For the Love of Plastics . . .

36 Replies

Plastics are killing our oceans!!! Animals die because of our plastics!! We are killing ourselves and our future because of plastic!

Sound familiar? People who use plastic shopping bags are usually given the stink eye, shaking head and the tsk tsk. They are vilified for using  them. I’m not here to defend them, I’m simply here to ask you a question:  is plastic the evil that the media makes it out to be?

May I respectfully request that you glance at the device in your hand or perhaps it’s in your back pocket or on the desk in front of you. Chances are it is within easy reach. I’m talking about your cell phone. Now look at it closely and tell me how much plastic is involved. Do you drive a car, a truck a van? Next time you’re inside look at the plastic that is throughout the vehicle. Have you visited the hospital lately? How do you think they would function without plastic?

Plastic is not the problem. Or rather it is the problem but we should be spending our time figuring out how to dissolve it, to dispose of it, instead of using one incredibly infinitesimal part of the bigger picture as the scapegoat, the bad guy, the evil incarnate. As a species, not all of us but far too many, don’t have a problem throwing things out the window, or tossing them on the street. We throw away everything and we don’t do it properly. That is why so much ends up in our oceans, it is our fault! We are dirty, insensitive and lazy cretins. Is that a little harsh? I don’t think so.

It takes hundreds if not thousands of years for plastic to decompose and that is simply not a good thing for the environment. But what if plastic could be used for extended periods and then dissolved? That is what scientists should be working on. We do recycle a lot of our plastics and that is a good thing but unfortunately not all recycling methods are successful. And that is our fault. We spend so much time creating new technology that we forget about how to dispose of the old technology. Like a small child on Christmas morning, we are excited about the new toy and forget about the old one.

The ubiquitous plastic is a part of our lives and we need to accept that fact. We can ameliorate the damage that it is doing if we put our minds to it. A blogging friend recently posted a picture of a sign on her blog that said:  “On the beach and in the sea, animals do not leave trash; humans do. Please behave like animals.”  I thought the sign was absolutely brilliant! And it is true. We need to clean up our act. Plastic is going to be with us for the rest of our lives and in future generations. Let’s learn to live with it appropriately and let the science figure out how to dispose of it.

36 thoughts on “For the Love of Plastics . . .”

  2. tidalscribe.com

    It’s too big an issue for individuals- businesses need to take a lead by not wrapping too much and manufacturers need plans put in place to recycle. Because we can’t do without all plastic – imagine hospitals with all their medical stuff in glass and doing operations in knitted mittens! But my local CoOp has compostable bags. I’m sure biodegradable plastic can be made. Co Op also has a bin for all clean plastic and cellophane wrappings. Just about everything is washed and recycled Chez Tidalscribe!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
    1. quiall Post author

      You are absolutely right! My grocery store also has recyclable bags. The real problem in this situation is people. And that should not be a problem, but it is.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply ↓
  3. Dan Antion

    The problem is the improper disposal of plastic by lazy unconcerned humans. Those plastic bags we complain about can be recycled and repurposed into hundreds of products. The industry that developed to solve that problem was a much better approach than banning the plastic in favor of paper bags – which come from trees – which our recycling center groans about because there’s too much paper in the recycling stream. The problem is, humans don’t care or they don’t care enough about the planet we live on.

    End of rant.
    I hope you’re having a nice day, Pam.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply ↓
  4. Murphy’s Law

    Plastic is both a curse and a blessing. It will be around forever. I like your idea of scientists finding a practical way to dispose of it.

    I love your blogging friends sign. It’s perfect.

    You know, thousands of years ago Earth was populated by an assortment of animals. Earth was a healthy place. Then we humans came along and ruined everything!

    We need to wake up before it’s too late…..if it isn’t already.

    Have a wonderful Sunday my friend.
    Ginger

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
  6. Dale

    Excellent and well-said, Pam. It’s true. We humans are disgusting (speaking in general and not specific). You are absolutely right. Plastic is here to stay and is not to be vilified as its purposes are multi-faceted. We definitely must behave better. We, individually, the corporations, the governments. Everyone. We started this mess.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
  8. Mark Lanesbury

    Those bits that cannot be recycled should be removed so that all plastic can be recycled. Then get scientists to find something non toxic and will break down after ‘x’ time depending on its usage 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
  9. Emilie

    I agree that it isn’t plastic that’s the problem, it’s on necessary plastic. We don’t need plastic bottles full of water. But we need to do is carry out on the water with us. I have a water filter that I bought many years ago. I simply replace the filter every several months and I have all the pure drinking water I need. People drink tons of sodas and they come in plastic bottles. Plastic bags replaced paper bags. I replaced all store bags with cloth bags. Plastic bags are as unnecessary as plastic bottles are.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
  12. dolphinwrite

    It’s like reading comics. All information, but no research or understanding. The blogging world is allowing so many pseudo-scientists, who won’t do the hard work, sharing whatever’s on their mind as if there was any truth. Ah… well…. Free speech. It’s up to readers to decide.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
  13. dolphinwrite

    No one knows the statistics on plastics. Yes, it’s pollution, but we’re talking about a tiny fraction. Always aim to not pollute, but that has a very small impact. I encourage people to run the numbers, if they know how.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓
  15. dolphinwrite

    It’s always a good idea to manage forests, keeping fires downs, but not to completely stop fires as the trees actually grow stronger from then (Nature’s way, I suppose.), and to reduce pollution where we can, like groundwater contamination and air pollution in large cities. But always with mindfulness and not to destroy or exploit businesses as some of these politicians do for their own pockets. Good article to bring out points.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.