This isn't exactly plastic but oil which is what plastic is anyways. There is some type of fish, maybe salmon, which are spawning here. People will eat these fish.
I plan on alerting you all to the next river clean ups which really do a great deal to combat this crisis. They clean up the nation's waterways twice a year but the amount of trash being added outmatch the amount of volunteers needed to clean it all up. The worst thing about all of this is that most of this could be prevented. So much of this trash is from ignorance and complacency. We all need to wake up.
we just had a 'day without plastic' campaign on our campus! we did a beach clean-up, gave away reusable grocery bags, and talked about these issues!!
It is nice to see all the comments, it shows people do care. Reduce, reuse, recycle is so key (e:theecarey). It seems that so many of us forget the importance of implementing all three. This has got to become part of our being. We can't think that after we die we won't have to deal with it anymore or that it won't matter.
I have been deeply mourning what has happened to our water, our earth and our air. We are in serious trouble and it is time that drastic action be taken to lessen the effects of our causes.
(e:metalpeter), your thoughts are very insightful. Those energy bulbs you speak of are very dangerous. They are not the answer in themselves. When they break the toxic mercury is immediately released into the environment.
I will bring you a recycle bin if you want to start recycling metalpeter. If you put it out they will have to come and pick it up. If they don't I will call and let them know that they aren't. Everyone in this city can recycle. You can influence your neighbors by your actions.
Sadly, these are some of the same images I remember being confused by as a kid in the 80s. I couldn't understand why there was so much debris, and more specifically, plastic tucked away among rocks and drift wood along the river edge. Oy.
So..Yes! Reduce-->Reuse--Recycle!! The amount of excess is overwhelming. As you have pointed out, although recycling is an option, the primary focus needs to be on reducing our need and use of products. Recycling is a strain in resources but at least much less so than tossing into a trash heap. I'm with you in trying to do so much more, and quite frankly, I think my life will be greatly redefined by these modifications-- how can it not! What I have done, is simply not enough! It can be hard when people think I'm nuts, but I really don't care. I've been learning a lot more about the life cycle of a product (and all of the resources it takes to create the product, or support the process of getting to the end result, through to the end of using the product and all that is involved in either tossing it out or recycling it, etc), and it is worrisome to say the least.
So I am always down for some collective discussion on these matters-for support, for knowledge, for inspiration and so on! :)
I'm not saying I'm mister green at all, and there is an entire being green to be cool movement that makes me sick. Often what is being green isn't as simple as it looks. For example lets say an entire block or area of the city or even maybe a city changed to those funny looking light bulbs that in some lamps and lights stick past the shades. Well most people think that is a good thing and that they last so much longer. Well what happens when you have all this Mercury (since it is in the bulbs) and what do you do with it? I know put it in a land fill and taint the water. See that would be worse then just using the old lights. So it isn't really simple.
I admit I don't do as much as I should. Where I live we don't have bins. What I think would be great is those things up on elmwood or the things they have in Toronto (Yes it would be costly at first) On every block or maybe every other block or maybe just in front of apartment buildings what ever would fit the Buffalo Population and have them all over town and there would be special trucks that would go around and collect the recycle stuff.
(e:tinypliny) the thing about the fruits I have an idea about why they are that way, well more of a theory.
1. Fruit is sold by weight so this enclosed thing means the store doesn't need scales or anyone to way stuff in that department (big Cost Saver). Plus that way you don't have to have things weighed when you check out.
2. Sanitary things.
A. Closed no one touches them or spit or sweets or any thing like that
b. No Bugs landing on the fruit.
????? It used to be that some fruit came in a little basket with a handle. I wonder if those wooden basket (trees cut down in some form) are better or worse then the plastic cause how could you reuse those?
ugh. that is really horrifying and depressing.
(but mildly amusing: that at the top of this post, it said "like tires in a polluted river, these are the blogs of our lives" hahaha
Whoa (e:tinypliny), don't become so unhinged ;) I don't want to reuse the plastic I have. It gets bacteria in it and it is hard to clean. The cloth bags can be washed whenever and I will buy them new because I can't sew.
Better yet, you could reuse the plastic produce bags you already have or make cloth ones from old cotton clothes you might throw away.
Man, I feel like I could go on and on about my endless guilt at not doing enough...
Thanks for making this post!! I feel like I am getting more determined to make the more difficult changes in my life to cut down consumption even more. Just looking at all that trash is strengthening my resolve.
I promise not to drink out of plastic cups ANYWHERE anymore. I will take my water bottle everywhere. Also, I promise that I will 100% remember to take an empty lunch box with me when I go out to eat - so that I don't bring home containers to throw away. I also will have a plastic fork, knife and spoon in my bag all the time so that I am NEVER tempted to take any more new plastic flatware from ANYWHERE.
There really shouldn't be any need to sell things in this manner. It would be CHEAPER to sell them naked like they come. I'm going to buy some cotton produce bags which should significantly reduce my plastic misuse. I need to get this filthy plastic out of my life!
Oh and shampoo, soap, conditioner - how awesome would it be were it all sold from dispensers instead of millions and millions of plastic bottles and packs and whatnots... Looking at my recycling pile gives me a heartache everytime. And all those bales and bales of "coupon newspapers". WHY do they have to send them to every household in bulk??!
An example of small plastic things that are so annoying are those berry containers! WHY do they have to sell them in plastic? And of course, all those dried fruits - also in plastic. As if that weren't enough, they package veggies (especially chillies and beans) in plastic AND styrofoam trays. Aarrgh.
I agree with you. I feel guilty ALL the time I am grocery shopping because I feel I am not doing enough to reduce waste. I get milk and that is in plastic or cartons. I have cut down plastics by a LOT but still end up with plastic bags for small things. I just hate all the excess packaging in everything. An alternative is to shop at the Coop for bulk stuff - but the Coop has really unreasonable prices. For someone trying to live within a budget, it's not very financially responsible to be shopping at the Coop.
I would like to add that I feel that I am just as much to blame as most anyone else to contributing to this problem. While I feel like I have done a lot to change my own ways, I am guilty of not doing enough.
We really need to be aware of our everyday choices that contribute to this problem. Starting immediately I am pledging to reduce my consumption, particularly of plastics that can't be recycled. It seems that just about all of the changes I have already made are easy and sometimes much more logical than what I was used to. For example, the cloth shopping bags are so much easier to get groceries into the house than the plastic bags I used to use. I have also found that the changes I have made in my cleaning are not only greener but work better and more efficiently than the way I used to do it. I found using a cotton shower curtain in place of plastic reduces the amount of scrubbing I have to do because I can just throw it in the washer. It is cheaper than the plastic because it ironically lasts much longer at least in terms of it's usability. Recycling does take some effort but I have found that I enjoy doing it and making sure that it is done properly. Quitting smoking definitely reduced my footprint but also made me feel healthier and saved me a lot of money.
I don't think that glass is necessarily the answer (e:metalpeter). Honestly, I am not an authority on the environment. It seems that the basics will serve us well...reduce, reuse and recycle. At the present time, in this culture and lifestyle, it is a very difficult thing to accomplish on a widespread scale. The hardest part in terms of achieving it is certainly education.
The amount of damage we have done to the earth just by the use of plastics alone is already irreversible. Our best bet is that in some way the value of this litter will become so great that we will be compelled to start retrieving it. This may be possible through technological advancement and through supply and demand law.
I'm sure that we all can continue to be innovate in the ways in which we can begin to reverse what has been done. As great as plastic can be, I am afraid that it is much more a curse than a blessing.
I tend to have a live and let live attitude towards cigarettes and smokers, but after spending Saturday morning on Elmwood ave. with the clean up project, I was feeling pretty disgusted with cigarettes. There was very little litter other than cigarette butts.
I know it shatters and is heavy but maybe all these pop and water people need to go back to glass? what do you think?
The downstream effects of our "disposable" lifestyle. Nice way to "dispose" of all our inconvenient trash. :/
A majority seems to be from water/cola/milk containers and personal hygiene products. How can we change our lifestyle and pollute and consume less?!
Indians recycle a LOT at home. They don't buy what they don't consume. However, they come here and somehow a cultural switch turns off and they are rank among the most rapacious consumers and polluters. Most don't realize the value of recycling and conserving anymore. I was talking to a group of Indians recently about my 100 things challenge and I overheard some of them remarking about how I was odd and maybe borderline unhinged. *sigh*
That is so freakin gross.