Live Your Life Be Free!

My friend sent me this article the other day, which discusses a large area in the Pacific Ocean which is full of plastic:

It began with a line of plastic bags ghosting the surface, followed by
an ugly tangle of junk: nets and ropes and bottles, motor-oil jugs and
cracked bath toys, a mangled tarp. Tires. A traffic cone. Moore could
not believe his eyes. Out here in this desolate place, the water was a
stew of plastic crap. It was as though someone had taken the pristine
seascape of his youth and swapped it for a landfill.

It then discusses the fact that only 3-5% of plastics are recycled in any way, and that the vast majority of plastic that has been created still exists (other than the very small amount that is incinerated). At the end, the article makes a dire prediction:

“If you could fast-forward 10,000 years and do an archaeological
dig…you’d find a little line of plastic,” he told The Seattle Times
last April. “What happened to those people? Well, they ate their own
plastic and disrupted their genetic structure and weren’t able to
reproduce. They didn’t last very long because they killed themselves."

So – it is one of those articles that is very difficult to read… but denial just doesn’t do it for me. So – I have lately been trying to reduce my plastic use:

• I got a reusable mug from Starbucks so I don’t have to keep using those plastic tops on the (decaf) lattes or the plastic frappuccino cups. It is a pain to clean it sometimes, but not a huge deal.
• My friend bought me a cool little nylon bag that collapses into a smaller one, so I can carry it in my purse whenever I go shopping or just quickly pick something up from the store. This is really easy to use and is more durable and stylish than a plastic bag. Cities across the world, San Francisco being the first, have already banned plastic non-biodigradible bags.
• I use one of those green bins when I pick up groceries in the car. Yeah, it is annoying to remember to put it in the back sometimes, but it is actually easier to carry stuff around this way.

So – overall, it takes being a teeny bit more responsible about things – but if I can contribute a bit less to the big pile of plastic in the sea, that is a good thing.