So, I learned something about plastics today, and that’s that they last forever. Like if you ever wanted to explain to a kid the concept of eternal just show them a freshly minted Safeway bag and explain how from now on, the bag is going to be around. Sure you might not see it anymore as it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, but they’ll be there to reassemble like one huge jigsaw puzzle a lifetime from now. These stray bags that cartwheel down our city streets and wave like flags from fence-posts stand to provide, “Life is Beautiful” moments for a long time to come. 

I’ve also learned that America alone throws away about 12 million oil barrels worth of plastic bags every year (1 trillion worldwide), and most of that stuff eventually makes it’s way to the ocean. Now the Blue Ocean Society estimates that about 50% of all marine litter is made up of plastics and according to the United Nations Environment Program there are about 46,000 pieces of plastic litter sitting in each square mile of ocean. 

Keeping in mind that plastics themselves are an invention that is only about sixty years old I think it’s safe to say there’s some rethinking that needs to be done about plastic consumption and waste management. 

But, it’s not all bad news. A few weeks ago my fiance was at Mountain Equipment Coop and she asked the clerk for a plastic bag for her purchase. He kind of sneered at her and began to verbally accost her in a pseudo-quasi manner... (wait it gets better, this part definitely still sucks). The clerk told her that what looked like a stack of plastic bags for carrying newly purchased goods were in fact biodegradable bags made of corn for carrying newly purchased goods. Boulevard Cafe on UBC campus has also switched to putting their coffee into 100% biodegradable corn cups! CORN! TASTY MAGICAL CORN! It is now right up there on my list with with soy in terms of most versatile commercial agriculture product. 

Plastic bags are only the first step too. Average laptop turnover in developed countries range from around 2-3 years. Cell phone turnover is significantly less. Can you imagine producing durable biodegradable plastic faceplates for cell phones? 

I really do believe that there are tons of stuff we as Christians can do about this issue of care of creation. Including being aware of the issue, using less plastic bags, asking about magical corn bags, buying cellphones only when you have to etc. I was very convicted by this news myself and am going to go on a one-month non-plastic bag for groceries fast (I am going to start small). Now for a dude that has no car I know that this is going to be rather challenging and I will be sure to post on my (mis)adventures as time goes on. I think I’ll start on monday. 

As a post script, I wonder how one doesn’t use plastic bags for their garbage. Any ideas? I’d love to hear them. 

Here’s a great video about plastic in the ocean.

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=3892310789953943147&hl=en&rel=0

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