INDEPENDENCE

A couple of weeks ago, the Northern Territory has its annual Territory Day celebrations. Much like the similarly timed Independence Day in the USA, the Northern Territory has developed its own tradition of celebrating self governance through the detonation of fireworks (somehow the standard total fire ban that's in place around this time always gets waived). Personally, I've always found it kinda strange how DIY explosive devices have become synonymous with declarations of geo-political autonomy.

DOWN BY THE WHARF

Once a year Darwin has a harbour clean up day, which I'm lucky enough to be allowed to get involved with through the organisation I work for (though 'lucky' might be a matter of opinion, in proper 'oh god I'm getting old' fashion, I managed to properly strain a thigh muscle during the course of my day).

CORNER OF BISHOP AND SNELL

There's not a huge amount of street art in Darwin unfortunately (though we do have an active collective of decent artists in the city). So whenever I see anything clever or insightful, it tends to catch my eye. I spotted this illustration in Darwin's industrial area of Winnellie during my commute home. Pretty on point for a Buy Nothing New Month I think!

TALLY UP

I'm not sure if it's the increased awareness of a thing you're trying to avoid that makes you feel like you're attracting more of it into your life (much like the exercise where you're not allowed to think about elephants), but at times Plastic Free July seemed like it was raining plastic.

During July I finished off a lot of product that I bought 'pre-plastic avoidance' (a year or more ago in some cases). But, since then I have been able to find a plastic free (or less) alternative (eg shampoo, moisturiser, deodorant) for a lot of items. Overall - I intentionally bought much less plastic, but hidden packaging, freebies and impossible to find alternatives added to my tally. I did buy much less hard plastic than I think I've ever done before though (remember, no elephants).

MIDWAY

One word that ties together two parallel subjects, 'Midway' is the title of a Chris Jordan film about the devastating effects that plastic pollution is having on albatrosses nesting in the Midway Atoll of the North Pacific ocean. I saw the trailer late last year, utterly devastating and a well past due wake up call. The full film is scheduled for release in late 2013. Here in Australia I've been reading up on our own 'Midway situation'. The remote and pristine paradise of Lord Howe Island is yet another distressing case study for marine plastic pollution and its devastating effects on bird life - namely shearwaters. Learning about both of these situations within a short period, as well as the alarming microplastics statistics from recent surveys, was the jump-start that put me onto a path to concerted plastic reduction.

PLASTIC LITE PROGRESS

There are certainly challenges to living a plastic-free life in Darwin, some can be solved with a bit of effort while others either remain on either a 'deal with it later' list or the too hard basket.

First things first. Despite Darwin's distance from other population centres, our local Shoal Bay Recycling Centre takes all recyclable plastics

Another recent recycling initiative worth mentioning is courtesy of Coles supermarket, who are rolling out a nationwide soft plastics collection. I'll pause here to say I won't give my opinion for or against shopping at one of Australia's major food suppliers as it's up to the individual to decide how they shop, but either way I think this is a positive step in removing a large part of what is often unavoidable plastic from landfill. It hasn't rolled out in Darwin yet but for now I'm saving all my soft plastics until such time as it does.

2013 - THE YEAR OF PLASTIC 'LITE'

2012 was the first year I can remember that had such a major theme for me. Towards the end of 2011 I decided to move from my somewhat quiet rural life in England, where I'd been living for 5 years, and head back home to Australia. Of course with great moving, comes great sorting. I gave myself 6 months to sift through my houseful of possessions, and decide what was making the journey over with me.

A funny thing happened; the more I sorted, and the more I sold or donated, the more I realised that there was a hell of a lot of 'stuff' in my life. Probably slightly less than the average Westerner as I don't own many gadgets, but still I'd somehow gathered what seemed like a lot of moss. This was surprising as I've always considered myself as not owning that much. There's nothing like packing it down into a few boxes to challenge that perception.