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Occasionally I reflect on the path I’ve been on to achieve where I am now; happier with the lifestyle I am living, spending most days close to the water, teaching about why our ocean is important, studying to get my masters so I can eventually be a ‘marine biologist’, and currently feeling less burdened by the guilt of my impact on the environment than I was a few months ago. Yes, I still drive my car (there is literally no other way for me to get to work from Puhoi) and unlike Greta, I will still fly (I have to go back to NY at some point to see my family) and I do occasionally eat meat and dairy. While reducing the waste I create certainly does make a difference and helps me feel like I am doing better, I’m still working on going vegetarian! I have an impact, but I’m aware of it and really trying to lessen my footprint even more.

Sometimes I think back to what the catalyst for this low-waste lifestyle was for me… the overarching theme of course is my love for the ocean but there’s definitely a few moments that really revealed to me what kind of impact my lifestyle has on the planet, and that is what caused me to change.

I “officially” started my journey to low-waste living back in July when I ‘quit plastic’, before that I was well aware of the waste I created but I thought quitting plastic would be “too hard.” I can’t lie, it’s not always easy, but its not “too hard” either.

Before I share what my catalysts were, let me just quickly tell you about my upbringing on Long Island and the environment I was raised in. Let’s put it this way, it was far from being considered environmentally conscious. Making waste was the societal norm, single use plastics were just starting to become popular. The mid 1900’s was the start of an era where corporations thrived on telling us we needed their products because we needed convenience. The plastic packaging required for premade items, frozen food and sliced bread is arguably one of the things that allowed women to enter the workforce in the first place. This makes perfect sense to me, working women, actually, both men and women working long hours (like both my parents did) which is why people started buying things premade. So when I moved out of home and moved to New Zealand, I bought most things premade in packaging as well, that’s just what most people do.

After a year of working at a marine lab and at a dive shop, followed by two and a half years living on a boat and really encountering much more plastic in the water than you would believe, I started to care way more. I felt really connected to the ocean, I mean, how can you not when you are living on it? I was reading more and more about plastic pollution and its affect on our health and there would be moments when I would feel so guilty about purchasing something because I knew the packaging I was getting with it was destined for landfill, that shopping and making food was more of a frustrating task than it should be to feed yourself.

I always picked up plastic on the beach to prevent it from ending up in the ocean but there was a slight disconnect because I would often run/walk past pieces of rubbish on the roads without thinking it was my problem…. I would think there’s too much for me to gather, besides, its not my rubbish. I think this overwhelmed me partially because there was often literally rubbish everywhere and the closer you got to large populations the worse it gets. I’ve since changed my mindset, because if I picked up at least three of those each day then there wouldn’t be as much the next time I went past. Hindsight is 20/20, regardless, now I dont go past a piece of plastic without picking it up.

With this massive pollution problem becoming prevalent in all conversations… I was surprised that most people thought this was a problem that could just be ‘fixed’, it could all be collected, we can ‘clean it up’. Then my mind drifts to the time I spent a few weeks in Hawaii…. ironically, this is also where a lot of plastic drifts to as well.

I chose the location for our adventure that day, Hanauma Bay, a protected marine life conservation area, earmarked as an excellent snorkelling location. It was our last day in Hawaii and I just had to go there and say bye to the tropical fishes. Hours later, nearing the middle of the day, the rest of my family and my boyfriend, Ben, were sitting on the beach. They were unable to keep me out of the sea, just mesmerized by the colourful fish and corals, until I finally got cold and returned to warm up on the beach.

Back on the beach Ben and my brother John were sifting through the sand.
I took a closer look at what was in Ben’s hand…. it was alarming.

In about 5 minutes sifting through the sand in front of him, in a space no bigger than a metre squared, they found a handful of fragments.

It made me sad. How to we even start to wrap our head around the immensity of the plastic pollution problem?

I couldn’t deal with the plastic in my life. So it was time for a change.

I really do feel like I am better off for changing my habits and living with less plastic, less stuff, less waste… more happiness.

Not everyone makes this discovery for themselves so I think about what could be the catalyst for others? How can I impact others in such a way that they will feel inspired to change? How can I help make change easier for others based on what I’ve learned? There is little steps we can all take to reduce our waste and I plan on sharing my favourite plastic free swaps with you in a blog post soon.

In the meantime, if you can think of a way I can help you to use less plastic, please let me know or email me (saraspeaksforthesea@gmail.com) with questions!

Until then, follow your dreams, and love the ocean.