Is There an Answer to Plastics?

We were at the garden centre today and did that hopeful act of buying some seedlings which we'll watch over carefully until the risk of frost is gone. We look for pots which are not the black, non-recyclable plastic which nurseries and coffee shops love. The truth is, though that the answer to the overuse of plastic is blowin' in the wind and floating downstream to our lakes and oceans. I've written before about the vast gyres of circling plastic thousands of kilometres from land in the Pacific Ocean. We're told by researchers that these hideous rafts of plastic are much more extensive than first thought.



Humans have become addicted to plastic and just don't know how to deal with the sheer volume. Your salad is bagged in it, just about every toy is made from it, and there are products which are plastic sealed within plastic packaging, then placed in a plastic bag to carry home. The amount of plastic produced every year is roughly equivalent to the weight of humans on the planet. Here is a plastics fact sheet which is a real eye-opener.
https://www.earthday.org/2018/03/07/fact-sheet-end-plastic-pollution/

It's insane, and our blue boxes tell the tale. China now says that it doesn't want our plastic waste anymore, which will be a crisis for recycling programs. 
Change is absolutely necessary and the Canadian Federal government is hoping to provide leadership internationally at the upcoming Group of Seven nations conference to be held in June in Charlevoix, Quebec. Here is a description from the Toronto Star:

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says the plastics charter she is negotiating with other G7 nations ahead of next month’s leaders’ summit in Quebec could be billed as a Paris-type agreement for ocean garbage. McKenna tells The Canadian Press the talks are tough, but going well — and she’s confident Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will have something solid to present alongside the other leaders in Charlevoix, Que., in June.


The plastics charter is to be a centrepiece element of the summit, where climate, the environment and oceans are themes Trudeau chose for Canada’s turn as the presidency of the G7 group of nations. McKenna says it will focus on a high-level policy approach that includes targets for reducing the amount of garbage in the world’s oceans, asks individual nations to come up with domestic plans to meet those targets, works with industry to develop less harmful products and funds developing nations to create better waste-disposal systems to keep plastics from ending up in the water.

It's laudable that the feds are taking this leadership, although there seems to be a bit of hypocrisy in that our government is very supportive of a dirty oil industry, the product from which plastic is produced. If we figure out how to wean ourselves off plastic to any degree, won't that hurt the oil industry?



Will millions of Christians refusing to use plastic straws in restaurants be the answer to our plastics problem? Unfortunately, no, although choosing to be mindful of all the products we purchase, the packaging it comes in, the need for the stuff in the first place, and where it eventually goes, will make a difference.

We might even pray for the G7 Conference and that an international agreement can be reached for the good of Creation.