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The United States contains 5% of the world’s population, yet consumes about a quarter of the planet’s resources. Much of this consumption stems from our “throw away” lifestyle, whereby many products are used once and then thrown away. This started in the 1950s, when the plastics and chemical industries sold the American public on the convenience of single-use disposable items. In 2011, the average American produced 4.4 pounds of household garbage per day, twice as much as in 1960. Today, the throw away lifestyle has big upstream and downstream impacts on climate change, community health, and

Did you know there is a floating patch of plastic and other garbage in the Pacific that's twice the size of Texas and 9 feet deep? Marine life and birds are eating this plastic and literally starving to death. As a consumer, it seems almost impossible to avoid plastic, however, there are easy ways to help cut down on the amount of plastic we use and throw away.

Straws are among the most common plastic items found on our beaches, along with bottles, bags and cups. Americans use half a billion straws every day - that many straws could wrap around the Earth 2½ times! And they are ubiquitous

I'm so excited to start a new position as the new North Jersey organizer for Clean Water Action’s Rethink Disposable program. I want to mention that I’m a canvasser too. If you live in North Jersey, we may have met at your front door! While I’m canvassing and talking to people all over the state about environmental issues in New Jersey, I love the fact that no matter where I go everyone cares about the environment and tries to do their part in protecting it.