One day, our grandchildren will be cursing us for the microplastics in their eggs and vegetables, in the same way and just as vehemently as we curse our grandparents for the lead.
And just like them, we, know, but we don’t want to know.
Avoiding plastics is diabolically hard. But then, avoiding lead was too. It was in pipes, nails, solder, paint, petrol – everywhere you looked. Substitutes were hard to find, and people looked at you like you were a greenie obsessive nutcase if you insisted on them. Just like plastics.
A study last year found levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in breast milk. PFEAS are “forever chemicals”, used in food packaging, clothing, carpeting and linked to cancer, birth defects, liver disease, thyroid disease, hormonal disruptions, harming the immune system and plummeting sperm counts. I make banana bread for my grandson’s lunch box, and wonder if he will get to experience being a grandfather.
Another study last year found microplastics from food containers, packaging, paints, adhesives, in placentas – little identifiable chips of plastic embedded in placentas. If that idea doesn’t give you the heebie jeebies … It’s not even possible to retreat to an off-grid cabin in the bush. Plastics are in the rain. Tons and tons of it. We’re cloud seeding with microplastics. This is a critical review of research on plastics in food and “their Biological Impact” and it’s not good.
Lancet just recently published an article proposing “A global plastics treaty to protect endocrine health“. Like global treaties for reduction of carbon pollution and global treaties for ozone depleting chemicals, this is going to be resisted like crazy by some globally powerful industries. The media will tell us how it will crash the economy. It will be politically unpalatable because we voters are, like our grandparents with the lead, just trying to get by, living this era’s normal.
I often feel powerless in situations like this. I look around at the scale of earth repair, and wonder if anything at all I could do would be meaningful. But then I think, the task is not so much to reduce the amount of plastic in the world but to change “this era’s normal”. Changing normal means avoiding being a purist or a martyr. It means doing the things that feel worthwhile, have lots of side benefits and most importantly bring joy. Like homemade sourdough, biscuits, yoghurt, hummus, like homegrown herbs and veg, like carrying a water bottle, like making friends with the butcher and bringing my own container, like choosing fruit without those f*&*%ing little stickers. Little by little, when I can. Brazenly.
I try hard to be mindful of what I bring in to my house. It’s not always possible to avoid plastic as it is everywhere, however, small steps lead to big changes.
I agree Yvonne. I think it’s important not to let perfect be the enemy of good.
have got use of plastics down to a minimum, yet keep finding pieces of tape and plastic labels in my soil!!!
I try to be very vigilant, but where does it all come from?
Tell me about it. Sometime ago we learnt that a lot of tea bags are now made of plastic – you know how we found out? …because we compost our household wastes and now I’m spending a lot of time fishing microplastics out of the mature compost. So now we’re re-thinking tea. Just things like this and it’s just so overwhelming the way this world is run so that doing the right thing is so incredibly difficult, in the name of free trade, individual freedom etc and why on earth can’t we regulate this stuff so that it’s sensible, and easy to do the right thing. This is just a minor issue compared to climate change and ecosystem annihilation but the way this entire show is run it’s like this big grinding machine that’s destroying everything and turning it into money – the majority of human beings and their dignity, and the biosphere. No small things.
I have a lovely little one person teapot that I use all the time. I reckon it makes nicer tea than teabags, and cheaper, and no plastic. Lots to celebrate about it. But yes, I agree with you – it would be so very much easier if there were regulations.
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