Our local newspaper in Charleston South Carolina reported recently another area city named Mt. Pleasant has banned plastic shopping bags. Yesterday I noticed our grocery stores are stepping up the reusable woven bag offerings. These are small but important steps toward making our environment safe and enjoyable for our children and grand children. When college students are making plastic lawn furniture from air filtered off the United States east coast we are at a dangerous crossroad. The choice to continue this path with disregard for the future knowing that the grim fruit born of these actions will likely bear itself fully down on our planet for future generations, (but not ours) is irresponsible to say the least. Picture a world that is so hot and the air so polluted we can no longer go outside. Our mountains would become woefully crowded from people seeking refuge. Large portions of our worlds population would exist in underground cities. All farming would be in large indoor sites with air filters and controlled lighting. Many parts of our food chain would cease because of the stress. All fresh fruit and vegetables become a delicacy known only to the very wealthy.
Given the small steps taken with the reusable bags we all should strive to help avoid allowing our grandchildren to deal with this seemingly dark future. Use and reuse glass around the house when possible. Clean paint brushes and reuse. Use of all of your paint up and crush the paint can when possible before tossing it. Avoid plastic when it's practical. We still don't know how long it takes a piece of plastic to rot into the earth. Now science says there are extremely small (nano) particles of plastic in some of our water supply. So if you can you should have a quality water filter for your drinking water. Don't put cat feces into the water supply by flushing them down the toilet or drain. Our water treatment facilities are not designed to deal with feline born organisms. The treated water via the effluent goes back into our streams and then into our water supply. The State of California has issued an advisory warning residents against this practice.
Our precious water resource includes the oceans and their delicate balance that shares each countries wastefulness with all of us unfortunately. Huge piles of junk are circling, growing without a home. These floating plastic monsters showcase our reckless attitude for our world and an uncaring position toward each other. Let's hope we can work together in a serious mindful way to minimize this dangerous situation. Just realizing we are indeed in a "dangerous state" would be a good start. Getting better starts "without" a small plastic bag.