1000 Flowers for the Planet - #63 Live Without Plastic

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #63 Live Without Plastic

This week will be ‘plastic week’ and I’m starting with a really major suggestion – Live Without Plastic. If you think this idea is huge, you’re right. But there are people out there actually doing it – living their lives plastic free. It takes a huge commitment to a huge idea and I have to say I admire these people for doing it, because there are so many little things that have to be resolved along the way. Please do an Internet search for living a plastic free life and read some of the blogs that are inspiring, thought provoking, provocative and challenging. See what ideas resonate with you and try them out for yourself. Understand why these people are going to such extreme lengths to avoid plastic.

You may also like to research how harmful plastics can be to the human body – how they can cause health problems in many people. Plastic waste also clogs up the waterways, kills marine and bird life, adds to landfill, and causes health issues for many living creatures.

It fascinates me that we’ve had a few ‘oil crises’ over the last few decades, that there is concern about oil running out and that we desperately need to find more oil to take out of the earth, to run our cars etc. Walk into your local shopping centre/mall and take a look around – you will see plastic everywhere. And the next time you’re at the supermarket, try to find food that doesn’t come with plastic – you’ll find this a very hard task. Plastic is made from oil, but there doesn’t seem to be any outcry that we need to produce less plastic to save our oil reserves. This doesn’t make sense.

The world has produced as much plastic in this past decade as it did for the entire 20^th century. So live without plastic, or live with less plastic, and save not only the planet, but yourself.

P.S. I don’t agree with everything the plastic free proponents put on their blogs. I particularly disagree with purging plastic from one’s home in order to replace it with plastic-free products. I do understand they are concerned about their health, but the down side is that perfectly useful product is being tossed into landfill, or given to charity shops where someone else can buy it and have their health affected. I suggest replacing plastic items after they have completely worn out or become useless. There are more arguments for being plastic-free than health, including but not limited to saving the planet’s resources, preventing landfill, saving money and reducing consumerism.