Donald Trump. The Financial Times. Mia Roberts. The world is interconnected in numerous and often unexpected ways.
This morning, the sadly unsurprising news crossed my electronic view: The Trump/Pence 2020 campaign is selling plastic straws – TRUMP-branded plastic straws – for $15 per pack of ten. Why? Because “Liberal paper straws don’t work.” The not-so-subtle pretext: while environmentalists decry the use of plastic straws and the widespread, global pollution to which they contribute, the President doesn’t believe it’s a problem or perhaps just doesn’t care. The page selling these items claims the straws are “Reusable and recyclable.” Reusable? Perhaps a few times. Recyclable? That’s part of the problem….
At the same time, I have noticed an encouraging trend in my daily morning newspaper, The Financial Times: an increasing number of stories related to the environment, pollution, and the global threat of climate change. In the past two weeks alone, stories have run in FT about France imposing a tax on air travel, referred to as an “eco-contribution”, with the proceeds going to improving nationwide transportation infrastructure; about corporate investors urging construction material manufacturing businesses to reduce their carbon emissions “in response to the growing risks of climate change;” and how most plastic packaging ends up in a landfill, while plastic recycling rates are far lower than other materials such as steel or glass. If information is power, we’re increasingly becoming empowered by the media discussing pollution, climate change, and steps being taken to address both.
Today my daughter turns 15. It’s cliché, I know, to talk about the planet that we leave the next generation, but while there are both good and bad news stories about the environment, I reflect on the planet that my daughter’s generation inherited, the struggles she and her peers might have as a result, and the personal decisions I can take – we all can take – to reduce the risk of catastrophe.
In the face of global plastic pollution, it’s more important than ever that we act. Plastic pollution is dire, as you know. Hundreds of millions of metric tons of plastic are produced annually and a fraction of this plastic waste is recycled. This leads to polluted cities, especially those in urban centers of developing countries. It also leads to polluted oceans, when plastic is discarded into local waterways and passes through to ocean waters. Myriad forms of sea life are fatally impacted. We should all be concerned about protecting fish and sea birds from plastic pollution deaths, in part because of compassion for these creatures themselves, but also because depletion of the world’s oceans and ocean life means depleted resources to nourish a growing human population.
As I mentioned at the start, the world is interconnected.
Fighting plastics pollution – and it is a fight, indeed – may seem a Sisyphean task, but like all the daily choices we make, we can each take personal responsibility for making a difference. Take Dunia Designs in Tanzania, for instance. The company employs local people to collect plastic waste, refurbishes that waste into furniture and other homewares, and then uses the proceeds to educate local children about the need to protect their environment. They are doing their part.
Our friends at Elysian Holding are working to mass-produce industrial hemp packaging to replace plastic altogether, while supporting local farmers in the process. They are doing their part.
And Bethesda Green has just launched our new Bethesda Recycles project to place 50 recycling bins throughout our neighborhood to make sure plastic bottles don’t end up in a landfill and, in partnership with Bethesda Urban Partnership, can be recycled. We’re doing our part… and giving you another chance to do yours!
There is a laudable, growing movement globally to protect the Earth and a growing recognition that inaction is going to have dreadful, irreversible consequences. There will be some who read the news, refuse to acknowledge this fact, and steadfastly cling to antiquated views on consumption. You, however, have a different sense of personal responsibility, and that gives me hope for Mia’s future.
Be Green Bethesda,
Adam
