Short Takes on Plastics

Look around you and you'll notice that plastics are everywhere today. From children’s toys to parts on the Mars rover Curiosity. It’s difficult to imagine what life was like before them. Products made with plastic are often more convenient, cheaper, lighter, safer and more durable, but they also present unwanted side effects to our health, cultures, and environments across the globe.

As part of our Plastics Unwrapped exhibit at the Burke, we recently invited a range of experts from the University of Washington (UW) and beyond to present their perspective (or "Short Takes") on a range of topics related to plastics in front of a live audience at the Neptune Theatre in Seattle. We've captured a few of the presentations on video to share with you:

What was life like before plastics?
Lauren Palmor, a UW Art History student shows what life was like before plastics - specifically related to food. How did people preserve their food without plastic? Watch Lauren's presentation in this video to find out:

Plastics in our Collections: A Sign of the Changing Material Culture?

"Before Plastics" objects on display

in the Plastics Unwrapped exhibit

The Burke Museum’s new exhibit, Plastics Unwrapped, examines how plastics went from being rare to being everywhere in a short period of time, and how material culture was changed by plastics.

To help visitors explore what life was like before plastics, several objects from the Burke’s ethnology collections – made from a range of materials found in nature – are on display. These objects include: a rain hat made of twined cedar bark, a child’s waterproof parka made of seal gut, toy blocks made of wood, and containers made of clay.

That made me wonder, will more and more plastic objects begin to make their way into the Burke Museum’s permanent collections as a reflection of this shift in material culture?

I asked Rebecca Andrews, ethnology collections manager, and she pointed me towards several objects in the ethnology collection that are either partially or fully comprised of plastic. For example:

My Month Without Plastic: I Survived

 

The plastic waste generated during my month without plastics.

I made it! I survived a month "without" plastic. I managed to mostly avoid purchasing new plastic but still left a small trail of plastic waste behind (see the photo to the right).

It’s less than I expected, which is somewhat of a relief, but I still cringe when I think about this waste still being around for decades after this challenge is over.

We forget about our trash rather quickly when we throw something “away,” but “away” is still somewhere. One of the walls in the Burke's Plastics Unwrapped exhibit is covered with 3,000 plastic bags–the number used every single second by people like me, who hadn’t thought about the consequences of common consumption. I believe as people who can make choices for ourselves, we have a duty to become more aware of our impact and to make a change.

My Month Without Plastic: Wrapped Up

By Samantha Porter


Not only have I had to rethink how and what types of foods I purchase during this month without plastics challenge, but it's also made me rethink other aspects of my life. Have you ever noticed how many everyday items you use are either made of plastic or wrapped up in it?

Plastics are literally everywhere! They're surrounding my shampoo, kitchen sponges and laundry detergent. They're in my clothes, face wash (what do you think those little microbeads are?) chewing gum, and dental floss. Even the little plastic aglet on the end of my shoe laces. It's a fact: plastics exist in my life and in my home.

I certainly can't avoid all plastics and there are some that I don't want to avoid. Can you imagine having a glass shampoo bottle in the shower? That's a lawsuit waiting to happen. Even though there are some plastics I can't easily avoid, I've found ways to lessen the collateral damage of my overall consumption.

My Month Without Plastic: Unexpected Nutrition Overhaul



By Samantha Porter

In last week's post, I was just starting to realize how much effort and planning it would require for me to avoid plastic waste while shopping for groceries. This process is a bit clumsy at first, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it.

What will I eat??
Before leaving for the store, I think through exactly what I'm going to purchase so I make sure to bring the right jars and reusable bags with me to carry my groceries. Though it is a relative hassle, it's given me the opportunity to be more mindful about what I eat.

My Month Without Plastic: Starting at the Store

By Samantha Porter

Plastic, plastic, plastic!

In my last post, I vowed to rethink my relationship with plastics by taking a look at what plastic products are in my life and trying to not purchase or use any new plastic for one month. But first, let's set some realistic ground rules...

There are some plastics in my life that I won't be able to avoid. For example, look down, see they keyboard in front of you? Plastic. What about the phone to your left? Plastic. Or the amputated T-Rex figurine to your right (am I the only one that has that?)? It's plastic (with paperclip prosthesis, of course).

I won't be discarding the lid to my reusable water bottle (because it's plastic) or getting rid of my computer mouse or the plastic case for my cell phone. This challenge isn't about deprivation, it's about conscious living. But, I do publicly vow, Burke Blog readers, that I will not repurchase my favorite (as of late) modern invention: press and seal wrap (mmmmmm…so brilliant).

My Month Without Plastic: The Challenge

By Samantha Porter

The Burke recently opened a new exhibit, Plastics Unwrapped, that explores how material culture was changed–rapidly and significantly–by plastics. Plastics are everywhere and they'll stay in landfills and in our oceans for hundreds, if not thousands of years.

That got me thinking about the plastics in my life. I consider myself to have a fairly small ecological footprint overall: I don’t own a car, I buy locally when I can, and I'm above average in my knowledge of recycling protocol *dust off shoulders.* But when it comes to plastics, I realized that so much of what I purchase comes wrapped in plastic packaging. Even if it is recyclable – it never entirely disappears. We can't simply recycle things into non-existence.