by Christyl Rivers

Created on: July 15, 2010

Saving the planet by using less plastic: One million reasons.

There are many more than 1,000,000 reasons to use less plastic.  Here are just a few of them.

Plastic is loaded with toxins of various kinds.  Its manufacture is messy and polluting.  It stays mucking up the ecosystems up to thousands of years to come.  It kills sea birds, marine animals like turtles, and mammals, (shop with canvas bags, please!) It is unsightly garbage throughout the world.  People do not see Satan in their ubiquitous water bottles toted everywhere, but evil lurks there and spreads like a film of bacteria and increased toxins.  Even teething toys and baby bottles harbor hazardous waste.  Maybe we should limit its use to medical needs and emergency readiness.

Plastic could easily be the Icon of our age, and future generations will wonder why we put up with it in the same way we wonder why they burned witches and cats during the plagues of Black Death of the middle ages.  “But cats killed the rats.” We might protest, “Wouldn’t it be a better idea to not burn animals and women and go after the rats?”  The rats in this case are not just the corporate fat rats, but ourselves.

We have to look at our group mentality here.  To feel better about ourselves, we try to recycle, and we applaud ourselves for purchasing items with those little triangles all over them.  Meanwhile, manufacturers are increasing their profits by labeling every kind of plastic with trendy little recycle symbols on bottles, jugs, tubs, cups, toys, and so much more.  The triangles are no more proof of non-waste or non-contamination, than the triangle trade was proof that “no slaves were harmed in the making of this triangular trade route.”  Get real, buy and recycle, glass, aluminum, wood, canvas, even steel, but be forewarned most cans these days are coated with plastic interiors.

Why doesn’t industry stop this?  Because we do not demand they do.  Not even slavery ended until a majority of people decided it may not be that great after all.  Remember those witches, evil doers of the dark ages?  The Bible may have suggested they were guilty, but it was the mob majority that clamored to burn people, or just as bad, they said nothing.  Buying plastic feels so innocent, everyone does it, even this author, but isn’t this something like murdering old women and cats rather

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