Brittany Shoot is thrilled to be the new Plastic Free Times Managing Editor. She’s already hard at work planning a front-end makeover and improved functionality for the site. Brittany is extremely excited to pair her passion for environmental justice and experience as an editor and journalist to make Plastic Free Times the go-to website for issues related to plastic pollution, toxics, and environmental legislation.

Since earning a master’s degree at Emerson College in Boston, Brittany has worked as a freelance writer and journalist with some consulting thrown in for good measure. She primarily covers environmental issues, women’s health, arts and culture, and travel for The Guardian, Salon, USA Today, The Daily, and AlterNet, among others. She’s contributed to several encyclopedia volumes, had her op-eds syndicated by The New York Times, and drafted internal management policies for Greenpeace Nordic. Currently, she’s a contributing writer at xoJane.com.

Brittany recently moved to downtown San Francisco after living in Copenhagen for the past three years. She likes going to the beach in the winter, discovering green spaces in the Financial District, and eating dark chocolate with marzipan. She welcomes your feedback at brittany [at] plasticfreetimes [dot] com

• Launched Plastic Free Times
• Grew the coalition to over 150 institutional members, with a global reach to over 2 million people
• Grew the stellar lineup of Notable Supporters including American actress Bette Midler, Green Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al Nuaimi, Teamsters General President James Hoffa, Jr. and many other distinguished leaders and public figures.
• Launched  Plastic Pollution Coalition: Central America
• Launched Plastic Pollution Coalition East Coast, USA
• Launched Plastic Pollution Coalition’s online store
• Launched Plastic Free Campuses project, with its collegiate debut at the University of California – Santa Barbara
• Launched Think Beyond Plastic, a PPC initiative to spur innovation and entrepreneurship for solutions
• Launched the Plastic Pollution Coalition individual membership program, and signed up hundreds of members
• Reached thousands of people with the power of art and the message about plastic pollution
• And so much more! The list just goes on.

All of this was made possible because of YOU.

We approach 2012 with an extended team and many new projects. We are excited about the opportunity the future holds. But most of all, we are excited about working together, continuing to build our friendship and our success, and reaching even higher milestones in our work!

Thank you all for your support, for your friendship and for your dedication to a world free of plastic pollution!

We wish you a 2012 full of promise, hope and great deeds!

Sullie Saves the Seas explores the human extremes of caring and indifference as a small group of dedicated birds battle to preserve the oceans.  When Goffinet McLaren’s new super-hero, Sullie, sees that plastic pollution is destroying his precious Turtle Beach, he calls his friends to action.

Chapter by chapter, Sullie’s clever plot delivers a delightful tale that you will enjoy sharing with your children and friends. The book targets ages 8-12, but kids of all ages will enjoy and learn.  McLaren dedicates this story to all of the sea birds, whales, dolphins, seals, and turtlesthat have lost their lives due to plastic pollution.

This beautiful book is available for purchase on Amazon.com and will make a great gift for the whole family.

The author, Goffinet McLaren is a Plastic Pollution Coalition member.

From all of us, best wishes for a happy holidays season filled with joy and love!  As we prepare for celebrations, let us all remember our commitment to a world free of plastic pollution and its toxic impacts on people, animals and the environment. Lets make a special effort to reduce our plastic footprint and REFUSE disposable plastics. The change begins with us, and to make it a little easier we have some suggestions.

1. Make Your Own Wrapping Paper

Most mass-produced wrapping paper you find in stores is not recyclable and ends up in a landfill. Instead, get creative with non-plastic gift wrapping. Wrap presents with old maps, the comics section of a newspaper, or children’s artwork.  You can also use a scarf, an attractive dish towel, a bandanna, or some other useful cloth item, and forgo the plastic tape by tying it on with natural twine or string.

2. Make Your Own Holiday Cards

Have fun with the whole family making original cards that your loved ones will never forget. Use recycled paper or old magazines to collage together unique designs.  Dust off that photo editing software and make a web-based card that is personalized and unique.

3. Buy Organic and Local Foods for Your Holiday Feast

Grab your re-usable shopping bags and support local family farmers who grow sustainable meat and produce. It tastes better and you’ll be doing your part for the planet, too. Then serve this delicious and healthy local organic feast on REAL dishes – not only is it good for the health of the planet, but it’s elegant, too.  If you don’t have access to a farmer’s market during the winter, try a bulk food store that has bulk bins and bring your own reusable produce bags.

4. Find Unique Gifts by supporting Local Artisans

These will be one-of-a-kind gifts for sure. Take your time enjoying local arts and crafts galleries and find a gift that really means something to you, and something your loved one isn’t soon to forget.  If there aren’t any near you, shop Etsy, or other craft sites online, and find sellers that use recyclable packaging material.

5. Buy Plastic-free Gifts, Support a Plastic-free World

We are very picky about what we sell in our online store.  All of the products featured are ones that we personally use.  Help inspire your loved ones to REFUSE single-use plastics in their lives by giving them plastic-free gifts from our online store.

Remember: Donations on Behalf of Someone Require No Packaging At All

Give the greenest gift of all this year and donate to Plastic Pollution Coalition.  Every donation helps. It is the perfect way to buy a gift and do a good deed all at the same time. AND it’s tax deductible. (Whereas most sweaters and fruitcakes are not.)

Wishing you a safe, healthy, and plastic-free holiday season and new year!

Most mass-produced wrapping paper you find in stores is not recyclable and ends up in a landfill. Instead, get creative with non-plastic gift wrapping. Wrap presents with old maps, the comics section of a newspaper, or children’s artwork.  You can also use a scarf, an attractive dish towel, a bandanna, or some other useful cloth item, and forgo the plastic tape by tying it on with natural twine or string.

2. Make Your Own Holiday Cards

Have fun with the whole family making original cards that your loved ones will never forget. Use recycled paper or old magazines to collage together unique designs.  Dust off that photo editing software and make a web-based card that is personalized and unique.

3. Buy Organic and Local Foods for Your Holiday Feast

Grab your re-usable shopping bags and support local family farmers who grow sustainable meat and produce. It tastes better and you’ll be doing your part for the planet, too. Then serve this delicious and healthy local organic feast on REAL dishes – not only is it good for the health of the planet, but it’s elegant, too.  If you don’t have access to a farmer’s market during the winter, try a bulk food store that has bulk bins and bring your own reusable produce bags.

4. Find Unique Gifts by supporting Local Artisans

These will be one-of-a-kind gifts for sure. Take your time enjoying local arts and crafts galleries and find a gift that really means something to you, and something your loved one isn’t soon to forget.  If there aren’t any near you, shop Etsy, or other craft sites online, and find sellers that use recyclable packaging material.

5. Buy Plastic-free Gifts, Support a Plastic-free World

We are very picky about what we sell in our online store.  All of the products featured are ones that we personally use.  Help inspire your loved ones to REFUSE single-use plastics in their lives by giving them plastic-free gifts from our online store.

Remember: Donations on Behalf of Someone Require No Packaging At All

Give the greenest gift of all this year and donate to Plastic Pollution Coalition.  Every donation helps. It is the perfect way to buy a gift and do a good deed all at the same time. AND it’s tax deductible. (Whereas most sweaters and fruitcakes are not.)

Wishing you a safe, healthy, and plastic-free holiday season and new year!

The Plastic Pollution Coalition team has put together a fun list of suggestions to help reduce your family’s plastic footprint this Thanksgiving.

Did you know that between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, Americans generate 25 percent more waste per week than during the rest of the year? This creates an additional 1.2 million tons per week, or an extra 6 million tons, for the holiday season!

Join the Plastic Pollution Coalition in making 2011’s Holiday Season a Plastic-Free earth friendly experience for the whole family!
1) Don’t Buy Stupid Plastic Throaway items. Instead, visit the Plastic Pollution Coalition’s online store for great re-usable, non-plastic products for the holidays.

2) Cook At Home and save: Fuel, Money and Packaging Waste. Cooking at home is much less expensive, and it can also generate much less packaging waste, depending on how you shop.

3) Shop the Farmers Market & Bulk Bins. If any of your holiday recipes include canned ingredients, they probably contain Bisphenol A, the estrogenic chemical linked to breast cancer. Avoid these potentially harmful foods by taking your own reusable bags and containers to the farmers market to buy fresh, seasonal, local foods for your chemical-free Thanksgiving table.

4)  Choose reusable foodware, containers, and cookware.  Use cloth napkins; Borrow extra dishes, platters, serving ware from friends; Use a “real” turkey pan instead of a throw-away foil one; Ask guests to bring their own containers to carry home leftovers; If you’re going to someone else’s house, bring your own reusable container. Remember, if you need more plastic-free containers, tableware and more, visit the Plastic Pollution Coalition’s online store!

5)  Express Thanks. Isn’t it nice to have a day set aside each year to express thanks?  We don’t need plastic products polluting that gratitude!  We don’t even need a feast.  Just the simple gratitude we feel for being alive right now on this remarkable planet.

If you have any questions about the importance of refusing disposable plastic, or would like to join PlasticPollution Coalition, please visit our website at: www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org and to become a member, click Join.

Here are a few more links to ideas for a green and waste-free Thanksgiving:

• Green Your Thanksgiving
• Have A Green Thanksgiving – Don’t Gobble
• Cool Foods Campaign:  10 Thanksgiving Tips
• EPA’s Thanksgiving tips

Shortly after the PSA was posted online, we received a letter from 19 Entertainment’s parent company, demanding that we pull the PSA down. The stated reason was that we did not have appropriate permissions. We were threatened that if we did not comply by pulling the PSA down, they would contact You Tube directly and our YouTube channel may be shut down.

We refused to pull down the PSA.

Here’s why.

This PSA is an eight-month collaborative project between Plastic Pollution Coalition, 19 Entertainment management, and all of Season 10 Top 11 finalists.  We have exchanged hundreds of email communications with this team, brainstorming ideas on  how to make the project even better. We sought and have obtained written approvals to launch the PSA.  In fact, Haley’s Wish was recorded by 19 Entertainment themselves.

Every Top 11 contestant has recorded a statement on their own free will and contributed their unique talent to the message; they all deeply care about the fate of our planet and our role and contribution towards that. Plastic Pollution Coalition has similar video statements from artists such as Ed Begley, Jr, Jeff Bridges, Jack Johnson, Daphne Zuniga, Jackson Browne, Benicio del Toro, Bonnie Raitt, Martin Sheen and others.

Clearly, as Forbes magazine stated today, this is not an issue of permission not obtained; but of permission withdrawn through pressure.

Who might be afraid that you would REFUSE single use and disposable plastic?

For a possible clue, check out the sponsors of the American Idol show.

“Every bit of plastic that has ever been created still exists in some form,” says Lauren Alaina, the runner-up from Idol’s tenth season.  Ms. Alaina further urges people to, “refuse single-use and disposable plastics,” an ethos emphatically reiterated by Haley Reinhart, who goes on to say, “Single-use plastics and disposable plastics are the main source of plastic pollution.”

The Idol contestants have all donated their time and efforts to the REFUSE disposable plastic campaign and will be running a Facebook “Wish” spanning several months, to raise $50,000 for Plastic Pollution Coalition.  Included in the fundraising event will be a prize for one lucky fan – an autographed guitar signed by all of the Top 11.  Go to www.facebook.com/PlasticPollution for more information.

The time has come to work to PREVENT this terrible disease!

Mounting scientific evidence shows that our risk of breast cancer is increased by exposures to chemicals in our everyday environment—chemicals in our food, our products, our air and our water. Chemicals linked to breast cancer can be found in cosmetics, cleaning products, food can linings, certain kinds of store receipts, and the list goes on. And it’s not just breast cancer – many chemicals have been linked to a wide array of health impacts such as other cancers, reproductive disorders, immune suppression, diabetes and other metabolic disorders, cardiovascular disease, learning disabilities and autism.

One source for these chemicals – the various forms of plastics in our everyday lives. Chemicals like Styrene (used in Styrofoam), Vinyl Chloride and Dioxins (found in PVC, the most common form of plastic), bisphenol A (BPA) (used in hard clear plastics), and phthalates (an additive used to soften plastics, including PVC). These chemicals are either known or likely to cause cancer, or they look like hormones to our body and can disrupt our sensitive chemical balance.

Research in the U.S. shows that many of these chemicals are leaching out of plastic products and into our bodies. BPA was found in over 90% and phthalates were found in over 75% of the U.S. population. There is no reason to believe that these numbers would be any different overseas.

PPC member, Breast Cancer Fund (www.breastcancerfund.org) has resources to help you make personal and political choices to reduce our exposure to toxic chemicals.

Plastic Pollution Coalition suggests to begin by REFUSing single use and disposable plastics, then reduce your total plastic footprint.

Lets make October Breast Cancer PREVENTION Month: together, lets get toxic chemicals and the products they are used in, out of our day-to-day life. Everyone can make a difference for ourselves and our family!

This Halloween bring up the issue awareness to the next level,  join our costume contest! Send an image of your scary Plastic Creep (ideas below) to Plastic Pollution Coalition Facebook page. Deadline is October 31, 2011.

Actress Daphne Zuniga (Jo Reynolds on Melrose Place, and Victoria Davis on One Tree Hill) will be judging the contest and awarding prizes such as reusable items, Plastic Pollution Coalition t-shirts (designed by famed artist Raymond Petibon), free memberships to our coalition, necklaces, and more!  Plus, Daphne will tweet the winners to her huge fan base!  You’ll be an Internet sensation in no time!

What to do? Hit up a local recycle center or your neighbors or a restaurant in your area for their plastic junk and create a scary disposable plastic costume!

What’s more monstrous than Frankenstein?  More dangerous than Dracula?  More sinister than Darth Vader?

Bag Hag! Bottle Blob!  Cap Monster!

PLASTIC POLLUTION CREEPS!

Forget Werewolves, witches, and zombies.  The hottest costume this year will be truly horrifying – it’s made out of all the plastic pollution we humans recklessly throw away!

These funny costumes are actually a fantastic way to raise awareness about the plastic pollution in our oceans and planet – Easy to make, just follow the how-tos on our site.

Take fright night to the extreme this Halloween and be a Plastic Pollution Creep.  Post pictures of video of your costume creations.  Post photos on the Plastic Pollution Coalition Facebook page.

If anyone asks about your costume, tell them:

• The average American uses between 500-700 plastic bags a year (And tell them how many bags are in your costume).
• Plastic pollution is being found in the ocean – more than 80 percent of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is disposable plastic.  REFUSE disposable plastic bottles, straws, and bags.
• Plastic is something the earth cannot digest.  Every bit of plastic that has been created still exists, except for the small amount that has been incinerated, and has become toxic air and particulate pollution.

So, you want to see something scary??

HOW TO BE A PLASTIC POLLUTION CREEP

What You Need

Materials (choose one):

• 50-100 plastic bags (Hopefully you don’t have any! Try the plastic bag “recycling bin” outside a big supermarket.),
• or 50-100 plastic bottles (Stomp on them to squash the bottles and provide more flat surfaces to glue. If you need more, hit up that neighbor who buys bottled water by the case.)
• or, 100s of plastic bottle caps. Any size, any color. Sadly they are indeed everywhere, just start collecting them.

Tools:

• A hot glue gun
• Alternative method for plastic bags: A needle and thread.
• An old long-sleeve T-shirt or sweatshirt and sweatpants or pants you don’t mind trashing.
• An old hat that, again, you’re willing to sacrifice for the cause.

In a somewhat systematic way, use the hot glue gun to affix plastic bags, bottles, or caps to your shirt, pants, and hat. Plastic pollution does not care about beauty and organic purity, so neither should you. This is not a work of art, people—it’s a plastic pollution creep!  So just get them glued on and then pull on your costume and go out and terrify the masses!

A greener way: Stitch the bags on with needle and thread. This version will last longer too!

Helpful hints