Category Archives: Year Of No Garbage

A Clam Walks into The New Yorker

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First of all I wanted to share with you the news that made me lose my absolute shit this week which is the fact that the current issue (July 3) of The New Yorker has a lengthy discussion of the problems and perils of plastics AND I AM FEATURED IN ABOUT A THIRD OF THE ARTICLE. 

“How Plastics are Poisoning Us” by Elizabeth Kolbert discusses three new books on the subject and mine is the third. Here is the link.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/07/03/book-reviews-plastic-waste

Up until now I didn’t think I could get into The New Yorker unless I happened to be hanging out with Judd Hirsh at a Brooklyn-based gastro-pub-slash-laundromat (which actually doesn’t happen as often as you would think) or perhaps invented a new food such as the “Fondonut” (fondue, but with donuts), so as you can imagine I had to be revived repeatedly after hearing the news.

I promise to stay conscious now, though. For one thing, I’m happy as a clam, and that’s a wonderful way to feel. (Although, are clams REALLY all that happy? Discuss.) For another, I’ve got some reading to catch up on: both of the other books in the article (A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies by Matt Simon, and Wasteland: The Secret World of Waste and the Urgent Search for a Cleaner Future by Oliver Franklin-Wallis) look fascinating, especially to the Garbage-Obsessed Anti-Plastic Nerd that I have become.

You might not be able to find many copies out there because it’s possible I have bought all of them

More importantly, what this tells me is that the moment to have this conversation has arrived. Culturally we need to get to the place where the average person is aware of not just the enormous environmental problems of plastic, but also the dire and mounting health ramifications of our overwhelming dependance on plastic. Which is to say this isn’t just about turtles and polar bears anymore.

History has shown that once we as a culture all realize the immensity of a threat to public health, we can wade past the shrill objections of industry and get to work solving it, which means legislation. This has happened before: with lead, with cigarettes, and most recently with sugar. None of these things has disappeared, but collectively we all have a far greater awareness of their potential for harm and greater legal protections from them than we did in the past.

It takes a long, long time and scientific study after scientific study, not to mention people like me who talk about an issue incessantly to anyone who will listen. Even if you aren’t obsessed, if you’re reading this blog you have a lot more information than the average person about the dangers and health consequences of plastic, and you should consider that, as you move through the world, you are part of this pivotally important conversation in ways both big and small.

What IS Plastic Free July? Visit their website for more info

For example, it’s Plastic Free July this month, so why not take the opportunity to do something anti-plastic today? That could be writing your congressman and asking them not to support “chemical recycling” (which is burning plastic pretending to be recycling) or it could be asking for a “real cup” at your coffee shop and taking the time to sit down and drink it there. It could be telling a friend that you just found out that plastics are bad for our bodies and how crazy is that and maybe they should read this book this woman wrote all about going no garbage for a year. (I heard she was featured in The New Yorker having laundromat sushi with Judd Hirsch.)

Whatever you do, it will be a thing that otherwise would not have been done. One voice heard. One less plastic-lined cup releasing microplastics. One person who now has new information with which to move about in the world. It may not seem like a lot, but taken collectively? It’s everything. It’s how fundamental change happens.

Tell me in the comments: what will you do to celebrate Plastic Free July?

Some Fun Videos For Your Friday

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One of the biggest stumbling blocks for environmentalists, I think, is that people think the topic is just so damn depressing. Every day the news is worse than the one before- climate change is accelerating! Plastic is killing baby albatrosses! Look at these pictures of Exxon executives lighting their cigars with the tears of polar bears!

Yes, it’s overwhelming trying to change the world, against all odds. But awareness is the first step towards all meaningful change. If we can find ways to communicate awareness that are— dare I say it— fun, don’t we stand a better chance as we try to batter Goliath with peas from our slingshot?

So along those lines here are few of my recent short videos to enliven your Friday… consider each one a pea. If you like these, share them! And be sure to follow me on Instagram (eveoschaub) or TikTok (@eveoschaub) where I post regularly. I hope you enjoy.

Everything Everywhere All At Once

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I’m feeling emotional these days. Because people, Year of No Garbage, is OUT! You can buy it, and if you’ve ordered it— you wonderful person, you— it probably will show up on a satin pillow at your doorstep as you read this. Like any book, YONG has been a looooong time in the making, going from a crazy idea I proposed to my family years ago, to an actual real-life book on the shelf at your local bookstore.

Overnight my life has gone from one of typing quietly at my keyboard, to one of talking about this book to anyone who will listen. This takes many forms (interviews, short videos, bringing it up in entirely unrelated conversations with my dentist), but I’m often struck by the incongruity of being an author in today’s world. On the one hand, when you’re writing, you’re supposed to be good at the solitary, good-with-words-not-so-much-with-people thing. On the other, when it comes time to put your book in the world, you’re supposed to be a cross between a one-man band and the Sham-Wow guy.

I’m pretty sure there is no one better at silliness than Steven He

To be clear this is an observation and not a complaint. I feel incredibly lucky that I’ve been able to learn from watching and talking to Steven He, our daughter’s boyfriend, as he has navigated the road from out-of-work-actor at the start of our Year of No Garbage, to superstar influencer and that-Emotional-Damage-guy today. He graciously agreed to do three collaborative videos with me for social media to promote YONG and above is the second one we made- can you tell we are having a ridiculous amount of fun?

How to Eat Salad: An instructional Video

Speaking of fun, if you haven’t had a chance to order the book there is a promotion of the ebook going on through April 30 for only $9.99. THAT’S RIGHT! And if you order now we will throw in a lovely set of Sham Wows, but not really because microfiber cloths are all made of plastic.

So happy happy Earth Day everyone! I hope you get a chance to get outside, avoid some plastic, and to ask for a real cup for your coffee. Celebrate by posting a picture of yourself doing something EarthDayish and tag me! PS- Reading YONG totally counts.