In January of 2019 I wrote an article entitled “Plastic Poison.” I have seen so many scary articles about plastic lately that I revisited it. What brought me to a reread were a number of news items. There is no repetition of information in the articles. Health risks from plastic are sinister and growing. Did you view the dead beached whale in California posted on the internet? When its stomach was opened, there was a hundred+ pounds of plastic in its stomach and more in its intestines. Since the plastic could not be digested, the whale starved to death. This happens to other sea creatures. A sea turtle seeing a helium balloon with its trailing streamers on the ocean’s surface thinks it is a jellyfish and gobbles it up. Its fate is the same as the whale. We, you and me, by our unknowing consumption are endangering the lives of so many of God’s creatures. It is predicted that before too long, there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish. Image from Tropical Conservation Fund Now named, The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the size of Texas and is visible from space, doubling in size since the last time I read about it. The plastic decomposes and breaks into smaller pieces making a goopy plastic soup island upon which sea birds sitting on larger plastic trash unknowingly fatally feast. Can you imagine when the sea is rough how these microscopic plastic pieces get churned into the depths of the oceans? Map from Smithsonian Institute Plastic tends to break down over time but is not absorbed back into the environment. It doesn’t biodegrade. Those small and microscopic pieces of plastic find their way into the food chain, be it fish or mammal, and finally into our own personal food consumption. Fish breathe the tiny plastic through their gills and it ends up in their tissue. If we eat seafood, we are eating plastic. Sushi, anyone? Eleven million metric tons of plastic are dumped into our oceans each year and scientists gauge that in 20 years, it will have tripled unless plastic use and manufacturing diminishes significantly. Think of all the shampoo bottles, make-up containers, combs, hair brushes, toothbrushes, laundry detergent bottles, plastic picnic utensils, lawn furniture and millions of other plastic items we use every day. How did our forefathers live without it? All of the gyres in the oceans of the world are now choked with plastic. Even beautiful Bali’s waters are soiled: You know, of course, that plastic is a petroleum product. I see on the news that firefighters are becoming ill from inhaling poisonous smoke. When plastic burns, it emits a toxic gas. Since there are huge amounts of plastic litter along our roadsides (much of it micro plastic) and in our forests besides what is in our homes, that danger is real. The biologist and founder of the Shaw Institute in Maine, Susan Shaw states that plastic is the “evil twin of climate change,” due to the air pollution created in the massive production of plastic products. It never occurred to me that humans are ingesting or breathing in plastic daily. But in the Sunday Parade of April 11, 2021 we are told, “We eat, swallow or breathe 2000 particles of plastic a week, about the weight of a credit card.” And we wonder why cancer is so prevalent?! I would imagine that micro plastic is in the meats we eat as well as the seafood. There is plenty of plastic decomposing (but not biodegrading) in our fields. There are actions we can take. Shampoo can be purchased in bar form. Homemade chemical free soaps and bar shampoos can be found in many communities. New Harmony has two business establishments selling homemade soaps. A refillable silk floss is sold in a glass container and can be purchased for $9 from dentallace.com That is better than trying to recycle the 8-10 plastic dental floss containers we use each year. Numerous other actions can be taken. You can check out items from Grove Collaborative who promises to be plastic free by 2025. Soap Display in New Harmony’s Antique Emporium Image by Ann Rains Showing respect and love for our planet takes time and money. Mostly it depends on our priorities. I remember a student asking me how much my potter’s wheel cost. When I told her, she said, “That’s a lot of money!” I replied, “Does your father own a snowmobile?” She answered, “Yes”. I told her to ask her father how much the snowmobile cost. She returned to tell me it cost a lot more than my potter’s wheel! Priorities.
A new acquaintance with whom I spoke recently said that there are two things that anyone can do to help the planet. “A clothes line and solar power.” He said that if one cannot afford a complete array of panels to power their entire home, even a smaller solar installation helps in a tremendous way. Wouldn’t it be better to have your own solar installation than have to rely on a big solar corporation who can set their own fees for us to pay? That is digressing a bit from plastic but everything on the planet is connected. And I do understand that if you are a working mother and/or father time is essential. One may not have time to hang clothes on a line. But if you do have a clothes line, it is there and will be used much more than you had thought. Oh, the wonderful smell of freshly dried sheets and towels brought in from the line! But that ubiquitous plastic isn’t going away without our help. Over 8 billion tons of plastic has been produced worldwide starting in the 1950’s. Recycling helps but as Sierra states, “We cannot recycle our way out of this problem.” Sometimes circumstances in our lives do not let us do what our hearts would like to do. But if the caring is there, ways to help our planet emerge. Treat the Earth as if your life depends upon it, because it does. Chief Seattle: “Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.” [email protected] ©Ann Rains June, 2021
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