10. Being an Innovator/Early Adopter. This is a marketing term for the people who buy and use a new product first. There are tons of biodegradable innovations being developed to replace plastics – drive demand for them instead of sticking to the old non-biodegradable options. Jeremy Jackson of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography emphasizes that, without profound and prompt changes in human behavior, we will cause a “mass extinction in the oceans with unknown ecological and evolutionary consequences” – use your choices about where you spend your money to do your best to help push us in a different direction.
11. Talking about it. Ask your pregnant friends what nappies they're planning to use - they might not know there are other options than plastic disposables. Wax lyrical on the pointlessness of the straw. Publicly admire those shunning the plastic bag. Sure it's cool at the moment to say we're all in our own little echo chamber. I know my echo chamber isn't noticeably changing it's lifestyle to combat this problem. Is yours? We all need inspiration of some sort to change the way we do things. And a bit of support and maybe even healthy competition doesn't go amiss either. Echo chambers are really rather good for those things. Just cos it's echoey doesn't make it useless.