I’m not terribly concerned about how much plastic I consume. Maybe I should be, I’m just not.
Have you eaten a credit card today?
I am concerned about plastic in general. We use an awful lot of it, and it doesn’t break down easily in the earth.
So I woke up this morning and decided I would try to use less plastic today. Yep, I’m gonna be better, starting today.
It’s going to be a good morning.
I pull the plastic lid off the plastic coffee container and prepare for the day. While the coffee is brewing in my all-plastic coffee maker, breakfast begins.
The yogurt is in a plastic tub, but there are things beyond my control.
Next, I pull out the plastic storage container with the freshly-cut strawberries.
Yogurt, strawberries, a drizzle of honey… yum! Oh, and some granola for crunch.
Packaged in plastic, of course.
Time to head to the golf course. I’ll throw in a couple of drinks for the round.
If you’re asking, ‘hey, don’t your drinks usually come from a plastic flask in your bag?’ the answer is yes, sometimes. I do indeed have one available to assuage my soul when I play badly. (Pretty much daily.)
By now, you are probably thinking, dang! This boy’s already wrecked his be-better-at-plastic-awareness day!
I have not.
Some things are out of my control. It’s gonna be a good day!
Arriving at the golf course, I pull out my plastic credit card to pay for my round, signing the receipt with a plastic pen.
One of my regular partners has already saddled up and pulls up to fetch me. It occurs to me that other than its fiberglass body, our golf cart is almost all plastic.
Just the way it is. Let’s play golf!
On the first tee, I pull out a couple of plastic tees. Oh sure, you can buy wooden tees, but I don’t buy tees. I pick them up every time someone has left one on the tee box, and most people use plastic tees because they don’t break easily.
Stop pointing fingers. I didn’t invent the tee.
After a few holes, it’s time to get into my bag for the lunch I prepared before leaving the house. A sandwich and a Golden Delicious apple, cut into small pieces. Both stored in… um, baggies.
No matter. I’m aware, and that’s what really matters. It’s gonna be a good afternoon!
After golf, there’s a text message waiting on my phone. It’s from my wife, and she wants me to grab a few things from the store for fajitas tonight.
Oh boy! I love fajitas.
In the produce section, let’s grab a tomato and of course put it in a little plastic produce bag.
Onion… well, you gotta keep these things separate; it’ll have its own bag. As will the pepper. And cilantro.
Ooo, these avocados look good. Let’s get two and put them In a bag.
A sidebar: Attention, grocery stores! If I can break a windshield by throwing an avocado through it, that’s not a ripe avocado, and you slapping ‘ripe’ label on it doesn’t make it so.
So we’re leaving the produce section with 5 separate plastic bags neatly tucked in to this plastic shopping basket I’m toting.
It’s OK, I’m OK. I’m not in control of the world.
The tortillas are in their own plastic bag, and the chicken is wrapped in plastic, but it’s on a foam tray. Foam made of the same petroleum that’s used to make plastic, but what can I do about that?
But now I’m through getting plastic. Let’s get outta here.
Since this was an unplanned visit to the grocery store, I don’t have reusable bags with me. My plastic bags will have to go into plastic checkout bags, and once again, I’ll pull out the plastic to pay for all this plastic.
This really isn’t working out as I hoped, but I can see what’s going on, and hey, fajitas!
It’s gonna be a good evening!
Preparing dinner, I notice of how much plastic there is in our kitchen.
The spice rack is full of little plastic bottles, half my utensils are plastic.
After dinner, the plates are cleared into a plastic trashcan lined with a plastic trash bag. Dishes are washed with detergent squirted from a plastic bottle.
So let’s reflect on the day.
I won’t say today has been a failure. The sun was shining, I played golf and spent some time with friends I like.
But my personal plastic-awareness parade has worn me down a little.
All our lives, we are told one man/woman can make a world of difference, that the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
Making a difference today hasn’t worked out. My personal journey to use less plastic got out of bed but couldn’t find its shoes.
All is not lost, however. I have filled a little red plastic cup up to the brim with something brown and tasty. It’s chill time.
Yep, it’s gonna be a good night.