Use Less Plastic. Like Now.

At the Sherwood Island Nature Center today, I noticed a raft made mostly out of plastic water bottles.  I quickly made note of “junkraft.com” before being beckoned by my very excited little M to look at the “…crabs…and the lobster…oooo…a turtle, Mommy, a turtle…Mommy, Mommy…”  At the time, I read it as “Junk Craft” and thought I’d find a website about making crafts out of junk when I looked it up later…

But oh no, junkraft.com is so much more important than some nifty craft ideas.  So much more important.

photo from junkraft.com/blog

The raft at the nature center was inspired by the original “Junk Raft,” a raft made from 15,000 plastic bottles sponsored by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, a California-based non-profit working hard to protect our oceans, its watersheds and marine life.  In 2008, Junkraft sailed from California to Hawaii to raise awareness about the plastic debris littering our oceans.  This year, Algalita sponsored Junkride, a 2,000 mile bike expedition from Canada to Mexico to share samples of “Plastic Soup,” Pacific Ocean water samples filled with plastic particles.

"plastic soup" photo from junkraft.com - notice itty-bitty plastic particles

Get ready, this is the real important shtuff:

1. There are floating landfills in our oceans. Oceanic gyres are circular ocean currents created by rotating high-pressure systems.  Nine major oceanic gyres around the world have become accumulation zones for plastic debris, drawing hundreds of tons of plastic into their centers. (Plastic Debris on the Move) That’s bad.

The North Pacific Gyre or Great Pacific Garbage Patch is the most well-studied oceanic gyre.  Research has shown that broken, degraded plastic pieces outweigh surface zooplankton by 6 to 1 in the North Pacific Gyre. (Plastics Are Forever).  And don’t even get me started on how these itty-bitty pieces of plastic are affecting marine and other animal life.   That’s really bad.

2. We are a “Throw Away” society. We create long-term pollution problems in exchange for short-term ease of living (i.e. plastic grocery bags, plastic water bottles, etc.). (Changing How We Think about Plastic) That’s bad.

3. Plastic never biodegrades. Plastic goes through a process called photodegradation, where it is broken down by sunlight into smaller and smaller pieces, all of which is still plastic.  But this process is slow.  Very, very slow.  Researchers estimate 500 years for a disposable diaper and 450 years for a plastic bottle to photodegrade from big plastic pieces to little plastic pieces.  (Plastics Are Forever)  That’s bad.

4.  Plastics can only “down-cycle.” Plastics generally make one stop before becoming trash.  (Rethinking Plastics)  That’s Bad.

5. Worse, only 3.5% of plastic is recycled. The vast majority of plastic cannot be re-processed into a useful product.  And even it can be, re-read #4 above.  (Plastics Are Forever)  That’s bad.

So why all this on this fine, holiday weekend?  Because you can bring your own canvas sacks to the grocery store this weekend.  Because you can bring your own water in a reusable container.  Because you can wrap your picnic goodies in cloth napkins.  Because you can reconsider how you pack lunch for work or for school next week.  Because you can start now, not later.  Listen, we don’t have this down pat yet either.  Our little family does alright at all this, but we’ve still got some work to do.  Thanks to the Sherwood Island Nature Center and junkraft.com, I’m re-inspired to keep up the good fight.  Hope you are, too.

Happy Labor Day with Less Plastic Weekend!