Fifty years for a Styrofoam cup to break down. Four-hundred-and-fifty years for a water bottle. Those are but two disturbing facts you will glean from this very disturbing report on the increasing toll plastic pollution is exacting on our water. Now, the problem has entered the Great Lakes system, and thus, our bodies:
UPDATE: Many thanks to the Salamander for providing the link to the following. The footage is graphic and very disturbing, but dare we look away from it?
.. did I ever send you a link to Midway? The trailer
ReplyDeletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PLkTTJW4xZs
It would have been included in a comment
way back in the way before
I believe Chris Jordan is one of those
astonishing hybrids
biologist & photographer,
film maker, exemplar
thanks for the link you provided !
Though to say its discouraging.. well
Many thanks for the link you provided, Sal. The footage is both graphic and deeply, deeply disturbing. I am including it in an update here.
DeleteWe consume so much, Lorne -- and we are downing in our own waste.
ReplyDeleteWe've turned the earth into one big dump, it seems to me, Owen.
DeleteThe only way to change behaviour is to hit them daily with the consequences of their actions. Many of us remember going to restaurants where drinks ere served in appropriate cups that were washed after. A few drinks like those yummy malted milkshakes made with real ice cream came with straws.
ReplyDeleteIf we want to use the tax system to help the environment then do the same as the 5 cent tax on plastic shopping bags and charge 10 cents for every throw away cup and straws and 25 cents on plastic lids and any other packaging other than paper. all restaurants would have to go to a table service formula and reduce the drive through menu to only those items packaged in paper. They would have to sell their sizes of non spoilable reusable drink holders which ironically would increase brand loyalty because no one would want a back seat full of various containers for half a dozen different stores.
Since most of us use this throw away crap at least once a week we would all come face to face with our actions.
You have provided some really solid suggestions here, Bill. I know consumer behaviour has been significantly altered by charging for plastic bags, and the same would follow with your charges. But find me a politician in this day and age that has the courage to do even that.
DeleteYes that is the problem. What we need is a workers party like the NDP under Broadbent and his predecessors that brings real passion to the real issues ordinary people face.
DeleteNow, when we need principled and decisive leadership the most, it seems there is no one to provide it.
Delete