The Four Horsemen by Alwyn T deviantart.com
Perhaps I think about things too much. When I stare up into the sky, I think about the incredibly thin layer of atmosphere that shields life on Earth from the vacuum of space. Simply put, we wouldn’t exist without it. I think about the fact that the air I breath comes from the photosynthesis of plants and phytoplankton in the oceans. These tiny creatures make it possible for us to be alive. Did you know that the percentage of salinity in the human body is the same as the ocean? I believe it’s approximately 70%. This is what I don’t understand about human beings. How is it that so many of us are blind to our biological connection with this planet? The Earth is an incredibly complex system; we’re part of it.
Sometimes I wonder if the seven billion human beings that live on this tiny speck that drifts along in the vast cosmos really understand how bloody lucky we are to even be here at all. The odds of any one person being born are a whopping 25 MILLION TO ONE! That’s the number of sperm released during sex. To quote the epic line from the movie Highlander, “there can be only one‘. Everyone dreams about winning the lottery, but you already won the biggest jackpot of them all – existence!
What does all this philosophy have to with The Four Plastic Horsemen of the Apocalypse? I’m getting to that.
This morning I read an article in the Vancouver Sun entitled Plastic waste problem persists. This article points out that 280 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated globally every year. Less than half of it goes into a landfill or even gets recycled. What I find really alarming is how much of this is ending up in the oceans and how it’s affecting sea life. 45% of marine mammals (e.g. dolphins, seals, whales) and 21% of seabirds are either eating this stuff or becoming entangled in it. It’s getting into eel grasses and saltwater marshes. Plastic doesn’t dissolve away into oblivion; it breaks down into smaller and smaller chemical components that are absorbed into cells and tissues. I already know that my own body probably carries around trace amounts of chemical compounds I’d rather not think about. After all, I lived in places like Los Angeles, Tokyo, Las Vegas, Chicago, Hong Kong. To think that my favourite bit of smoked salmon might contain plastic compounds is downright disconcerting.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Four Plastic Horsemen of the Apocalypse:
POLYCARBONATE, POLYSTYRENE, POLYURETHANE,
POLYVINYL CHLORIDE
Words can’t describe how gross and disgusting this situation is. But don’t take my word for it, look at this:
If you can’t wrap your head around the idea of baby sea birds eating plastic objects, this will come as a rude shock:
If what you have just viewed doesn’t turn your stomach or make you feel some pang of guilt, then you’re not human. This deplorable, hideous situation is humanity’s fault. This ecological disaster is the result of our belief in a mass consumer society that wants disposable throwaway things. It’s our ignorant, willful ‘out of sight, out of mind‘ mentality on full display. What are you prepared to do about it? I’ll make a suggestion. Stop using plastic bags. I mean it – stop asking for them. For over two years now, I’ve personally stopped using plastic bags almost 98% of the time. I use canvas bags for my shopping or to carry things. I’ll make another suggestion – think about the packaging of the item you buy. I look for things with minimal packaging. Yes, it’s a pain. But it’s a really tiny sacrifice to make for trying to make some sort of difference.
Earth is a finite place that we share with all these other species. We’re seeing the results of what has happened when we’ve put our own desires and interests ahead of other species. 99% of all the creatures that ever lived on this planet are now extinct. If we don’t smarten up about how we treat this world, we could be just one more evolutionary footnote – encased in plastic!
The Grumpy Ferret
The Grumpy Ferret 