Environmental sustainability at Lakeside

According to one of our speakers this week at Lakeside, "Nearly half of the 300 million tons of plastics produced each year are only used a few short minutes before they are tossed away into our lakes, oceans and landfills to sit for hundreds of years."

Every person can see to it if they use plastic, it doesn't end up in the public spaces or water sources. I'm guessing 30 years of working with people to be aware of pollution was lost in the 2 years of the lockdown and forced masking. I've never seen as much trash in the environment as I've seen since March 2020. The cartons used for carry out must be uncountable. For awhile we couldn't even take reusable shopping bags into the stores. But the bigger problem is that those who are the richest among us, who have 2 or 3 homes, or drive electric cars or install solar panels on their houses--they are urging and voting for policies that really hurt those not so affluent in the name of saving something they don't know what.

 
Pick up after yourself and use less. Just like mom told you. Humans need water to live, but they survived for eons without carrying it in plastic bottles. And don't vote for people or policies that will destroy the pensions of retirees or agriculture in other countries.

We’ve had to buy an extra recycle bin for our trash

What's with covering plastic bottles with plastic envelop labels with instructions to remove the label before recycling? I've only noticed it recently because before I don't buy a lot of small, specialty items like sports drinks and nutritional supplements like Ensure or high calorie treats from Tim Horton’s. But I guess that marketing waste has moved to some things I do buy. I've most recently experienced it with Half n Half and pints if milk (Kroger brand). With all the carry out food and back-to-plastic bags for shopping, we will have undone a decade's worth of nagging and hypervigilant recycling habits in just a month of stay home/stay shuttered/stay stupid that will not change the death statistics.

Microfiber pollution

I was reading a very interesting article in the Summer 2018 National Parks magazine about microfibers and the plastic pollution in our oceans, rivers and lakes.  A few years ago those tiny particles in toothpaste, hand wash and other personal care products were outlawed, however, synthetic clothing when washed also releases tiny fibers that make it past all the filters and they end up in the water ways. 97% of the microplastics found in a national park study were microfibers most from synthetic clothing, but also fishing nets, carpets, wet wipes and cigarette butts. So even if we think we’re reducing our plastic footprint by consciously not buying food items stored in plastic bottles, each time we buy/wash a polyester blouse, sweater or coat, we’re putting that waste into the waterways.  I agree it’s a big problem. BUT.  This comment at the end of an article  https://storyofstuff.org/blog/microfibers-are-microplastics-1/ with all the inflammatory shoulds and musts is not the way to go or win people over.

“It is crystal clear that the earth needs to recover and that is only possible with mass industry green reconversion. So plastic and all fossil fuels and derived byproducts must stay in the ground as we turn to clean natural renewable energies and go back to old comfy healthy cotton, wool, flax, silk, and intro hemp which makes a great textile as well. All governments need to stop and ban the plastic and fossil fuel production and use and ban them from imports as well. They will find the financial solutions to help small biz reconvert while big ones must pay the enourmous damage they have caused by reinvesting in a full on green repurpose and conversion. “ (Paula)

Cha-Ching. More taxes. More wealth transfer.  More government interference in our lives.  I’d like to see what’s in her closet.

Every item of clothing I’m wearing from my underwear and socks to the colorful scarf while I write this blog is made of synthetic material, but because I keep my clothes forever, and older clothing releases more fiber than newer when washed, I’m doubled damned!

I’ve done my little part to ride my life of plastic.  When I discovered that chewing gum was made out of plastic, I stopped that habit of 70+ years.  I thought they were still using tree sap.

Here’s a blog to help you lighten the plastic damage you’re personally doing to the waterways. https://myplasticfreelife.com/plasticfreeguide/

Straw vote

Plastic trash--clean it up

I don't know which came first, the plastic water bottle or the misinformation that we need 8 glasses of water a day, but they are ubiquitous.  I see those bottles everywhere.

"Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit that organizes an annual cleanup event in more than 150 countries worldwide, said plastic debris makes up around 85 percent of all the trash collected from beaches, waterways and oceans ― and that’s just the stuff we can see." (HuffPo) Some sources report plastic trash in the oceans would cover an area 24x the size of Manhattan. If I could find a non-profit that isn't a front for Soros or a climate scam that wants to redistribute my income into their pockets, I'd contribute to the clean up--makes more sense than sending our tax dollars to Europe for a bureaucrat to spend. And we can start by not drinking water from plastic bottles and then throwing them in the trash. Today I vow to carry my cloth grocery bag to the Farmer's Market in Lakeside.

Redeemed!

Serious, committed Christians have noticed that as our society falls away from organized religion, interest in some form of environmentalism increases. Sort of, if you believe in nothing, you'll fall for anything (pantheistic global warmism, for instance). For those who were youngsters in the 1970s, it's a way to relive their youth. Others are recent converts. At the WSJ Friday, Stephen Moore commented on similarities and how serious recyclers have become.

Fred Smith of the Competitive Enterprise Institute notes with rich irony that "we now live in a society where Sunday church attendance is down, but people wouldn't dream of missing their weekly trek to the altar of the recycling center." These facilities, by the way, are increasingly called "redemption centers." Which is fine except that now the greens want to make redemption mandatory. Oh, for a return to the days when someone stood up for the separation of church and state.

I don't go to redemption centers, but I do attend church (early, traditional--we have 10 services at UALC) There is a recycling bin somewhere here at Lakeside, although we usually take our cans and bottles home to Columbus--currently have a few (plastic) bags full rattling around in the van. Chalk up one more use for the ubiquitous plastic bag. So far this week I've: cut one up and braided it to make a little rope to attach the basket to my bike; scooped and disposed of lots and lots of kitty poo from our cat Lotsa; used two to wash things I didn't want to touch; covered my bicycle seat; used one over the clothes line to protect an item of clothing from dirt. Does anyone remember the days we were constantly reminded to use plastic bags in order to save trees? In addition, the bicycle is 40 years old, the basket I was attaching is at least 10 years old as is the seat, and the tires were purchased in 1979. I challenge the greenies to match my small biking footprint. Also, my van has been parked most of the summer because at Lakeside you can walk everywhere you want to go.



The worst form of recycling is putting the huge ugly bin in plain sight where it visually pollutes. Our church does that--and I've written about it. Even Meijer's supermarket finds a way to discreetly place them so they don't change the appearance of their store. I guess they think visuals are part of marketing. What a concept!

Giving up on plastic

The other day I heard some kids chanting while biking up our street--“paper, plastic, Styrofoam.” I have no idea if this was some counting game they’d learned in a social studies class--a PC, 21st century “one potato, two potato. . .”--or if they just like the rhythm. A British blogger is recording his daily effort to live without plastic--not cutting up his credit card, but rejecting anything served or stored in plastic, and it’s harder than he thought. Even the loose fruit at the market he learns was shipped in huge containers of plastic to protect it--maybe more than those packaged fruits.

Glance around your house today, you'll see the problem. Looking around my living room, porch and kitchen here at Lakeside, I have some sympathy. It’s hard to live without plastic. After supper, I tossed out the plastic container and lid from the deli for the chicken salad; my Sunday coffee came in paper but has a plastic lid; I’m storing tomorrow’s coffee in a one quart plastic container; I made it with my new $14 Mr. Coffee machine, most of which is plastic; the shelves on the door of the 5 year old refrigerator are plastic, as are the drawers--I have 2 extra drawers taken from the 1960s model it replaced and they are metal; all the left overs and fresh stuff are stored in plastic containers or bags; the cord to my digital camera is stored in a plastic bag, as is the camera (plastic case) when it’s in my purse; my favorite #2 BIC (and I must have 50 of them) are plastic “mechanical pencils;" the basket on my 40 year old bike is plastic, the seat is plastic and I have it covered with a plastic grocery bag in case it rains; the bag from the optometrist for my new plastic frame glasses is plastic as is the bottle of lens cleaner; the cover on the 20 year old TV is plastic painted to look like wood; the flashlight under the TV stand is plastic; the jewel case for the several CDs on my desk are plastic; one of our porch wicker chairs isn’t wicker at all--it’s woven plastic to look like wicker and wears much better than the real stuff; the spiral binder on my blogging notebook is plastic and the cover clear acrylic (a plastic); over on my bookshelf many of my books have plastic spirals; all the pill bottles on the kitchen counter are plastic; the counter top is Formica--a plastic laminate; the kitchen trash can is plastic with a plastic bag inside ; the bag where I put the glass bottles and plastic containers for taking to a recycling location is plastic; our 10 year old outside trash containers which replaced the dented and abused metal cans are plastic; when I go to the Farmer’s Market and select lovely locally grown fruits and vegetables from the farmers’ wagons, the growers dump them into reused plastic bags; the kitty litter box is plastic and I scoop the poop into plastic grocery bags with a plastic slotted tool; my 20 year old dish drainer and dish pan are plastic as are all the containers of soap and cleaners under the sink which probably has some plastic pipes; I have a few colorful plastic drinking “glasses” and dishes in the cupboards; the doggie gate for our “grand puppy” which keeps her from pestering our cat is plastic; the cat’s feeding dishes are plastic--50 year old melamine; the night lights in all the rooms are plastic as are the wall covers for the outlets; our mini-blinds are plastic; the hand lotions and all my cosmetics are in plastic bottles; my computer case is plastic as is the mouse; the surge protector for my computer is plastic; my printer is plastic; the cover on the thermostat is plastic; the elaborate frame around a grandfather’s baby photo (ca. 1875) is probably celluloid, an early form of plastic; my white athletic shoes which look like leather are really plastic as are the tips of the cotton shoe strings; the buttons on my blouse are plastic (my slacks are so old that the zipper is metal, but most these days are plastic).

Environmentalists are really sort of snobs, aren‘t they? Especially the American and European e-nuts and greenies who jet around and want you to drive a little electric car so third world citizens will stay simple, culturally pure and starving. I’m a strong believer in recycling--it’s economical, saves resources, and creates jobs. However today's environmental movement is about 95% political and 5% spiritual. A huge power grab. Plastics have obviously enabled the ordinary person like me to live or buy the way only the wealthy could afford 40 or 50 or 100 years ago. Americans have lifted entire countries out of poverty by buying plastic doo-dads we really don't need in a global market. Buying locally grown produce and carrying it home in a cloth bag in the natural wicker bicycle basket to be stored in a cool root cellar or wind powered refrigerator, or growing your own, is fine if you live in rural California, or for 3 summer months in Ohio, but that’s a pretty restricted diet for most of us. People who can live without plastics probably have servants, or a 2nd world life style.

Also, is it just me misremembering, or weren't the environmentalists of the 1970s telling us to use plastic bags to save the trees and disposable diapers to save on water and utilities?