 Welcome back everybody. It's the fourth Thursday of the month. I'm Jason Laduke taking over from Michelle Davis on the Geeks are sexy show Where we talk about business we talk about success in Las Vegas, but today we're going to be talking with a nonprofit And I love bringing nonprofits on the show because you guys have All the challenges of running a business without making that sweet sweet cash, right? So so our guest is going to be Lee Jackson the executive director of rethink world wide But I am going to take a second to mention our sponsor 5amglobal who you're familiar with So and 5amglobal at their core. They're a public relations firm But they go beyond just doing those press releases and doing that normal press distribution and placement They're going to go out there to find out what's the right media for you to be honest They're going to help you build that relationship with the media They even do this thing where they will go out and look for awards that you fit in the category for and they'll get you Submitted for those awards. So 5amglobal they do the basic public relations stuff But they go so much further with you to help you with your public relations So if you're looking for help with that contact Sean Willis and our team at 5amglobal Lee welcome to the show Thank you for being here. Hello Yeah, so we're going to talk about rethink world wide. You're the executive director there You've been involved in all aspects of business marketing event planning. You're an entrepreneur We started an energy drink a few years ago, which is going to be a whole different show We have you back for it But now you're taking the lead as the executive director of rethink world wide and what rethink world wide Does is they're helping to end single-use plastic? Educate individuals on how to live sustainably you just talked about sustainable businesses in our latin our couple segments ago with Ari But and how to live how to live sustainably and how to provide solutions to conserve the environment So thank you for being here. So tell us about rethink world wide. What is it and how did you get involved? so rethink world wide is a nonprofit organization and our mission is to end single-use plastic to educate individuals on how to live sustainably and to provide solutions to serve the environment So what is single-use plastic because I thought I had an idea and then when you and I sat down I was shocked by how many things that aren't real that aren't really single-use or single-use plastic So what are some of the things that are single-use plastic? That's okay I get asked that a lot because I've had to learn myself too, right? So it's everything that you can use one time and throw away, okay? So the number one thing is plastic water bottles, you know people are always drinking out of that and then they toss it But they forget to recycle them The second thing is plastic forks and spoons Containers that you would buy from Chinese restaurant, you know things like that. Those are single-use Yeah, so just remember anything that you use one time and you talk right so even if you're cheap like me And you take your Chinese food containers and clean them out and use them again There's still single-use plastic and there's still a significant part of the problem But even things it's all these little things we don't think about it's like plastic straws When you go to and I won't say any fast-food restaurants because I don't need my life ruined by a big corporation. So Plastic straws or the lid the coffee lids, right? Yeah So it's all these little things that we may not think about we may think about the cup being able to be recycled But the lid isn't or the straw isn't so that that actually is a big deal the straws Yeah, I'm glad you you mentioned that because that is the number one thing that is you know killing our precious turtles Well, and that's what that's why we brought you on here So we want to talk about this yeah because I don't think people really understand the scope of this problem and David If you can bring up that map 80% of water bottles aren't recycled never mind the straws like 0% of straws are recycled, right? So 80% of water bottles aren't recycled. We got all these straws What does that really mean and what are these sea gyres that we're looking at the screen now? We can see them there are five of these gyres out in the oceans. Tell us about those well You know what happens to all these plastic that's not being recycled They end up somehow or another in DC gyres in the ocean also in landfills Mm-hmm, and as you can see from the map there's about there's five of them They're most of them are the size of Texas. Yeah, and that's astounding. So you see you see this on the map They've got these little circles here on the map. That's about to scale. That's not an exaggeration That's how much trash is floating around in these spots in the ocean Yeah, and all these plastic end up from the whirlpool of water that's trapping the huge collection of trash And so there the one that's actually the biggest one Is the one between hawaii and california and as you can see in the map I mean there's about an estimated of 3.2 million tons of plastic and trash that are in the water there Yeah, and that's what's happening when we don't recycle when we don't take the time to You know to learn about what we can recycle it ends up there And um, it takes about 700 to a thousand years for this plastic to biodegrade right and um, it's releasing these awful toxins into the water and so tell us what that does to the turtles so As far as the toxins or as far as the plastic. Yeah, let's get it all We got 10 minutes. We're here So, you know those grocery bags you actually just so you guys know you cannot recycle those And it's our job to actually go to the grocery stores and bring reusable bags or buy those bags that they're offering now So that we don't use plastic grocery bags because they look like jellyfish in the water And turtles actually love jellyfish and they eat them Right, you know, and then of course they suffocate or they're it's tied around their body and and they can die from that So, um in regards to the toxins Pbc is actually one of the most toxin plastics out there, which is in the water bottle And some of those plastics have been linked to causing Anything from breast cancer to your hormone Problems to stomach problems and things like that. So all of this is in our seawater right now And it's all interconnected and related. Yes. We have these big five gyres about the size of texas So a we've got all this trash in the ocean That's pretty gross by itself Then it's all leaching stuff into the water that's getting into our food chain So that's pretty gross. David, can you bring up one of the pictures of the beach? And the reason I want to bring this picture up is The gyres are very far away from most people especially in america, right? We it's not something we see every day And I think that if you Can't see a problem in your daily life It's really hard for it to hit home. But why it's a problem. Why should stop using plastic straws? Why, you know, my kids want plastic straws in the in the car when they drink their drink, right? Why should I stop doing that? But this is one picture of and Is this huntington island? Henderson Henderson island. Where is this? Uh, it's uh somewhere in the pacific It's actually um an island that is there's no living. There's no human beings in it There were studies that were done Where I think it's about 3500 pieces of trash That are washed up to the shore on a daily basis on a daily basis That's why I want to show this because this is without human intervention This is without somebody who's kind of a good person picking stuff up as they go or Or you know, someone whose job it is to come clean the trash off the beach and David I think we've got another picture that's even that's got even more trash on it, right? So this is what happens when yeah that one Um, yeah, so this is what happens when when we just like let things go without thinking about where they go And I know we don't see a lot of this here in the states, but this is what happens when you do this So I hope somebody will see these pictures and go I would never want that to happen here Maybe we can do something to keep that from happening where it's happening now And what can people do? What are some of the replacements they can use? Instead of single use plastic So you could use bags that are reusable again You don't don't use the plastic Grocery bags. You could use water bottles. Don't use the plastic water bottles Bring your own Water bottles, you know a lot of companies actually use those and you can get them at any trade show They're giving those out all the time. They are literally I mean they're just handing them out on street corners So and there are reusable straws metal straws There are metal straws that are really really good now You can get those at any of the large box stores, you know and just get that Instead of using plastic straws I found that there's a couple of restaurants that that's actually using bamboo straws Which is actually really cool. I like them better than the water than the paper straws Yeah, the paper straws get a little soggy if you don't drink your drink quick enough But I'm gonna have to look for those bamboo. Yeah, the bamboo straws are nice So all right. Well, in addition to your nonprofit and actually there's a whole story Yeah, about how your husband got involved with this other company and that's where the nonprofit came from So tell us about rethink fabrics Which is the shirt you're wearing today what I'm wearing right here And so you've got another one there that I can hold up. So I want you to but while I'm holding this shirt up Why don't you tell us about rethink fabrics and what's that? That's all about Yeah, rethink fabrics is a company that my husband and his partner acquired two years ago from seattle And they moved it here to vegas. They print here and The fulfillment and everything it comes out of las vegas and every shirt is actually made out of About 15 recycled plastic water bottles. Yeah, I'm a I'm a little larger So this one this one might be 17 or 18, but a little larger than I want to be right now But this is a this is great and what's great about this is it feels really soft This doesn't this doesn't like I would think something made out of reusable plastic bottles would feel a little a little waxy or a little rigid or that kind of stuff It feels really soft and nice. So yeah, I'm actually wearing it You know the whole process the reason why it's like that there's been 11 years worth of research that's put into this company You are you have to actually clean the plastic bottle smash melted reuse Turns into like little beads and then you turn it into the fabric and we turn it into the shirt So you can get these shirts at rethink fabrics. They're like 10 bucks. They're really they're like cheap shirt I mean, I don't want to say they're cheap. They're inexpensive shirts and they feel really nice. Yes So Last thing you have a big event coming up this summer. Tell us about your event Well, you know part of the thing is is part of our initiative is to clean beaches And those pictures that you showed um is is one of our key initiatives. July. We're heading into Santa Monica Then it's a weekend july 20th and the 21st We're going to go there. It's going to be about 12 of us. So anyone that are still interested. It's about $500 per person to do that And for a weekend, we're going to be cleaning the beaches and and that's going to also kick off Our our october event where we're going to be talking about uh rethink earth week 2020. Okay, great So yeah, you've got this big event coming up in Santa Monica one of the top 10 dirtiest beaches in america So take that los angeles um I love picking on la. I don't know why We don't have a beach in vegas. So we got to help our neighbor. We got to do some but we are we are going to go help So, um, so great. So how can Viewers connect with you? Well, you can easily go to rethink world wide uh dot org And you can volunteer you can donate you can buy a shirt that you just pulled out Those are like 32 dollars and that will go towards our mission In our key initiatives to bring awareness of uh plastic, you know around the city And you can also take a little quiz there Of how conscious of plastic you are in your life. So yes, it's an easy two-minute questionnaire that will actually Um rate you on how you rate on how you compare to your peers on how sustainable you are So go take the quiz. Yeah buy a shirt buy a shirt Um and get signed up to go with lee and her team Down to santa monica to help clean up this summer. So stay right there We're gonna be right back with the the other two guests with our panel discussions I'm jason laduke from evil genius leadership consultants. This is geeks are sexy. Stay right here