Think About It
MISSION: Raising awareness and starting conversations about trash, creating one of a kind, useful items utilizing materials that are heading to a landfill where they would sit for thousands of years.
Latest Projects & Updates
As seen on Instagram
Statistics on Plastics
# of Plastic Bottles Produced in 2020
# of Dog Food Bags Amazon Shipped in 2020
Average Time it Takes Plastic to Breakdown
Average amount of plastic a human ingests?
About
Think About It
Mari
I am no expert and not a purist. I do believe in Macgyver-ism; make do with what you’ve got. And we’ve currently got more than enough human-made stuff on this planet to keep us going if we’re creative.
Born and raised in Bath, Maine, I swore I’d never live in my hometown. After college, a bunch of traveling and living and visiting in all kinds of places in the world, I, of course, ended up back in Bath, recognizing what a great childhood I’d had in this little city. And I got a great job.
Traditional downtowns around the country had been in a steady decline due to big box stores popping up everywhere you turned. Maine had just adopted a national downtown revitalization program called Main Street, Bath being one of the first four communities to adopt the philosophy and creating a non profit around it. I became one of the first Main Street directors in Bath. Needless to say, I am a fierce advocate for small, locally owned businesses. And non profits.
Shortly after leaving the Main Street program to settle in and start a family, a seat on the city council opened up and I was strongly encouraged to run. I equate the knowledge gained over the following 14 years to a masters degree (without the piece of paper), but so much more. Parking, sewers, cemeteries, parks, people, streets, budgets, negotiations, meetings, meetings, meetings… all while raising my two sons who had their own toy box in City Hall. I even became the first woman to be the chairperson for the Bath City Council.
Leaving council, there are a few ongoing issues that continue to bother me locally because I know we are just a microcosm of what’s happening all over. One issue is our landfill. We only have a few more years left to use it. It costs a fortune to run and will continue to do so once it’s officially capped. Then we will be at the mercy of the market for how much it will cost to get rid of our trash. It is SHOCKING to see what people throw away (stuff that can often be recycled or reused) and then to think how long it will be sitting in that heap, often leaching chemicals as it tries to break down for centuries.
My goal is simple; to encourage people to think about trash. To realize it does not just magically go away. If I can get a few people thinking by creating things out of what-would-be-trash, mission accomplished. If people change a habit here or there; bonus! And if someone is inspired to take it further, that would be icing on the cake!!!!! (which is compostable) 🙂
