Plastic, Plastic, Plastic

One does not have to browse through Facebook long before we are shown the damage that plastic is doing to the oceans and the life within her depths. There are a lot of tragedies in this world that I have seen on TV, on Facebook, listening to conversations,…..there is just an overwhelming amount of tragedy in this world. I turn off the news, do not read the newspapers and seldom do a lot of browsing on Facebook. I know that tragedy and sadness is out there, it will occur and in my part of the world I can do little to alleviate it all. It is too, too much.

Then I saw the contents of a whale’s stomach, and then another one. Then I saw whole beaches piled high with plastic and other garbage. Before all of that I had seen a photo of a turtle who, as a hatchling, got tangled in plastic until it was just a part of the poor thing as it grew up, damaging it’s natural growth. Quite some time ago, I started buying my own plastic ware so I wouldn’t be throwing out all these disposable containers from the stores. Then, I started buying glassware, much to the chagrin of those who were afraid of glassware breaking and having to be replaced. On Monday at work, I chatted with a colleague who has been actively changing her shopping habits to avoid the use of plastic.

Today. Well, today I went shopping. My first purchase of something new, just for me, since January of this year. I hadn’t gone out with inundation of plastic in my mind, but as I travelled the city, each transaction I made involved some form of plastic. Purchases made were wrapped in plastic and paid for with plastic. At the bank, I signed a cheque with a pen made of plastic. To ride the bus, I pay with a bus pass made of plastic. I purchased groceries - meat on styrofoam (an early form of plastic) and wrapped with plastic, double bagged in plastic. The nuts and seeds I bought - in plastic bags. As I passed a shop on Cook Street, I purchased a set of marigolds - also in plastic. Back in the grocery store, because I missed one thing on my list, I had a choice between rolled oats in a plastic bag or another brand in a paper bag. The one in the paper bag cost more. But by this late in the day, I was done with plastic!! We just can't keep throwing it into the abyss that we have created!

A kit. That’s what I need. A travel kit with clean bags and containers - some of which will be reused plastic. I will continue using the plastic containers that I have but avoid, as much as possible, buying anything plastic. I know my small commitment to change my relationship with plastic will not clean up any ocean - or even a pond. Because our building has a good recycling program, that includes soft plastics and styrofoam, some of my concerns are alleviated. It is always, on a daily basis, in each little corner of the world that we can change our culture, our way of living. No memos, no task forces, no committees, just daily attention and mindfulness. 

“I’ll tell you what scares me is plastic. Plastic bags and 

plastic bottles. Why does my water have to be in 
a bloody plastic bottle? The landfill and the ocean; 
and I don’t know, I’m just terrified with 
the proliferation of plastic.”

~ Helen Mirren