Food for Thought by Ms. Chita Dela Cruz-Heap

Chita Dela Cruz-Heap

The Advent of ‘Plastic Man’

And then there is this question of litter. “Who cares about litter?” You might well ask. Well actually I care. Not that litter is the biggest problem facing our society today, for there are many issues more pressing, and of far greater import, but never the less it concerns me.

I have always considered it strange that for a country that has become so renowned for its belief and for its strong religious tradition, we have become so contemptuous of God, so lacking in respect for the gifts that he had showered upon us.

For not only has he given us breath to breathe and a life to live, he has also provided us with an incredible backdrop of lush green pasture and fertile land that we have come to regard as our home .

How do we respond to this? How do we demonstrate our gratitude? How do we show our respect? By discarding litter at every conceivable opportunity.

For me, litter is an ‘indicator’, because the amount of litter that can be found in any given community provides an insight into how that community feels about itself, and how the individuals within that community feel about themselves too.

A community free of litter is a community that takes pride in itself, and you can be sure that the individuals who make up that community are people worth knowing, for these are individuals who have self respect.

On another level too, it has become increasingly important to address the issue of litter, particularly with regard to plastic waste.

There was a time when our local inhabitants would buy their food wrapped in banana leaves which could later be used to fertilized the soil, but in our modern society practically everything is bought either in plastic bags or in a plastic container. Unlike banana leaves, plastic takes hundreds of years to degrade, as consequence of which our planet is slowly becoming saturated with plastic.

Mucht of this plastic finds its way into our oceans where it is carried around the world on ocean currents only to end up in the beaches of islands like Midway in the Central Pacific. Midway is home to some two million Albatros which have now become a threatened species. There is great concern over the fact that the adult birds, unable to discern plastic from food, are collecting plastic from the sea and feeding it to their young.

Every bird so far examined has been found to have quantities of plastic in its stomach, ranging from fishing line and plastic bags to toothbrushes and disposable cigarette lighters. Those birds that do not choke or suffocate from this ingestion of plastic set off on their annual migration believing their stomachs to be full, only to become exhausted en route through lack of food and drown in the sea.

But the problem gets even worse because plastic bags thrown into the sea break down into smaller particles which then attract toxins naturally present in the ocean. These toxic time bombs are then eaten by small fish and by other marine organisms- which are in turn eaten by bigger fish- which eventually end up on our dinner tables. It would appear then that plastic has finally entered our food chain

So serious is this problem now considered to be that the state of California has banned the use of plastic carrier bags altogether, and many countries around the world are also doing what they can to stem their use of plastic. For there are very real fears that the human species will begin to mutate as a consequence of ingesting this plastic waste.

Mankind has taken many years to evolve, from the stone age, through the iron age and bronze ages, to the current age of the mobile phone. It would be a sad day for humanity if the culmination of this evolutionary process were to be the emergence of what could only be termed as ‘The age of the plastic man.

Solutions have yet to be found, and it will take hundreds if not thousands of years to deal with the plastic waste that has already accumulated. If we care for our own health’ and for that of future generations then the very least we can do is to ensure that we do not compound the problem through the careless disposal of waste.

We should endeavour to re-cycle what we can, avoid buying products which are sold in plastic containers, and also clean up our own communities. Because so long as our streets remain littered with refuse it will be apparent to one and all that this message is simply not getting through. What is required for all of us to become aware of the consequences of our actions- and for each of us to do what we can to stem this rising tide.

All of us can do something, whether by educating our children or by installing litter bins in our local community. But one thing is for sure- we need to act now!/TE