Food for Thought on a Sunday

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Ever notice how your appliances (and a lot of other things you buy) are not made to last?  This feature of modern manufacturing is a HUGE waste of resources.  We're told to reduce, reuse, recycle, but it's tough to reduce when we're forced to buy new stuff, instead of simply fixing things when they break.  Here's a great opinion piece on the topic:  To a refrigerator dying young.

The Plastic Challenge!

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There's a new documentary out called STRAWS.  I'm hoping to see it soon -- here's the trailer:

This trailer inspired me! I love a good challenge, so my son and I decided to challenge one another this summer.  His weakness is single-use plastic bottles.  My weakness is straws.  So we bet one another that I'd give up straws and he'd give up single-use plastic water bottles.  The first one to break has to treat the other one to lunch at a favorite restaurant.

I think my son has it pretty easy.  All he has to do is fill one of our numerous water bottles in the morning and he's off!  So far so good!

For my challenge, I decided to start by buying some reusable straws -- I found them (where else?) on Amazon!

 

I put a couple of these in my purse and headed off, confident that I'd soon be enjoying a nice lunch with my son picking up the check!  Iced tea tasted great through my new reusable straw.

My first challenge came when I ordered a nice, thick chocolate milkshake. My straw was a little too thin for the thick, frosty treat.  What's a greenmomster to do?  Eat it with a spoon! OK, it wasn't the ideal solution, since the spoon was made of plastic, but I'm going with the letter of the law, rather than the spirit on this one.

Still glowing from my straw superiority, I started getting a little cocky.  With my trusty reusable straw, I knew I wouldn't be stopped by a simple iced tea, water, or soda.  But as they say, pride goeth before a fall.  And here's what led to my downfall:

Sadly, my trusty reusable straw was just too thin to allow me to suck up the bubbles in my boba tea.  And I love my milk green tea with boba.  I guess I'm buying lunch, but it was so worth it.  And the bet is back on -- I'm going to win the next round!

More Island Getaways

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In keeping with last week’s post on island getaways, this week let’s take a look at trash islands! 

In both the Atlantic and Pacific we see HUGE islands or patches of garbage made up of small pieces of plastic and other waste.  The patches in the Pacific can be as big as the state of Texas!  Where does all this garbage come from?  The vast majority (80%) comes from land – it’s blown off beaches, washes through storm drains, or washes into rivers and streams.  The rest comes from cruise ships and cargo ships.  Be sure to watch this Discovery video to see what a garbage patch/island looks like.

How can you help?  There’s not a practical way to clean up these islands, yet.  Our best action is prevention:

1. Never litter or throw trash into a storm drain
2. Recycle whenever possible.  Yes, there is some dispute about the effectiveness of some methods of collecting and recycling plastic, but one thing’s for sure – recycled plastic doesn’t create trash islands
3. Reduce and reuse!  The more trash you can keep out of the waste stream, the less chance of it ending up in the ocean!

What you do on the land affects our oceans!

Source:  Miller, G.T. and S.E. Spoolman. 2015.  Living in the Environment, Eighteenth Edition.  Stamford CT, Cengage Learning.  pg. 560.