions don’t make a difference in the larger picture of creating global change, which is why I have created this blog in order to reach a broader audience.

    I believe that personal action, while not enough, is crucial. When individuals begin changing their own lives, they see the limits that they are up against, and hopefully will be inspired to become active on a bigger scale. Voting for change not only at the polling place but also in the letters they write, store managers they contact, companies they target, etc.

    That is why I created the Take Back The Filter campaign (http://takebackthefilter.org) back in 2008 to ask Brita to take back and recycle their plastic water filter cartridges. And the campaign was successful, due to the participation, on small or larger levels, of other people. We were able to concentrate our individual voices into a campaign for change.

    That is also why I created a discussion board on Fake Plastic Fish for supporters to discuss various ideas for creating change.

    I am looking for another campaign that speaks to me. I want to get involved in making changes in companies that affect me directly. I feel that companies are more willing to listen to their customers because those are the people whose money they rely on. Since I don’t generally eat in food courts, I would like to direct my energies elsewhere, but if you do, I would be happy to share my experiences with how we targeted and succeeded with Brita.

    Finding a company that is already making responsible choices is a great way to start. You can use them as an example to request the same changes from other businesses.

    When we started our campaign, we were able to point to Brita in Europe, which was recycling their cartridges already and had been doing so for many years. Your idea of finding out how Ikea is operating their eatery is a great place to start. Get as much information as you can before starting a campaign.

    Also, it’s good to first target the low hanging fruit. Find a company that seems like it wants to do the right thing, and target them (in a kind way) first. Because once that company makes changes, you can ask other companies to follow their lead. The Clorox Corporation (which owns Brita) was already making environmental strides with their development of Greenworks cleaning products, which had been endorsed by the Sierra Club, and their purchase of natural products companies such as Burt’s Bees. I don’t think we would have been successful targeting a company like Procter & Gamble, their biggest competitor, because that company continues to market the same toxic products without offering alternatives. At least that was the case back then.

    These are just some ideas that come to mind right now. If you are serious about beginning a campaign, I would be happy to give you more ideas.

    Thank you for reaching out to me.

  7. Beth Terry –Saving the Planet by Reducing Plastic Consumption | Plastic Pollution Coalition on Wed, 6th Jan 2010 6:41 am

    8. [...] just published an interview with plastic-free living super hero and star blogger Beth Terry, who is an invaluable advisor to the Plastic Pollution [...]

  8. Rethinking Plastics 201 Conference | Plastic Pollution Coalition on Fri, 15th Jan 2010 6:19 pm

    9. [...] extended producer responsibility, as well as actions that we as individuals can do.  PPC advisor Beth Terry, author of the blog Fake Plastic Fish will be one of the panelists, specializing in the latter [...]

  9. Sudha on Tue, 23rd Feb 2010 1:03 pm

    10. Hey Beth

    I hope you dont mind me mentioning your blog in one of my posts under – Co-green blogs segement… :) ..take care and hope to interact with you soon!!!! It would be wonderful to have a friend who thinks on the same lines as I do :) …for that matter is a lot advanced in her quest for a greener life than I am :) ….

  10. Sudha on Tue, 23rd Feb 2010 1:13 pm

    11. here is the link :) \
    http://sudhasrinath.blogspot.com/2010/02/fake-plastic-fish.html

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