In the last column we discussed a little about Reducing, and while I’m anxious to get on to the next R, Reusing, I want to make sure the message was clear.

By not reducing what we use, and especially succumbing to the petrochemicals mandate of being the disposable society, we have created situations around the world that are simply not to be believed.

If you don’t have a computer, I’m sure you have access to one.  Go look up something called the North Pacific Gyre.  There are nine gyres in the world’s oceans which denote a circular pattern of water that, essentially, trap disposed material.  There is some debate on the size of the North Pacific Gyre but it is generally accepted to be twice the size of the state of Texas!  In this confluence of currents of the North Pacific Gyre, there is approximately ten times more plastic content than there is plankton life.  The plastic trapped in the gyre, as previously mentioned in earlier columns, is essentially “there for good”. 

Here is a sobering thought.  If it wasn’t incinerated, every piece of plastic EVER made still exists!  Plastic takes centuries to break down and really never goes away.  It simply breaks down to smaller and smaller pieces.  As it breaks down into smaller pieces, it is easily confused  by birds, fish and mammals for food and is ingested as such.  Consequently, when we consume the animal protein of fish, we thereby may consume the pathogenic hydrocarbons in the flesh of what we are eating.

While I hate to tell you this, you need to know it.  Not knowing is denial which is dangerous.  There is NOT ONE person reading this column who does not have petrochemical pollutants in the form of phthalates attached to receptor sites in your tissues and organs.  They enter by way of dioxins given off from polystyrene (Benzene, Ethylene and styrene) more commonly known as Styrofoam and/or PVC.  They are also what is known as bio-accumulating which means they don’t go away but, rather, continue to accumulate until they affect us in forms of infertility, hormone disorders, cancers and learning disabilities, to name a few.

The island of Guadalupe off the western coast of California and the island of Midway, though I have only seen it in photographs, are littered with the bones and feathers of an extraordinary number of birds.  The reason for this amalgam of avian death is that, in particular, the Albatross consumes the waste from the North Pacific Gyre and, upon returning to its nest, regurgitates what it has stored in its throat into the mouths of its baby chicks.  The plastic that the baby chicks eat does not pass or digest.  Rather, the baby chicks become full, stop eating, dehydrate and die.  Of 312 species of ocean birds, it is estimated that 111, or 36%, mistakenly ingest plastic.

Plastic is a miracle product.  It has some extraordinary applications and benefits to human kind.  The problem is that the petrochemical industry produces so much byproduct from gasoline production that, in order to get rid of what’s left over and, of course, make a profit, they have made us a society that uses plastic to our extreme detriment.  Next time you see “peanuts” (Styrofoam packing) or plastic bags flying through the air, remember, they don’t go to the “Land of Away”.  They wind up in places like landfills or the North Pacific Gyre and eventually in the bodies of our children.

Are you depressed?  I hope not because that is not my intent.  My intent is to cause us all to think.  Let me take it to the final degree.  Scientists tried to get a baseline to determine the extent of petrochemical pollution in humankind and did a study of the Inuit people of North Alaska.  Their theory was that they are so remote, they must be the most pollutant free people on earth.  The milk of the Inuit mothers was found to be the most polluted on earth because all they eat are animals from the sea.  Similar studies done by the University of San Diego and University of Hawaii have found concentrations of plastic pellets, or “nurdles”, the building material of most plastics, in the remote beaches of the Hawaii archipelago and New Zealand to be as high at 100,000 per square meter or 71% by volume!!!

THINK about what you buy.  ACT by using less, particularly plastics.  DEMAND where you spend your money and of the politicians who represent you that we must stop the rush to destruction.  While this sounds extreme, I assure you it’s not. 

This is a test.  Is anybody out there listening?  If you care about any of this, will you show up to the next Citywide Cleanup on April 3rd at 8:00 am at Bayview Park?  If you care about this, have you started your own recycling program at home or at your office?  We’ve already increased our recycling to the point where it has saved this city a significant amount of money.  If we get to a 30% recycling rate, I understand that the city will save $1 million.  Does anybody care?  Does it matter?  Will you get involved?

Next Column:  It’s cheaper to keep it, or the “art” of recycling.

Chris Belland
Love Your Island Co-Chair