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Recently, in a casual conversation with my physician, I learned something I found interesting and very disturbing. For the last ten years scientists have been following the growth of garbage flotsam that exists in the northern Pacific. Because it floats immediately below the surface of the ocean this vast expanse of 90% plastic from the mainland U.S and Japan cannot be seen clearly from a satellite. Oceanographers now estimate that it has grown as big as the continental United States.
Because of the ocean currents and usual lack of wind in this area of the Pacific, this enormous garbage dump floats gently as a perch for sea birds. These birds try to eat from this plastic. Dead birds have been found with cigarette lighters and toothbrushes in their stomachs.
I feel sickened and saddened by this information. I searched online for articles about this. They all give details that I’d rather not know. What I do know is that I am doubling, tripling my efforts to not buy plastic. Here’s what I’ve done recently. I purchased an 18 oz. Klean Kanteen stainless steel water bottle ($16.95 from Bivouac in Ann Arbor or KleanKanteen.com). I’ve stopped buying hand soap in a pump, and I’ve found myriad scents of bar soaps (The Artisan Market in Ann Arbor, for example, sells locally made soap).
I’ve been recycling since the 70’s and I’ve always believed that one person’s efforts can make a difference as the next ‘one person’ continues the challenge. And I don’t want to think about this huge garbage dump getting any larger. When pieces (and how much chemical toxicity?) break off, they end up eventually on a beach along a coast. This didn’t happen in my parents’ generation, I’m thinking. More than likely I have contributed to an un-biodegradable mess.
Yes, I can do this. I mushed around at the local Kiwanis last Saturday and found a wooden stacking toy for my grandson and an almost-new animal domino game (heavy cardboard)
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for granddaughter, Lainey. And I can use the one-for-one example when I take my long lasting (no doubt) empty laundry jug to refill it from the bulk jug at the food co-op. The spray bottle of cleaner gets filled up from bulk too.
Sorry, I can’t buy this way by shopping at conventional markets. But my mode of buying local, in bulk, and producing less and less garbage focuses on seeing the world differently so I can change the way I live in it. A Gandhi-like view: Be the change you want to see in the world.
The challenge inspires me. My grandkids inspire me. And the awareness of that huge plastic island in the Pacific inspires me. That’s all I need.
Diane Kimball, B.A.,M.A. has been an educator for four decades. Currently she teaches yoga as well as Writing as Spiritual Practice in Ann Arbor. When she's not teaching and writing, Diane sings folk music and Celtic ballads within the community. She lives in Papaikou, Hawaii in the winter.
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