Plastic, use wisely or not at all
Posted by angel on Sep 3, 2009 in St. Johns, we're all in this together, words for the wise | 88 views
Plastic has been a life changing addition to our world. It has offered up many things that have made life easier, better, last longer, etc. It has also become quite a plague to many thousands of species, including the ones responsible for it, ourselves. Very little of the plastic manufactured and used ever finds its way to reincarnation as something else. Water bottles and plastic shopping bags account for a great majority of the plastic that not only does not get recycled, but ends up as litter on the side of the road or in our water systems. www.mindfully.org and World’s Biggest Garbage Dump
I have been quite delighted that Fred Meyer’s has added signs in their parking lots to remind folks to bring their reusable bags into the store with them. How often do you get to the check-out just to realize that your bags are in the trunk of your car? Thank you for the small, but significant act on the part of Fred Meyer’s to remind us to complete the act of using reusable bags. How often do you find yourself in your local café, ordering a coffee to-go only to remember that your fancy-nancy travel mug is still on the drying rack by the sink at home.
It’s awesome when we are proactive about recycling the plastics that we consume. We need to not only be cognizant of our own consumption of and responsibility for the mindful recycling of these plastics, but we also need to each do our part to encourage and educate the people with whom we interact. We need to spread the habit of reducing consumption of single use plastics and of increasing the recycling of all plastics.
Plastics, in and of themselves, are not the problem. It is our mindset, the rush of life that we find ourselves embroiled in, that has created the huge plague that plastic has become. Let’s change our thinking and our actions to include more follow through on the good intentions that we all have. It’s a great world out there! May we, and all those who follow, be able to enjoy the beauty that is our planet!
