We need plastic in our world. We need it because of the coming plagues (ventilators, medical gear, ppe, and more). We need it for the one that is already here, and variants to come.
We need it for the refugee crisis — safe water, sanitation, disease mitigation — -and more. We need it for the all the moldy, mosquito-and other pathogenic-based zoonotic diseases and storms we are now expecting.
However, you don’t need it for single use packaging, bagging, fast-trash food, or fast trash fashion. Single use plastic is a scourge. Please avoid it. Drink tap water. Buy a commuter cup.
Don’t use a plastic straw for one minute and let it kill other life forms for centuries.
Don’t preach, just do. Polarization doesn’t help.
Why DO we have so much trash?
Why did we trash a perfectly cromulent planet? Why did those albatross chicks die, that turtle starve, that endocrine disrupted species go extinct?
The only reason you do use it is because those who profit from pollution-based objects want to keep you complacent and unperturbed.
They want you to think YOU are the problem, not their lethal profits.
Yet, we know now that microplastic makes its way through food chains. It kills. Even without it, wildlife and oceans are already in massive decline.
More microplastic is making its way into the micro-biome of infants than ever before because we use plastic bottles, food ware, and toys. And, not just human babies, either!
Doing one small thing will not change the whole mess. But it will give you personal power, and some control over anxiety, shame, guilt, loss, despair, and hopelessness.
Reducing plastic is just one thing. There are literally thousands of things you can do to feel less responsible for the great unraveling we have now entered.
We can little things and big things at the same time. We can’t let up on world leaders. But, we also must learn to choose a better world with our spending habits.
Remember the campaign to just say “NO!” to drugs? Fossil fuel addiction is a drug that we blame the victims for, but not the pushers. It is a drug that kills not just we junkies, but whole eco-systems, and entire species.
Brian Cox was reported to have said this week that our home planet may well be the only intelligent life in the galaxy. Maybe every galaxy.
Let’s allow our consciousness to use our true intelligence.
Just say NO to drugs we use for convenience, and only use those chemical compounds we need to mitigate our self-inflicted illness of affluenza.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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You may also like these posts on The Good Men Project:
 White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism |
 Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box |
 The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer |
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Photo credit: Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash
