Issues in Canada

I have been back for three months now and I have come across some issues.

First, some good news (in my opinion :P). I spent two months as a nanny for a friend of mine and we went on a few "out trips." Every time I would see garbage on the ground I would automatically pick it up, as I do, forgetting that I was in the presence of small children. Well of course, the five year old wanted to know what I was doing and why. So I asked her if she would like garbage all over her back yard mixed with the toys. Shockingly, she said no. So then I said that I didn't like how other people just left their trash in areas where I went and I thought I would help out by picking it up. Well, that opened the floodgates and it turned into a game. Every where we went "Aunty Bonnie, look! There is garbage. We have to pick it up." My approach is more casual, you know, if I see it in my path I will pick it up. I don't often seek it out far off the path. Well let me tell you, distance was not a factor for us. Consequently, all of our trips took a lot longer than expected. I am not sure how much the Mom is going to appreciate it...hehe

Another thing I have done since coming back is dog sitting. The house I was in was well stocked with food (some in plastic, some not) and so I ended up not buying any groceries. One super sad thing, there was an espresso machine (YAY! Best day ever!).....yes, except for one thing. It was one of those one use machines. 

If you can't imagine the problem with that here is an article addressing it. 

So, I settled for conventional brewed coffee with a reusable filter! Hurrah. So far I have only been able to find one type of coffee that is wrapped in paper. It is not good either :P hahaha. Sigh.

The other thing that was an issue that I hadn't thought about was the dogs themselves. I forgot that you had to pick up after dogs when you walk hahaha. There are a few resources out there for dog lovers to reduce plastic waste though.The owner of the dogs bought some "green" bags to use. I didn't do a lot of research into them but they claimed to be biodegradable in 10 days. So that is pretty good :).

There are not a lot of stores in Kamloops that are charging for grocery bags. Superstore does, and gives you a discount if you bring your own. Course, they don't give you the discount if you just say no bag and carry your items. That doesn't make much sense to me... Oh well.

I am back off to Victoria to carry out the rest of my plastic free year :). It should be really easy, especially considering the hippy vibe that Victoria has. I think it has helped me that I don;t have any money to spend, therefore I can't buy anything with plastic. It almost feels like cheating... Hahaha. Well bye for now.