See that drinking glass in my hand? That’s pretty much the peak of my environmental activism as a business owner, and honestly, when I did the math, the results stunned me. Twenty years ago, in what I can only describe as a moment of caffeinated clarity, I told my team, “No more water bottles. I’m installing an RO water cooler and buying actual glasses like we’re civilized humans.”

Over the next 20 years, that one simple choice—made mostly because I was tired of looking at plastic bottles everywhere—saved over 78,000 plastic water bottles from entering our environment. My husband Scott, bless him, says, “Some heroes don’t wear capes.” He’s sweet, but let’s be real: I’m less superhero, more lady who made one decent decision.

In 2021, I retired from my position as the “Builder of Culture” at Morrison, Clark & Company CPAs. (That’s fancy talk for “Firm Administrator,”). And now, I’m a completely besotted grandmother to toddlers who have turned me into the kind of person I probably would have found exhausting ten years ago – the one going on about microplastics at parties.

Here’s what I learned as a business owner: We’re all too busy, too overwhelmed, and too tired to make changes unless something’s actively on fire. If it’s not an emergency, it goes on the list titled “Things I’ll Get To When I Have Time” (spoiler: that time never comes).

That’s why I started Plastic Free Phoenix—a free resource that does the homework for you. My team finds the plastic-free alternatives for your business, so you can actually do something about that nagging feeling you get every time you hand someone a styrofoam container. Business owners, YOU have the power to make an enormous difference one to-go box, one water bottle, one bag at a time.

Turns out retirement just means I found a new place to be enthusiastically persistent about drinking glasses.