There’s a tipping point in any big movement, a point where the tenor of the moment changes from uncertainty to inevitability. It’s as true with the growing rejections of single-use plastic as with any other cultural movement, although with the planet’s plastic use still growing, it can be hard to see that tipping point from here. But, if and when it does arrive, it will be because enough individuals are making an effort to curb their personal use and wasteful habits. All successful movements grow from individual efforts.

One of these stories involves Alexa and her family. Alexa is 12 and is involved with the Sea Stars program run by Harbor WildWatch. I sopke to her group one evening a few months ago and since then, she and her mom and dad have been saving their plastic waste each week, tallying it up and looking for ways to eliminate what they can and reduce their use overall. It’s a good story and I’m hoping to turn it into the next Ikkatsu short film, as both a salute to one girl’s efforts to make a difference and as an example of how to re-examine our own use of plastic. Filming is about half done and the completed effort should be out this summer.