It once was one of the greatest modern inventions: the conveniently-thin, lightweight, strong, flexible, versatile material with a million uses, and it still is, except for the fact that its sheer ubiquity, and the accumulated volume of all things plastic has produced a blight, a plague, a curse, a serious environmental and health menace that threatens us all.
But is it still possible to imagine life without it?
An inventory of all the things sold and bought in plastic wrapping or containers is so mind-boggling that one can’t be blamed if the imagination fails.
From the early morning walk to the bakery for hot pan de sal to take home in a plastic bag, to sugar for coffee poured into the bowl from a pound plastic bag, to a mid-morning soft-drink or ice-water in a plastic bag, with peanuts or biko in small plastic bags, to market for rice or fruit or vegetables in plastic bags, not to mention small portions of salt or oil or vinegar in plastic bags, to the drugstore or department store purchases all in plastic bags, to the single spool of thread I bought today that the salesgirl wanted to put into a tiny plastic bag, not even to mention the mineral water bottles, the plastic food containers, the plastic cutlery, or all the objects of daily life made of or with plastic parts, or the miles of plastic advertising posters plastered all over town, and the plastic bunting stretched above our heads for even the most trivial of events. And by the way, sending off celebratory balloons into the skies means plastic will be raining down later somewhere on land or sea.
As the majority of the population in this country and in this Province live in coastal areas, and given the dismal state of solid waste management, it is to be feared that much of this plastic ends up in the sea.
The International Program on the State of the Ocean which convenes world experts will present a report to the United Nations this week. Already, it warns that ocean life “is at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history.”
It cites three main culprits for this alarming state of affairs: exploitative fishing (pressures from population growth), greenhouse gas emissions, and pollutants, with the ill effects of plastics in particular detail.
The phenomenon of plastic ubiquity is so massive that you’d think people would be grappling to find solutions, and, in fact, some cities and towns in this country and abroad have legislated measures to at least reduce the environmental impact of plastic bags.
But generally, it feels like the time of my favorite childhood cartoon character, Alfred E. Neuman whose motto was, “What, me worry?”
By the way, at least a few City legislators are worried and are trying to pass a City ordinance on plastic bags.
