What do we do when someone tells us something we believed to be true is false?
That’s where we find ourselves now with our relationship with plastic. Plastic is great because we thought it made our lives easier, affordable, healthier…. and it just disappeared. Unfortunately, our plastic waste does not disappear. It doesn’t return to the earth in a neutral form – it only continues to pollute our water sources and soil like a disease.
Today’s guest blog comes from Jason Paul, who is a paddling enthusiast and lifelong lover of the sea. Jason is the lead editor of InflatableBoarder.com and lives in beautiful Panama with his wife and two small children.
Despite nationwide legislation to eliminate plastic bags from our daily existence here in the United States, our oceans are still feeling the choking effects of paper-thin plastic. States like California, Hawaii, and Florida have all introduced new legislation either banning or applying fees to the use of plastic bags, and many individuals and organizations are doing everything they can think of to raise awareness on this issue. Unfortunately, plastic pollution is a global epidemic and national legislation and local initiatives are only a drop in the bucket in comparison to the massive global problem of plastic bag usage. It’s estimated that nearly one trillion bags are used each year around the globe — a staggering figure by anyone’s standards.
Dr. David Klement
DAVID KLEMENT is the executive director of St. Petersburg College’s Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions, which is dedicated to advancing academic excellence, community engagement, civics literacy and public understanding through strategic partnerships and solutions-directed programs.
On April 26, the Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions will sponsor a screening of “A Plastic Ocean,” a documentary film that captures in shocking detail the pollution of the world’s oceans by plastic – that ubiquitous material that seems to dominate modern life and never goes away. The event is free, but advance registration is requested at http://solutions.spcollege.edu/. It will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Digitorium on the Seminole Campus of St. Petersburg College, 9200 113th St. N.
Reflecting on that plastic pollution reminded me of the 1967 movie “The Graduate,” which starred a young Dustin Hoffman. To me, the most memorable dialogue in the movie was not in the iconic seduction scene, where Mrs. Robinson and Benjamin (played by Hoffman) engage in some hot-and-heavy banter about . . .you know. . .
By Helen Calcutt
To my mind, the most affected areas of plastic pollution were not at home. Plastic floated in Nan Hai and Dong Hai, and around countries like Brazil or further East, filtering from the landscapes of Indonesia, or Vietnam. They were ‘over there’, in places I couldn’t reach. Like so many in this world, my immediate concerns rested with what was in front of me: my daughter, her diet etc. I presumed the problem of plastic was ‘isolated’ to specific areas, and that these areas could be cleaned.
In 2014 the State of California passed the United State’s first statewide ban on single-use plastic grocery bags. Obviously, a major victory for all of us working so hard to eradicate our human addiction to single-use plastic. Well, not so fast. Big Plastic is at it again, this time spending millions of dollars to reverse the ban before it becomes law.
