Plastic woes and global issues

In my ongoing readings on global pollution and global warming issues, I stumbled upon articles about plastic pollution. Plastic grocery bags are gradually being banned, due to their nuisance as a trash issue, safety issue for wild life, and pollution issue. The information that was and is most startling to me is the plastic pollution of our oceans. http://www.plasticdebris.org/about.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Pacific_Gyre, http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Moore-North-Pacific-Central-Gyre.htm, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/06/eveningnews/main591770.shtml,
http://www.pbs.org/odyssey/odyssey/20050428_log_transcript.html.

If you take a look at any of these links, you'll become very disheartened...more than likely....about our short-sightedness in regards to all the "stuff" that we seem to be producing out of plastic, and then throwing away....our throw away mentality. Somehow we've lost sight of the fact that plastic is a "forever" kind of material, that does not biodegrade. It also has a habit of picking up other toxins, leaching its own toxins into foods and things contained in it or cooked in it.

After I stumbled on the pacific gyre plastic pollution article, I took a look around one room in my house and counted the plastic stuff. Since I'm an "old geezer", I then tried to think back to my youth...in the 1950's and early 1960's....and what stuff was made of back then when plastic was relatively new and limited in its use. I'm rather alarmed.

If you take a look at your own surroundings, I think you, too, will find that somehow we've become plastic junkies. Wood products are coated with plastic film, the cans that food is processed in have plastic coated insides, liquids come in plastic bottles, plants grow in plastic pots, tv's are incased with plastic, junk mail comes wrapped in plastic, things bought in the store are packaged in hard plastic containers, leftover food is stored in plastic containers, tv dinners are now in plastic dishes that we microwave or bake...... Heck, we have plastic molecules circulating in our blood...at least that is what the researchers are finding. Fish in the waterways confuse bits of plastic for natural food. ETC. ETC.

I appreciate the fact that San Fancisco is banning plastic grocery bags. Can we do it nationally! Please? I mean, what is the deal that we have to use petroleum for our bags, packaging, everyday items, etc.? No wonder the price of oil is so expensive...we are consuming it for far more things than just putting gas into a vehicle.

So...that is my blog for today. I'm trying to de-plastic my life. I started today by picking up a second hand glass mixing bowl to replace a plastic one. The plastic cups will go soon, also. Of course, my worry is where they will go?

S~

Global Warming Worries and Perseverances

Have you ever thought about the following?

Today's kindergartener will be 19 in the year 2020, 29 in the year 2030, 39 in the year 2040, and 49 in the year 2050.

This year's typically graduating college student (using 23 years old as the age) will be 36 in 2020, 46 in 2030, 56 in 2040, 66 in 2050.

For me? I'll be 67 in 2020, 77 in 2030, 87 in 2040....God willing.

So...whose life is in peril from the outcomes/projections of global warming models? The children, youth, and young adults of today. Its a problem that has potential to rest the survival of our species on their and their children's shoulders.

On this past Sunday....April 1, 2007....after reading the preliminary news story about the soon to be released UN assessment report on global warming 2007 updates....I was driving to a nearby city on the local interstate. Watching southbound traffic, I noted that 1 of 3 vehicles heading south was a car. The other 3? SUV's or giant pickup trucks. This is in a region where neither of these vehicles is an essential transportation item for probably 99% of the urban/suburban population. My heart sank as I started thinking..."hmmmm, wonder if anyone has done a calculation on the carbon emissions versus years of life for our children. Like...if I drive my SUV everyday in everyway everywhere...how many years do I decrease the survival of my children? grandchildren? etc. The same, of course, applies to ALL of our USA energy hogging behaviors, our consumption of energy hogging foods and necessities, and so forth.

Reading the preliminary news story....I started wondering if our children and young adults of today have the skills and physical abilities to live on a planet in chaotic climatic change, to live as refugees when environmental events (hurricanes, tornados, flooding, drought,....etc) uproot entire populations of cities, regions, countries? What does it exactly mean to us in preparing people for the future? What is it we need to know to live?

How do we turn around our USA society to creating local village/town communities where the goods, foods, and services we need are within walking distances? How do we gladly embrace alternate energy sources - wind, solar? How do we put away SUV's, Large Pickups, Oil dependency? How do we build mass transit in places without it? How do we ....(you finish the question)?

I thought of one creative use of SUV's. Since homeless folks tend to live in shelters made of cardboard and other scavenged materials, how about making SUV homeless living shelters. Remove the tires, set the vehicles in a circle, place a warming fire in the center (just like old wagon train groupings), and voila....a better homeless community. Add a few batteries and the homeless have lights, music/radio, maybe even TV with the new fangled equipped vehicles. I wonder if this could be a tax write-off?

My plea is that we all take a look at our lives, consumptions, vehicles. If you are relying on an SUV or pickup truck for your regular transportation, and especially if it is JUST YOU riding in that vehicle - STOP IT! Park it! Start with yourself. I know that the $3 a gallon gas not that long ago had you thinking about it.

I know there is a movement for more energy/fuel economy for LARGE vehicles - like SUV's, trucks, etc. How about if we just get a grip and realize that the time for those as "everybody's vehicle" is over. It was a ridiculous marketing idea in the first place and a ludicrous choice today.

Your vehicle choice and driving habits may be where you can start. I don't know. What I do know is that we've all got to change, and change NOW!

Melbourne Austrailia inacted a 1-hour of light's out event to make a point, and plans to continue it. Other cities have established events limiting car/vehicle travel - walk, bike or public transit to work days. I say, DO IT! Encourage grassroots action. We've got to do something!

Molly - grown

The puppy of August is now a DOG! She is a darling, my joy! I actually changed her name to Molly Montana, however, she's just Molly. I tend to make little songs about her...driving my husband nuts when I get into singing to her. My favorite verse is:

I've got a dog, her name is Molly
Oh Molly Molly Mo
She's all black and very jolly
Oh Molly Molly Mo.
Oh Molly Molly Molly
Oh Molly Molly Mo
Oh Molly Molly Molly
Oh Molly Molly Mo

New Puppy - Molly Tupal

Call me crazy....but, I had a weak moment on July 29th when we went to visit/view some Springer Spaniel/Lab puppies. It was on the last day of dog sitting my old lab friend Shaddow. (See the story of Shaddow in my 2005 archive). I once again was thinking seriously about wanting a larger dog, and, well, there in the morning newspaper was the answer to my desire.

The puppies were at a house on an small lake out in the country, about 16 miles away, so we had a nice drive for a Saturday morning. There were 3 female puppies available. All were black, although each had unique markings. One had a white speckled foot and more Springer look, but she was very clingy. I didn't want (another) clingy/whinny dog...so we skipped that one. The other two...one was pure black with no white...a bit longer hair with curly hair on her ears; the other had some white but looked more lab. So....I picked the pure black/curly ear hair puppy....much to my husband's dismay. At the time, he was negating my trying to make a decision with comments like "we should talk to our vet", "you should do more research on dog breeds", etc. I, instead, took out my checkbook, paid the fee, and gathered the puppy up...heading out the door.

We struggled with discovering a name, kicking around a series of them on our drive back home. The one that seemed appropriate was "Molly", although when run past my daughter, I was told it was "too common". Well...the dog seems to come to "Molly", so....Molly it is. I decided to fancy it up by adding a Star Trek character's name to the mix...Tupal. Tupal was the Vulcan woman on the newest series - Enterprise....that was sadly cancelled last year. So...Molly Tupal is our new dog's name.

Molly seems quite smart, is picking up on routines very quickly for a gal that has been on the planet for (now) 8 1/2 weeks. The other dogs are getting accustomed to her...and I'm enjoying having a new dog pal.

(Above Photo is of Shaddow (L) & Molly (R), with my dog Zeek in the background. Below is John with Molly and Zeek on the couch)


S~