Leanne Shawler, Artist

Well, I am not plastic-free, and won't be until someone comes up with ways to safely sell meat and cheese and crunchy chips without a ton of plastic.  But, there were a number of practices I took on last Lent and I thought you would be interested to see how I've been doing with them in the year since: this all started with silicone straws, and I'm continuing to use them although I'm fine in doing without straws altogether for most drinks. I did a wee backslide and got a drink at 38Degrees (plastic cup! plastic film! plastic straw because of boba!) but have been pretty much on the straight and narrow for this stasher bags -- Still using them instead of ziplocks for all manner of things, including freezing leftover raw meat, and now I have cute little Stasher pouches for my vitamin gummies as the ziplocks I was using and reusing were getting a bit bedraggled. Haven't really missed ziplock bags at all, except for the marinating of meat and storing end b...

I can sadly report that there were only TWO days I went completely single-use plastic-free during Lent. Even with all the changes I made. Also, I stopped keeping track as of Palm Sunday, so you miss another round of "menstrual necessities", although they were off-set by reusable period panties this time. More on that in a much later post, as I need to go through another cycle with 'em. Wednesday, March 6: cling wrap that was already wrapped around a cut cucumber (but I rewrapped it, so that -- nah, it still counts -- however I used it before Lent started, so yeah, it doesn't count [see Bargaining ]) emptied a Lay's chips bag (jalapeno flavored in case you're wondering) bought last weekend. Plastic. had hot chocolate this afternoon at work -- and as I threw the packet into the trash I realized that it was plastic-lined. OMG. I have a feeling I'll be making turmeric lattes or decaf tea for that afternoon warm drink for the next 40 days....

Here’s what I have learned about myself: I can’t completely do without single-use plastic.  Working full time I don’t have time to roast a chicken, keeping aside some meat to use later and then make my own chicken broth (which is still going into plastic, but reusable, containers because I broke a glass mason jar in the freezer). I mean, I can do this sometimes but it’s a level of meal planning and prep that I don’t have time for on a regular basis.  And that’s why plastic works: it makes it convenient to prepare meals or to eat quickly (if not always healthily). Also, it is impossible to buy meat or cheese that isn’t encased in plastic for health and safety code reasons (and given a recent Twitter thread about (spoiler alert) finding human body lice in salmon, I am feeling pretty grateful about that). Plus, I am not nearly ready to go vegan, which is the only way, currently, to reduce that plastic load. What I can do — is make chicken broth sometimes. What I ca...

Whales with guts full of plastic. Recycling piling up in warehouses or being burned because nobody overseas wants to buy it our rubbish. And plastic is everywhere. ( Teen Vogue does a great article on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It's not what you think. ) In the whole of Lent thus far, I have had two days only of not using some kind of single-use plastic. Time and time again, I find myself using something with plastic in it. From cans to dental floss to menstrual products to the inside of a cap on a glass bottle. It’s freaking everywhere. 9% of recyclable plastic ends up in recycling bins and of that 9% less and less is being actively recycled. It’s being burned, or stored in a warehouse or buried in landfill or dumped in oceans and this stuff lasts for over 500 years, breaking down into micro plastic that ends up in the food we eat. The problem seems insurmountable and that no matter what I do, there will always be plastic.  And I’m talk...

“Dan can take out the trash and then I don’t have to worry about that single-use plastic.”  “Hey, want a ginger snap? Oh wait, it’s in single use plastic.” “So long as I don’t take the last one!” Which makes me wonder how long that cucumber is going to stay in the produce drawer wrapped in cling wrap... Here's another way I've been denying my Lenten discipline: I stopped logging the repeat offenders. The Bundaberg ginger beer, the plastic sleeves of Thin Mints... I told myself I would stop or reduce my use of them, but I haven’t. You know what else is single-use plastic? Double-sided tape dispensers, acrylic paint, for starters. I haven’t even dared to look at my art practices when it comes to single use plastic. Lent stops at my art room door. There’s a mighty long river in Egypt and in keeping a Lenten practice and they're both called denial. What to make of this? I wrote in my journal at the start of March that my intention is to be a better stew...

I got so angry at myself. I had been faithfully recording all my plastic use in the first few days and all that time I’d been using tiny single-use plastic creamer cartons for milk in my hot beverages and not even noticing.  Not. Even. Noticing. Argh! I exclaimed on Facebook. GodDAMN! I wrote in my plastic log. I said far worse to myself. Success, winning, perfection are not what this, or any, Lenten discipline is about. Beating myself up is destructive, and God is a creative force, not destructive. I can hear my husband saying “Remember this!” as I can be harder on myself than anyone else. Doing that won’t help me succeed in my Lenten discipline, especially as it was one I had chosen knowing it wasn’t going to be something I could “win” at.  So instead I need to be creative and constructive and allow my anger to be the drive that "gets it done", such as being a voice for change. As Will Chase says in the new series “Whiskey Cavalier”, “I have my feelings. My...

Just like the five stages of grief, I rather suspect there are five stages of keeping a Lenten discipline. Bargaining, denial, anger, depression and acceptance. Giving up single-use plastic is proving to be quite the trial. On Day 2, I had already started bargaining with God. Is it single-use plastic if I recycle it?  Is the city actually recycling the stuff we put in our blue bins? (Apparently, yes, currently.) What if it’s made of 100% recycled plastic? Is that a second use and therefore not a single use? I fell asleep pondering this and without getting into a whole lot of detail, God sent a message in a dream: “Stop bargaining. Just do what you can.” And that is really the thing. This Lenten discipline has opened my eyes to the ubiquitousness of plastic. I use it without even thinking.  Stasher bags are reusable silicone bags that are replacing plastic bags It took me a while to remember to bring my own coffee cup, my own reusable silicon...

I am giving up your approval for Lent. To which my husband said, when I told him, "I approve of that." "Dear, you may support me and hold me accountable, but not approve." This realization came to me Ash Wednesday night, after I was unexpectedly enlisted to impose ashes at our combined Episcopal/Catholic service. not my handiwortk I was talking to my husband how this all came about and he declared I was "overthinking" which got me really mad. (So you know he was right.) And then I asked: did I read the prayers slow enough? Was the silence too short? Too long? Who IS this crazy person?!?! And that's when I realized that just when I thought I had the "needing others' approval" thing under control, I don't. It doesn't matter why it's back but let's just call it increased uncertainty. It's insidious this seeking of approval so this is going to be a tricky one.  Your mishegas is ...

I did, very briefly, consider making this a rhyming post. First, my definition of unplugging meant no computer, no iPhone. I could use my iPod to play music but couldn't plug it into the computer to change up the playlists. I still have Christmas on my iPod, which is a pretty clear suggestion of how rarely I update it anyway. An opinion piece in the New Yorker posted back toward the beginning of Lent got me started writing this post. Basically, the article, entitled "The Pointlessness of Unplugging" , goes on in a polarizing fashion to put those who choose to take a day off from the internet into the same camp as those who want nothing to do with the internet ever. This not the case. The author, Casey Cep, points this out later. Choosing to take a day off from the internet is not an intent to abandon it. As someone who met her husband (before there was match.com), discovered new friendships and rediscovered old ones, has taken lots of online classes, and is all for ...

Mirrors have been coming up a lot lately and in two opposing viewpoints. The first that came to my awareness was during the 8-week course I recently completed, Coming Home to the Body (from Abbey of the Arts), which was all about getting out of my head and to start listening and trusting my body. One of the exercises involved standing in front of a full length mirror naked. (In the privacy of my home, thanks.) The second came about at the start of Lent when Jennifer Dukes Lee gave up mirrors for Lent . You can read all her reasons at her blog , but this spun out of her writing her just released book Love Idols . Her appearance was an idol and she's giving it up for Lent in order to see herself as a reflection of God. Having just done the course on dwelling in my body, I baulked at this denial of self. (I know, I'm of the monastic bent, but self-denial isn't really my bag.) But maybe this stemmed from my lack of understanding. I look in the mirror to see if I absolut...

"When Unplugging Makes a Miracle" is a great headline, but honestly, I had forgotten I had already signed up for this particular activity when I chose my Lenten discipline of unplugging from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, so I would've been doing it anyway.  But it also caused some first world problems like: I'm unplugging, how on earth can I call you if the pickup plans change? (answer, use somebody else's phone...) I decided a happy husband who wasn't waiting for me at the wrong place would be better than keeping the fast. A miracle did happen though ... both through hard work and opened eyes. Where to start the story? Let's start with a handful of youth group kids who went to an Indian reservation one summer and came back transformed, energized to start making a difference. Two of the youth and their parents found a non-profit that builds houses (among other things) in Tijuana, Mexico. They presented this idea to my church's vestr...