Greetings, readers. Today we face up to the problem of pollution: specifically plastic waste. Consider these words by my friend, author and naturalist, Peggy Sias Lantz (click her name to visit her website).
The Bane of Plastic
by Peggy Lantz
I hope you read the news and are aware of the great concern about the amount of plastic in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii. The pictures show a floating island of garbage, much of which is plastic.
Plastic debris damages marine life
Some of the debris is large and visible, like plastic bottles, toys, toothbrushes, and drinking straws. But most of the plastic is in the water column below the surface, and it is microplastic from plastic bottles that break down into bits smaller than the eraser on the end of a pencil (remember pencils?), perceived by many marine animals as food. When they eat it, it clogs their digestive system, and they die of starvation.
A garbage truck’s worth of plastic enters the ocean every minute, those little bits never completely disappear, and 92% of it ends up on the ocean floor, not floating.
“Plastic pollution is a global issue that destroys environments, diminishes biodiversity, increases global warming, and harbors immense potential to impact human health,” according to Global Plastics Treaty.org, which is trying to form a world-wide union of governments, societies, and organizations to address the problem of plastic.
What plastics are made of
Plastics are made from petroleum – those fossil fuels we’re trying to reduce our use of. Plastic also requires water and chlorine to make the bottle, and causes pollution from carbon dioxide (a primary cause of climate change). One estimate of how much is used says it requires three liters of water, one liter of oil, and four million joules of energy to make a one-liter single-use plastic bottle.
Recycling?
Recycling doesn’t solve the crisis of too much plastic. Only 9 percent of all plastic waste every produced has been recycled. I’ve also read that only 2 percent is being recycled, but plastic never totally breaks down into “nothing”, so even that is not part of the solution.
So what can we do? Everything is made of plastic or comes wrapped in plastic!
Helpful things to do
I have decided that I will not ever drink out of a one-use plastic water bottle. I will go thirsty if I forget my metal bottle. I don’t use plastic toothbrushes; mine are made of bamboo (Zerowastecartel.com). ZW also makes brushes with wooden handles and natural bristles. I never use a straw to drink. I never buy plastic bags for the sole purpose of throwing them away, just to line my waste baskets. My chickens reuse kitchen waste.
My laundry soap no longer comes in a big plastic bottle that is mostly water. They look like small sheets of paper, come in a large cardboard envelope, and will do 60 loads very clean (weightlessclean.com).
I have not brought home a plastic bag from the grocery store for many years. I reuse only the plastic bags that someone else gives me something in. I did suggest to the Publix manager that he charge a nickel for each of the plastic bags people carry out of the store. He said, “That’s about what it costs us.” I do buy Ziplok bags for “emergencies,” which are reused as many times as I can.
I can’t do it all. None of us can. I don’t know what to do about the many things that come wrapped in plastic.
But remember what Edmond Burke said: “Nobody ever made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.”
So do a little. If we all do a little, it will be much.
—END—
Thanks for reading!
Your writer on the wing,
Charlene
Kathleen Brandt
Some good tips here. Thank you, Peggy and Charlene!
Charlene
Our pleasure. Now to find bamboo toilet paper!