Discarded television on the beach
Tonight I went to an event at the Berkeley Ecology Center called “Rethinking Plastics.”  Stuart Moody from the environmental/spiritual organization Green Sangha was the presenter, and he covered all the harm that comes from irresponsibly consuming and disposing plastic.

Plastics are an amazing invention with incredibly valuable applications, but I was astounded to learn facts like this one: in the northern Pacific, for every one pound of zooplankton there are 6 pounds of plastic!

There were a number of saddening pictures of birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals killed by swallowing or becoming entangled in plastic. A team of researchers who collected samples from all over the Northern Pacific found plastic particles in every sample they took.

When plastics are discarded by ships or washed into the ocean by rivers, they start breaking down into small pieces, but never actually biodegrade. So what happens is a grocery bag gets converted to thousands of plastic particles that contaminate every bit of water and all the things that live in it.

Stuart Moody went on to talk about recycling and how ultimately the plastic we recycle still ends up in the landfill or in the environment as it goes through a process of “downcycling.” Downcycling is the process by which something like a plastic water bottle cannot be recycled into another plastic water bottle so it is made into things like polar fleece or trex logs, which end up in landfills as the fabric deteriorates or a structure is torn down for rebuilding. The real solution then is not to recycle but to use less plastic in the first place.

A disturbing part of the presentation came when Stuart discussed the toxins present in most plastics - like reproductive system disrupting Phthalates. These toxins have been found in every part of the world, and can cause male infertility, premature puberty, asthma, cancer, and insulin resistance (diabetes).

So I left the presentation appalled that our irresponsible use of plastic is filling the Pacific with a toxic brew, sickening and killing millions of animals, and ultimately reducing our own quality of life. Plastic is an amazing thing, but it is simply ironic that something that was supposed to make our lives better is now coming back to haunt us in a big way.

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