greenguru.org

Have you noticed that no matter what you buy, it seems to be entombed in plastic, then boxed up in plastic or paper and then wrapped in plastic again? Whether it’s food-to-go, a new skillet or a toothbrush, it’s wrapped up in one of the most toxic and indestructible products we humans have ever created. We think the plastic we use and then put in our little green bin is going to be recycled, but only 3 to 5% of it actually does, and that process is not what you might think. Melting plastic at high temperatures creates deadly gases so in order to recycle the plastic “safely” it actually has to be coated with a layer of new plastic. Even though we have no idea how long plastic will take to biodegrade, every year we create 60 billion more tons of it. In this cheap, convenience over wisdom, disposable culture, we have created so much plastic we are now eating it. There is nowhere else for it to go.

In an area 800 miles north of Hawaii a plastic soup twice the size of Texas known as the Texas Gyre is there to remind us of this fact. Plastic never biodegrades, with exposure to sunlight and the elements it may become smaller and smaller but even on a molecular level it remains too tough for biodegradation, and it is eaten by unsuspecting animals in the sea that mistake it for food. The scary thing is that the North Pacific gyre is only one of five similar high-pressure zones in the oceans, together these plastic wastelands cover 40% of our oceans, and that amounts to one quarter of our planet’s surface! For the entire scoop on the soup and what it’s doing to our environment, the green guru strongly urges you to visit: www.bestlifeonline.com/cms/publish/travel-leisure/Our_oceans_are_turning_into_plastic_are_we.shtml or just google Texas Gyre.

If plastic is toxic when you heat it up, when you freeze it, when you make it and when you burn it, then why, shouldn’t we all be asking, are we still buying it?! Why are we still buying food packaged in it? Is the convenience of disposable forks and bottled water really worth the destruction of our oceans and our bodies?

Quote of the Month: “Except for the small amount that’s been incinerated, and it’s a very small amount, every bit of plastic ever made still exists.” Captain Charles Moore, dedicating his life to researching the North Pacific Gyre and its effects.