.....plastic, plastic everywhere

Yogis,
I run my fingers up the toothpaste tube, pressing all that remains up to the top. With a big squeeze it shoots out but as soon as I release it to reach in with my toothbrush, it disappears back inside. Two more times I play this game until finally it lands on the brush. I guess this tube is really done, as I throw it away. I notice an empty one from my husband lying in there too. Sigh. Plastic…….

Every now and then something will snap me back to the ludicrous situation we have put ourselves in with plastic. A few months ago, it was videos of the sea of plastic bottles floating atop parts of the ocean. Last week it was someone stating that each of us consumes about a credit cards worth of plastic each month through our food and water.

Each time I vow to make more changes. I have moved my zip locks to the closet for emergencies only and invested in reusable silicone bags and a variety of containers (slowly switching even these from plastic to glass). Stretchy silicone coverings for bowls and cut vegetables. Reusable green bags for veggies that I use for months before replacing. Yet even these small changes took remembering and getting used to. Plastic has become so inexpensive, prevalent and convenient. A way of life.

I look at the two tubes lying there waiting to go who knows where, and wonder why toothpaste can’t come in glass jars. Better yet why we can’t go to a store and refill our glass jar each time it empties?  That would take effort. A new way of moving through the world. Would we?

Covid made matters even worse. Plastic gloves, plastic silverware, containers for take out to keep us ‘safe’. New ways of packaging that I fear will not die off with the virus. Individual servings and the plastic container the salad is placed in at the deli an hour before we pour its contents into a bowl and throw it out.

And we all do know very little actually gets recycled, right? Hence the credit card in our belly.

Someone sent me a podcast of a doctor who has proven the relationship between chemicals in plastics and our reproductive health. Lowering sperm counts generation after generation. Difficulty conceiving. We were not designed for this type of consumption nor is this earth that holds us. But consumers we are…….

At times it appears overwhelming. Our individual small changes, while absolutely necessary, won’t be enough. The stories we hear are ones of doom and gloom. How hard it will be and perhaps not even possible. The challenges of human nature.

I was tutoring a kindergartener this week and whenever he read the sentence a shining star would appear on the screen. Yes!...he would exclaim with a twinkle in his own eye. How many stars do I have now? I began to think.  We need a new story to guide us to our own stars. Incentive.

A collective story that can turn this ship in a new direction. Help me come up with one! Maybe something like a tale of the young heroine who moves through the world placing any plastic she encounters into her basket and replacing it with flowers, songs, poetry and rainbows. Everywhere her feet land transformed by her simple shift from ‘how can I make this easy for me’ to ‘how can I make this more beautiful for all.’  The animals gather to sing her praises and the children splash in the creeks, while each night a new star shines its light on her hair as she lies to rest.  

What are you doing in your own world? Let’s share ideas and give each other stars. Weaving a new story of a path we can walk together.

Noticing plastic,
SARAH