Battle Against Plastic
United Nations Environment Goodwill Ambassador Adrian Grenier never forgot the amplified mess of plastic filling the entrances and exits of his local supermarket in New York City.
Schrakkkk, schrakkkk, schrakkk--the irritating characteristic, he neglected to notice before, intensely isolated itself to Grenier's sense of hearing.
"The one thing that started to drive me crazy was hearing all the plastic bags and it would drive me crazy to the point I would carry food," Grenier said, gesturing imaginary items into his his held open shirt.
Peaking over his shoulders, his eyes directed toward strangers hands grabbing bags back and forth. The friction to release the bag from itself only enlarged the nuisance and Grenier's concern. He had enough and he took to that make-shift shirt alternative.
In 2014, plastic grocery bags were the seventh most common item collected during the Ocean Conservancy International Coastal Cleanup, behind smaller debris such as cigarette butts, plastic straws and bottle caps.
That is when Adrian Grenier said he realized he lived in a coastal city."It was really the supermarket." In fact, his hometown collects more than 1,700 tons of single-use carry-out bags every week and has to spend $12.5 million a year to dispose of them, according to Wired Magazine.
Furthermore, these plastic bags pile in landfills, blocking storm drains, littering streets, getting stuck in trees, contaminating oceans where fish, seabirds and other marine animals eat or get tangled up in them.
"We have to hold each other accountable. So I think the big ideal for me was the collaboration that I saw at the UN where nations around the world are coming together finally to figure out how we're going to solve it," Grenier said. "A lot of it is not going to be sexy. There is not going to be one solution that is going to save the day. It's going to be a lot of not very sexy infrastructure change, systems change, it's going to be a little bit boring and long term, but it really really requires the unity of all people and all nations."
Grenier, wears many hats: actor, musician, record label founder and manager of bands like The Skins, environmental activist, filmmaker, UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador and co-founder of Lonely Whale Foundation--created as a vehicle to inspire empathy and action for protecting ocean environmental and marine life.
"Just to say, at this engagement level, that's our main goal at Planet Roo. That you can find people to partner with and take this home with you," said Laura Sohn, the director of Bonnaroo sustainability.
At the panel conversation on The Solar Stage during the Friday of Bonnaroo weekend, Grenier along with Sohn and Henry Pincus, founder of Think Twice Drink Twice, encouraged festival go-ers to refill-- even plastic bottled watered before trashing it.
Stated on The Think Twice Drink Twice website, at least 25 percent of bottled water derives from bottled water sold to consumers at a 500 percent markup.
"That means there's a good chance you're already drinking really expensive tap water," Think Twice Drink Twice stated online. Also, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has determined it is safe for both single and repeated use of plastic water bottles. “So unless you leave your bottle in your car in the blazingheat for six weeks, you’re OK to reuse it.”
Sohn has been the leading key in Bonnaroo's sustainability efforts. In the festival's 2016 sustainability report, close to 800,000 water bottles were saved from landfill, with the festival making souvenir water bottles available to patrons throughout Refill Revolution efforts.
The Refill Revolution is Bonnaroo's program in partnership with the Plastic Pollution Coalition (PPC) and Steelys Drinkware that encourages attendees to purchase or bring their own refillable stainless steel cups, bottles and containers.
This year, a number of musicians, actors, artists and leaders added their voices to the Refill Revolution movement, including headliner U2 and their usage of S'well Bottles on stage. The Edge used his Refill Revolution steel cup off stage at Bonnaroo.
"Reusable water bottles are a much cooler and smarter choice than disposable plastic," U2's The Edge said to PPC.
Andy Morgan, on-air personality at WUHU 107. 1 FM of Forever Communications, takes notice of these efforts. With music-loving friend Trey Bartley, Morgan grabs a pizza slice as he sings along to Destiny's Child's "Jumpin' Jumpin'," the soundtrack of the chosen vendor for his 4 a.m. dinner. Clipped on him was his metal Bonnaroo cup.
Grenier explained there is a relationship with a reusable cup as they are fighting the other 38 billion plastic water bottles that enter our landfills annually.
Morgan, a loyal attendee of seven unique versions of Bonnaroo over eight years, has been taking these ideals and reusable cups to Bowling Green with him along with the tales of his Bonnaroo unrepeated experiences.
"I am definitely a supporter of the metal reusable cup at Bonnaroo and am grateful it is an option for several reasons. The most obvious is that it makes a great keepsake you can continue to use, but what is means environmentally is much more important," Morgan said. "It helps reduce my individual carbon footprint, which is the most I can do and it doesn't need explaining how important it is to protect our Mother Earth."
According to Bonnaroo's 2016 sustainability report, 65% of waste (by weight( was diverted from a landfill. In total, 155 tons of recycling/ reuse and 536 tons of waste food recovery were diverted from a landfill because of CleanVibes volunteers. CleanVibes maintain waste stations consisting of recycling, comost and landfill containers. Their goal is to keep as much was t of of the landfill as possible while teaching attendees about recycling/ composting.
Morgan said this speaks volumes in festival culture, mention CleanVibes volunteers.
"Music festivals are always teetering on the edge of being construed as nothing more than beacons of American hedonism and excess. Many people already see festival selfless and flower crowns and think only of privileged kids spending their parents' hard-earned money to go get stoned in a field," Morgan said. "As a 7-time Bonnaroo patron, I can say that this is, for most at least, simply not the case. It is time to celebrate music, life and love and also the Earth we live on the that gives us so much to us and allows us to play songs in her fields and keep us alive. That's why Bonnaroo employs the hardworking CleanVibes volunteer crews to help keep patron separating their compost and recycling plus keeping the grounds clean. and it's why they offer things like the reusable cup."
Grenier, a forefront of entrainment for American households and active advocate of environmental and social causes, made changes for himself, urges for others to do changes like Morgan. And his fans have paid attention. Within the crowd, wearing his Think Twice, Drink Twice t-shirt, Bonnaroovian Jackson Treywick from Suwanee, Ga., laughs.
"Sometimes people aren't going to feed into the information. We have to feed it to them," Grenier said. "Don't be afraid to let them know. Find your own style. Your own method. I use the drug dealer approach. Give me a taste."
Grenier said suggest friends to stop sucking--ax the use of the single plastic straw, when at home, going to restaurants with friends, anywhere--and be part of the The Strawless Ocean Initiative. "Then its why not cups? lids?…"
"Call out your friends, call out celebrities, call out people in government--representatives. Tell them to stop sucking, 'cause they suck. So 'hashtag stop sucking. We're trying to eliminate 500 million plastic straws from the wavestream, it’s such a small amount. It's a small fraction of what we use. We actually use 500 million plastic straws every single day."
"I like it," Treywick, 23, commented afterward, "He's got a really good idea. And he's definitely doing a good job getting the word out."
"I don't like I have to save the world," Grenier finished. "I think a lot of ways we're carrying to the apathetic as well, tip-toeing around wanting their lives to stay as they were. One of my favorite quotes is: 'he who hesitates in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance."
Actor, filmmaker, entrepreneur, and ocean activist Adrian Grenier is the co-founder of Lonely Whale. For his work with the organization, Grenier was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Program. In this role, he advocates for reducing single-use plastic and for the protection of marine species, as well as encourage his followers to make conscious consumer choices to reduce their environmental footprint.
Five hundred million plastic straws are used per day. With Think Twice Drink Twice founder Henry Pincus and Bonnaroo Sustainability Director Laura Sohn at Planet Roo in Manchester, Tenn., for Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival on June 8-11, Lonely Whale co-founder Adrian Grenier speaks of reducing the plastic pollution and help spreading the word. Grenier also spoke of his recently launched Strawless Ocean, an initiative through the Lonely Whale Foundation aiming to reduce the use of plastic straws nationwide with a goal of keeping 500 million plastic straws out of the ocean in 2017. The initiative will encourage bars and restaurants to switch to sustainable plastic straw alternatives including paper straws.
A PLASTIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT for Lonely Whale.
