One of my pet hates is plastic. Not all plastic mind you, my lego set i had as a child now belongs to my sons and they will most likely pass it on to their children. My gripe is with what I call “crappy plastic”, the stuff that has a single use and gets thrown away or lasts for a month or two then breaks. Unfortunately crappy plastic has become the norm in our western society.
I know so many children’s bedrooms that are full of half broken plastic toys. The ooze into our lives form party bag giveaways, Christmases and birthdays. Our society puts such a pressure on each other to produce a constant stream of small gifts that keep kids happy for a moment then die. What is a party bag? Something to put low grade toxic food into, coupled with a couple of plastic bits made in china by child labor doomed to soon contribute to a toxic landfill. How did the marketing departments get such a horrific idea introduced? Is this being a grinch or is it maybe giving a shit about the world?
Of course we can whinge and moan but ultimately we also need to do something about it. Im not suggesting we all go buy some tie dyed shirts and live in teepees but the little things we do all count. Growing your own vegetables means the every salad is one less plastic bag and countless less food miles. If we eat one “bag” of salad a day and a few other “bags” of vegetables a week the talley soon adds up to thousands. Awesome.
Of course there are a million wee changes we can make around the place. No it isn’t easier but maybe it makes for a better world.