I watched a documentary about the plague of single-use plastic on CBC’s Marketplace recently.
I was appalled at the apparent ignorance in our society of the dangers inherent in this non-organic material entering our ecosystem. Scientists tell us it is also entering our bodies and becoming part of our human waste. Trouble is, we just don’t know the effect it may have on us in the future. Along with global warming it is becoming a serious problem for the countries we use to take our plastic trash. It is so ubiquitous in our stores now, I feel depressed because I can’t buy anything not covered in it.
I am always picking up plastic especially around our market and by the high school. It will eventually become part of the soil, and as we know, plastic, made from petrochemicals, doesn’t break down. It just turns into smaller and smaller pieces, impossible to get rid of.
How about it kids, it is your future at stake and that of your children to come. All this plastic in the soil will degrade it, making it useless to grow food and may eventually affect your health, yet we in this country, and other countries as well, send our trashed plastic to poor countries to deal with - mountains of it.
And you people who pick up your doggy doo in a plastic bag and then toss it away. Not very mature or responsible behaviour, wouldn’t you say? We don’t throw our trash onto the living room floor; the outdoor environment is your real living room. Take care of it and it will take care of you.
We can do better, challenge yourself to cut down on single use plastic; talk to businesses about it and to your children. North Cowichan could be a leader if we work toward this goal.
Bernice Ramsdin,
Chemainus