I've taken a vow not to buy any plastic between 7/30/2010 and 8/06/2010. Why have I taken this vow? I'll explain below. Why didn't I take it for a year or forever? Maybe when I get the hang of it, I will, but at the moment, given the prevalence of the substance, I might starve to death if I take that vow.
So, I get very depressed every day when I take a piece of bread out of a bag to make French toast, open a pill container to take my allergy medicine, or peel back the wrapper from the block of cheese to make my omelette. Plastics aren't just in grocery bags, which I can avoid most of the time. They're in food wrappers, diapers, hair care, appliances, toys, computers, writing utensils, art supplies, pet supplies, eyeglasses, feminine hygiene products, business envelopes, you name it. No matter how much I try to recycle, it still overwhelms me to observe how much plastic is in my life, and how much still gets thrown away. The other day, I was in a gas station convenience store, and I looked at all of the products on sale. Not only do they not have any nutritional value, they are all wrapped in plastic. It's as if they want to make sure that not only the gas, but every other thing that gets purchased on their property is a petroleum product.
What's so bad about plastic? Well, it takes a darn long time for it to decompose in the ground, so it just builds up, taking up space without contributing any energy back into the cycle of life on this planet. Since it's only been in use about 50 years, no one really knows how long it takes to decompose. Some say 10 years to 1,000 years, depending on the hardness and chemical composition of the plastic. In the ocean, however, it decomposes very quickly, giving off harmful chemicals that at the very least cause problems with animal reproductive systems and at the most cause cancer. In Japan alone, I've read that 150,000 tons of plastic a year washes up on the shore. This isn't a nice thing to do to the planet.
My vow (for now) is to go one week without purchasing any plastic. No wrappers, no containers, no bottles, no computer parts, no bags. Yesterday was Day 1. Of course, one wouldn't expect the first day to be too hard. My kitchen is already well-stocked with things in plastic wrappers and containers. I have shampoo, soap and a razor. But, still, it did have it's little inconveniences. Between the hour of 9:41 and 11:30, I was very hungry at work. Usually, I would pop down to the Beanery to get a decaf coffee (in my reusable mug) and a gluten free scone, but then I realized, the scone is wrapped in plastic to protect it from cross-contamination with the other baked goods. The only other things I can eat there are a cheese stick (also wrapped in plastic) and a hard-boiled egg, but I had already eaten eggs in the morning. So, I got the coffee, put extra cream in it, and hoped that would stave off the hunger pangs until lunch-time. The only other inconvenience this first day was that I couldn't buy a printer cartridge to print registration forms for my daughter's classes she wants to take in the Fall. That is going to prompt a letter to Portland State University about having an online form, so they aren't wasting resources.
Now, we're on to Day 2.
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