Swimming in A Sea of Plastic Bags

After writing one of my previous entries, in which I was talking about all the chemicals that we ‘swim’ in on a daily basis, I was inspired to write this next entry…I was watching world news on the BBC the other morning and there was a story about how the amount of plastic waste build up has become such a huge global problem. They showed video clips from countries all around the world of landfills overflowing with towering mountains of plastic waste. One major city in Africa completely flooded after a rainstorm due to plastic bags blocking up the sewer drains…. And kudos to them! This city has now outlawed plastic bags. One of the things about life that really discourages me is the impetus for major change usually only comes after major problems arise.

Case in point, I am flabbergasted every time I go to the store, see people that buy something that is already in a bag, albeit without handles, and then…get a bag for it?? How difficult is it to carry the item ‘all the way’ to the car in its own bag? Why the heck do we need a bag for the bag? And then there are the people who walk up to the check stand, carrying their own big bag or purse to buy maybe 2 or 3 things, and then get a plastic bag to put their items in. Excuse me, can’t it just be put in the bag they already have? Do people not realize how much waste is produced on a daily basis across the world? Do people ever think about where it ends up?

Well, let me tell you…I was taking a nice dip in the ocean last week and something brushed against my leg. It was a frickin’ plastic bag. This bag could of come from America. Maybe it was one that anyone reading this used and then threw away. The news story shared that land is so cheap outside of the US that much garbage from America is now being shipped overseas. Heaven forbid the biggest waste producing country in the world has to live next to their own waste. It certainly makes much more sense to spend millions of dollars on gas to fuel a barge to pollute its way across the ocean carrying all of this American waste to some other 'more deserving' country.

I made the transition a few years ago to always use my own bags, but it certainly didn’t happen overnight. I thought about it for many months, about how I should really stop using all these bags. Then I finally kept canvas bags permanently in my trunk…and always walked into the store forgetting them. And now I have finally made it to the point that sometimes I wont even buy things unless I have my own bags. I also keep silverware in my glove box, but the same transition steps occurred until I remembered them regularly and thus could avoid using plastic silverware every time I eat take-out. That reminds me of another thing that happened last week...when I was swimming, I noticed this starkly white shell in the sand. "Hmm. Interesting." Picked it up and gee, of course it was starkly white...it was a plastic spoon.

Please, people, if everyone just took tiny steps we would dramatically reduce this problem. Here is just a small list of easy steps you can take, today: #1-Please say no to a bag if you don’t really need it. Buy some reusable bags and keep them in your trunk until you start getting in the habit of using them. Or, just keep all those plastic bags you have stuffed in some drawer in your kitchen in your trunk and use them. #2-Take only one or two paper napkins from the dispenser when eating out. Is a two inch stack really necessary? #3- Contact the companies you do business with and request that all communication be via email only…monthly statements, bills, insurance info…If you hold any stock, you can even request to have all that bulky quarterly company earnings stuff and proxy material sent all electronically. #4- Buy recycled materials over non anytime you can. #5-Reduce your use of plastic bottles. You can buy a simple seven layer carbon water filter that takes about 30 seconds to screw into your kitchen faucet. There is a doc I went to school with who sells a great one on his website:

http://www.healthegoods.com/waterfilterbathshowercountertop.htm

...These are just a few examples of many simple steps you can do to reduce your contribution to our world’s waste burden. Please, say NO to unnecessary waste.

Plastic waste is just one ‘small’ source of waste. I recently read a story about how residues of pharmaceutical drugs are being found in city water. Do you realize what that means? It means that millions of people are taking drugs→ urinating residues of them into the toilet→ the sewage is seeping into our city water→ and then we cook our vegetables, clean our clothes, and bath in this ‘clean’ water. That’s a nice thought, isn’t it?

Another food for thought for you all…when you choose non-manufactured thus non-packaged foods at the store, not only are you avoiding creating waste by eventually throwing the packaging away, but your are also saving an immense amount of energy by choosing foods that haven’t been through an energy sucking, chemical ridden manufacturing plant. There’s a thought.

For an excellent story on how big this waste and energy problem really is, please make time to watch the following link:

www.thestoryofstuff.com.

Thank you to those of you who will truly take this info to heart. The next time you go on a tropical vacation and take a dip in the ocean, maybe you’ll be able to avoid swimming amongst a sea of garbage and plastic bags.