Emma Beddington, a writer for The Guardian, had a challenge: Try to live one month without any single-use plastics and record her progress each day. Her experience was more difficult than she could have imagined.
Sure, you could use reusable bags to carry groceries and buy fresh produce instead of packaged veggies, but virtually everything else in the store had some form of plastic packaging, whether it was a bag of chips, sliced bread, a jug of milk, and packed cuts of meat (luckily for the last one, she’s a vegan).
While she was able to achieve her shopping by inconveniently buying reusable paper or cloth bags, wrapping, etc. then shopping from specialty shops and bakeries that don’t use plastic containers or bags, she still fell short after nearly two weeks of mindfully running around and finding places and items that were plastic-free . While she was shopping for supplies for a night of cocktails, she blanked out and accidentally bought ice in a plastic bag.
But who could blame her? Throughout the globe, single-use plastic is a part of nearly every consumer product or the packaging. Even if you take away the food in the average grocery store, there are several products that use non-reusable plastic packaging or containers such as laundry detergent, toothpaste, dish soap, shampoo, and more. Even paper products such as toilet paper and paper towels are sealed in plastic wrap. Even if you do find a place in which you can purchase items with a reusable bottle, container, or bag, it’s often a specialty store for specific items and you’d have to find other shops in your area or online that can refill your supplies with the containers you provide. It’s nearly impossible to escape single-use plastics in the modern world.
Even non-fast food restaurants contribute to the single-use plastic problem.Photo credit: Canva
It’s an ever-growing problem, too. According to the Smithsonian, 85% of U.S. plastic waste in 2021 went to landfills instead of being incinerated or recycled. Even recycling the very few types of single-use plastics that are able to be recycled don’t do much. Those plastics are typically repurposed for other single-use plastic items like soda bottles that eventually end up in landfills anyway.
It’s not just harmful to Earth’s health, but our health, too. Discarded plastic bottles and food containers found in our oceans and lakes eventually turn into microplastics that can be found in the fish we consume and in our tap water. These microplastics have been linked to increases in risk of heart disease, liver disease, and other health problems. A 2024 report by CNN showed that the human brain samples from cadavers contained a spoonful of microplastics in each one.
Even recycled plastic ends up in a landfill eventually.Photo credit: Canva
So what can a person do about all of this? Well, there are small ways you can individually help by refilling and using metal water bottles, coffee tumblers, cloth grocery bags, and containers while also buying products and supporting businesses that use green alternatives to single-use plastics whether they come from farmer’s markets or online. In terms of the bigger picture aside from voting with your wallet, you can start or contribute to letter campaigns to companies saying that you would buy their products more often if they provided alternative ways to purchase or collect them without single-use plastics or disposables. If you feel moved, talk to your local, state, and federal representatives about this issue and with enough people they could introduce a bill to help bring more attention, awareness, and action towards this global problem.
Using a reusable metal water bottle is one small yet impactful way to reduce plastic waste.Photo credit: Canva
It may not seem like much at first, but big change usually starts with small, determined, and inconvenient actions.
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President Donald J. Trump and photo of a forest.
Public united and adamantly opposes Trump’s plan to roll back the Roadless Rule
There doesn't seem to be much agreement happening in the U.S. right now. Differing moral belief systems, economic disparity, and political divide have made a country with so many positives sometimes feel a little lost. Everyone desperately seeks a niche, a connection, or a strong sense of community to which they can feel a "part of," rather than just "apart."
But there seems to be one thing that the country strongly unites over, and that's the "Roadless Rule." With the Trump Administration attempting to roll back conservation policies that protect U.S. National Forests, Americans are saying in harmony an emphatic "No." A nonpartisan conservation and advocacy organization, the Center for Western Priorities, reviewed a comment analysis on the subject. After receiving 223,862 submissions, a staggering 99 percent are opposed to the president's plan of repeal.
What is the 'Roadless Rule' policy implemented in 2001?
The Roadless Rule has a direct impact on nearly 60 million acres of national forests and grasslands. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the rule prohibits road construction and timber harvests. Enacted in 2001, it is a conservation rule that protects some of the least developed portions of our forests. It's considered to be one of the most important conservation wins in U.S. history.
America's national forests and grasslands are diverse ecosystems, timeless landscapes, and living treasures. They sustain the country with clean water and the wood products necessary to build our communities. The National Parks protected under their umbrella offer incredible recreational retreats and outdoor adventure.
Why does the administration want to roll it back?
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins told the Department of Agriculture in a 2025 press release, “We are one step closer to common sense management of our national forest lands. Today marks a critical step forward in President Trump’s commitment to restoring local decision-making to federal land managers to empower them to do what’s necessary to protect America’s forests and communities from devastating destruction from fires." Rollins continued, “This administration is dedicated to removing burdensome, outdated, one-size-fits-all regulations that not only put people and livelihoods at risk but also stifle economic growth in rural America. It is vital that we properly manage our federal lands to create healthy, resilient, and productive forests for generations to come. We look forward to hearing directly from the people and communities we serve as we work together to implement productive and commonsense policy for forest land management.”
Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz explained the Roadless Rule frustrated land management and acts as a challenging barrier to action. It prohibits road construction needed to navigate wildfire suppression and properly maintain the forest. Schultz said, “The forests we know today are not the same as the forests of 2001. They are dangerously overstocked and increasingly threatened by drought, mortality, insect-borne disease, and wildfire. It’s time to return land management decisions where they belong – with local Forest Service experts who best understand their forests and communities."
Why are people adamantly opposed to the proposed rollback?
A 2025 article in Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization, expressed its concern over the protection of national forests covering 36 states and Puerto Rico. A rescinded rule allows increased logging, extractive development, and oil and gas drilling in previously undisturbed backcountry. Here is what some community leaders had to say about it:
President Gloria Burns, Ketchikan Indian Community, said, "You cannot separate us from the land. We depend on Congress to update the outdated and predatory, antiquated laws that allow other countries and outside sources to extract our resource wealth. This is an attack on Tribes and our people who depend on the land to eat. The federal government must act and provide us the safeguards we need or leave our home roadless. We are not willing to risk the destruction of our homelands when no effort has been made to ensure our future is the one our ancestors envisioned for us. Without our lungs (the Tongass) we cannot breathe life into our future generations.”
Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, stated, "Roadbuilding damaged salmon streams in the past — with 240 miles of salmon habitat still blocked by failed road culverts. The Roadless Rule protects our fishing economy and more than 10,000 jobs provided by commercial fishing in Southeast Alaska.”
The Sierra Club's Forest Campaign Manager Alex Craven seemed quite upset, saying, "The Forest Service followed sound science, economic common sense, and overwhelming public support when they adopted such an important and visionary policy more than 20 years ago. Donald Trump is making it crystal clear he is willing to pollute our clean air and drinking water, destroy prized habitat for species, and even increase the risk of devastating wildfires, if it means padding the bottom lines of timber and mining companies.”
The 2025 recession proposal would apply to nearly 45 million acres of the national forests. With so many people writing in opposition to the consensus, the public has determined they don't want it to happen.
Tongass National Forest is at the center of the Trump administration's intention to roll back the 2001 Roadless Rule. You can watch an Alaska Nature Documentary about the wild salmon of Tongass National Forrest here:
- YouTube www.youtube.com
The simple truth is we elect our public officials to make decisions. The hope is they do this for all of our well-being, although often it seems they do not. Even though we don't have much power to control what government officials do, voicing our opinions strongly enough often forces them to alter their present course of action. With a unanimous public voice saying, "No!" maybe this time they will course correct as the public wishes.