A PATCH of PLASTIC!

For those of you that haven’t heard about the great Pacific Garbage Patch (the Pacific Gyre, as it’s sometimes called), it is a gi-normous…huge, marine-animal-killing…pool of nasty…well, I’ll let the folks at Wikipedia tell you:

“The Patch is characterized by exceptionally high concentrations of pelagic plastics, chemical sludge, and other debris that have been trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Gyre.[4] Despite its size and density, the patch is not visible from satellite photography since it primarily consists of suspended particulates in the upper water column. Since plastics break down to ever smaller polymers, concentrations of submerged particles are not visible from space, nor do they appear as a continuous debris field. Instead, the patch is defined as an area in which the mass of plastic debris in the upper water column is significantly higher than average.”

Sexy, huh? But wait, there’s more! It’s size has been estimated by scientists to range from as big as the state of Texas to larger than the continental U.S.! They truly do not know exactly how big it is. Now, I don’t know about you, but when I try and get my point across that something is huge, I often use Texas as my reference. (For example: “Oh my gosh, why do I have a zit the size of TEXAS on my FOREHEAD?!”). So, if this garbage patch is bigger than the whole of our country…we’re in a serious state, my friends. So, when I read about the one found in the Atlantic Ocean recently, I immediately was filled with a sense of defeat (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100415/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_atlantic_ocean_junk).

I mean, seriously—what are we to do? We can’t just waltz out there in the middle of the ocean with our wet-vac and have at it. Oh, but wouldn’t it be great if we could?...So, we are left with two options in my opinion. One, continue on with our disposable ways, live in denial that it could do any serious harm and see what happens…or two, raise awareness and change our habits. While it definitely seems overwhelming to think of such a huge problem—it is global—there is power in the number one. Margaret Mead was spot on when she said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

And I will leave you with that—a short blog to be sure, but my, look at those citations!

The Green Spin on Waste......

I feel like I’m living in multiple worlds…Monday I was at our weekly Waste Less Living sales meetings, blown away at things I was hearing and learning (in a good way!), making mental notes to “research this more” or “write that down and put it on the fridge!”, and I left feeling motivated and excited...I was at an event Tuesday where everyone attending was eco-minded, so words like ‘composting’ and ‘biodegradable tableware’ were met with nodding heads…for weeks I’ve been cold-calling various companies and when I ask if composting services are available, there is either a full three seconds of dead silence before they ask, “Compost? I don’t know what you’re saying…” or I’m stopped mid-sentence with, “What—you’re breaking up. Comp…What services…?” But most when I start to explain, they are very interested in the concept and want to learn more, and I feel good that I’m passing along helpful information…then there’s my friend, who I’ll call Buffy. She works for a woman who literally owns—wait for it….over 500 pairs of shoes! Some have never been worn, which I guess shouldn’t surprise me since you can only wear so many pairs of shoes in a year. And it’s not just shoes—the amount of make-up, art, clothing, furniture, vases she owns…oy! But seriously, what makes my jaw drop is the fact that she’ll tell Buffy to “Get rid of these. I don’t even know why I bought them” (referring to the wrestling-style boots she bought in multiple colors). Now, she does donate most to Goodwill or consign them in a shop, but the problem is this mentality of “I can just get rid of it.” Out of sight, out of mind. I don’t really know what to do with this information. It completely dumbfounds me that we, generally speaking, can just buy, buy, buy and not think about what impact that has on our environment. (I suppose it is good for the economy, though…right?). Lately I’ve been thinking about the disconnect we have with our habits and behavior. Our lives are so busy! I was walking with my son today just one block over from the very busy street we live on and it was so quiet! The fact of the matter is, it probably wasn’t really that quiet, but relatively speaking it was like we were in a different place—some nice, sunny, small town with quiet homes and no traffic. It seemed peaceful, and I could think and enjoy the outdoors. It totally made me realize I needed to do some yoga! Or meditate, which I’ve never been good at making time for. Ah, but I digress…this disconnect with our actions led me to think about the gap that exists in educating us about the consequences of our actions in terms of consumerism. Of course, why would we want to stop consumerism—it is what makes our world go round. At least that’s how it has been. What it could become…who knows? But when I talked to all those different people earlier this week, one thing was clear—marketing works! And what’s missing are all the pieces of the puzzle for consumers to make educated decisions about buying something. Or buying INTO something…for example, the methane created from landfills is being used to generate electricity. Sounds great! I do think it’s a good thing to make use of a negative by-product. That’s one way to ‘be green.’ But what about generating less methane to begin with? Wouldn’t that be even better? Apparently, the person I spoke with thought the use of methane was so good that landfills themselves are good. Hmmm…he honestly spoke so confidently, that I was tempted to believe him. Instead I asked him, “Rather than selling people on the methane use, wouldn’t it be better if we focused on reducing how much we throw into landfills?” Because even though we’re making lemonade with lemons, so to speak, don’t we want fewer lemons? My own habits of wastefulness remind me every day that I need to change more…I need to talk about it more…and I need to go to the weekly Waste Less Living sales meetings—my own little self-help group—to further narrow that educational gap that’s in my own life. Working here could not have come at a better time!