My friend Chris posted this link as a bulletin and it has struck me to the core. We all know we are treating our planet like our own personal waste bin, but this article really illustrates for us that not only have we "soiled our own bed," so to speak, but we are pretty much ruining things for every other living being on the planet. That's not news. It's something we know and have to live with every day.  It is easy to be presented with sobering facts like these and just say, "Yes, we suck as a species, it's embarrassing to be us," but to feel so overwhelmed by the problem that in actuality we do nothing.  It is hard not to see this sort of global damage and not just shut down. Give up. Then we continue to buy stuff we don't need, not recycle, support corporations that produce toxic products.

Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, Ph.D., an expert on marine debris, agrees. “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."

After reading this article, I felt heartbroken and was tempted to shut down. I couldn't get away from that page fast enough. But that image of the turtle - I could not erase it. And I know that if everyone shut down and gave up, nothing would get done. If i do just a few things to help, will you do a few things to help too? If we all did what we could, even just a little bit a day, that would make a difference. Maybe you are thinking, "No, it wouldn't. She is out of her mind."  Maybe. But look at the picture of the turtle again. If someone had said, a few months or a year ago "I will do something to keep this piece of plastic out of the environment," it would have made a big difference to THIS TURTLE. I am just one person. But if i could prevent this from happening to just one other living being? What kind of person would I be to say no?

There are people who are taking this challenge, and making a difference. One of the points in the article I found so interesting is that those seemingly-benign plastic shopping bags we use every day are one of the most damaging products we use.  If we all just refused to allow our purchases to be bagged in plastic, we would be doing something.  Call or drop a note to the local stores you use the most, requesting that they ban the plastic bags and instead use the biodegradable cornstarch bags.  I found it incredibly interesting that WalMart, of all places, has signed on as a customer to begin using the new biodegradable starch- and corn-based plastics. Now, if WALMART can do it, anybody can.

Read about how a whole town banned plastic bags:
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/waste/story/0,,2077992,00.html

It is not enough to simply recycle plastic - there are just not enough after-use recycling opportunities for the plastics we recycle. Oftentimes they just end up in a different landfill, or they require more plastic to be produced to manufacture new plastic items - such is the case with milk jugs, for example.

So here are two things you can do, right off the bat: 

1. when presented with a choice, choose GLASS over PLASTIC.
2.  simply REFUSE to take plastic bags when shopping! If the store does not offer paper, bring your own bag (cloth, net, or basket).

If you want to do more, and you know there's plenty, go here:

http://www.wearewhatwedo.org/index.php

register to participate.
DO SOMETHING.
and then send out your own challenge.

love & light,
Miz Annie