(Can I make a difference?)

I read the other day that not only are tiny plastic microbeads put in skin cleansers, they are also put in toothpastes. And nearly all of our clothing contains plastic fibers. These fibers and microbeads wash into wastewater systems, most which have no filtration systems fine enough to catch them. So they wash into ponds and lakes, our creeks and rivers and our oceans. Add those micro beads and fibers to the Bazillions of pieces of plastic from our garbage, our castoffs, our litter, ocean accidents and catastrophic storms. We humans ingest these microbits of plastic, as does every swimming flying crawling walking climbing burrowing running creature on our planet. Yet more and more plastic is produced and used and thrown out every second. It doesn’t breakdown like organic waste does. Plastic takes hundreds and thousands of years to break down. It. Is. Accumulating. Every. Second. We’ve known this. I studied it as a girl in elementary school, when it was first produced and lauded for all the amazing things it could, and has, brought us. Still, we knew then it had a half life like no organic substance. Yet …

And then there are the spills and flows of sewage and petroleum, and the widespread use of agri-chemicals, defoliants and insect killers. They’ve brought us mobility, convenience and production levels undreamed of prior to the industrial revolution. Some of these chemicals save lives and produce more food and prevent disease, others kill off entire ecosystems for generations, some lost forever. Forever.

The fumes from our transportation modes and our factories combined with insatiable appetites for more of everything produced or grown or gathered is polluting our air to the point where the ozone – the OZONE – is thinning. That part of the atmosphere that makes earth habitable. Yeah. That. It’s causing polar ice to melt, oceans… the OCEANS to warm, and so the global wind currents to change – and causing weather changes we are only beginning to experience.

Add light and sound pollution to this benefits vs toxicity mess we’ve made. That science is really just getting off the ground in understanding impacts of unnecessary and wasteful lighting up of our night skies and scarcity of places absent of mechanical and technical noise.

ALL of this has evolved and grown almost immeasurably since I was born in 1951. The beginnings came earlier, but the impacts and the awareness of those impacts… that’s all been since I was born.

In some ways the 1950s was the decade of the last innocence. The last generally accepted belief in the US that our government and public institutions existed under the control and for the betterment of society. The ‘promise’ of self promotion and greed has all but destroyed that faith. In 70 years. Almost gone.

I’m guilty. I consume and buy waaaay too much. I have enough clothing jewelry linens dishes books souvenirs decorations furnishings tools electronics containers and toys to equip a small village. And the wherewithal for food, medicine, paper and other such to supply that village.

I recycle plastics, glass and paper. I am using re-useable mesh bags when I shop for produce and reusable bags for other shopping. I give away/donate unused clothing and household items. I limit use of agri- and household chemicals. I watch out for and refuse to buy anything with styrofoam. I use unconsumed water from the dogs dish and my water bottle to water plants and we feed our chickens any food waste. We avoid landscaping and garden chemicals and grow many of our own vegetables and fruits. We incorporate many errands in one car trip. I support Audubon and Nature Conservancy. My next car will be electric. I’m trying to figure out how to change out my wardrobe over time to be plastic free.

Does any of what I personally do really make a difference? Most of us living in the US are so self indulgent and have such a sense of entitlement compared to many other countries. I will keep trying to do my bit, and hope that more and more others will too – in the hope and prayer that collectively individuals can make a difference.

Yet, I can’t shake the belief, the dread and fear, that only corporations and governments can make any real difference.

That gasp of quiet and clean air the earth took when all its countries shut down simultaneously (and too briefly) at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic – proof that we can indeed work together and have great impact!! The smog lifted from Shanghai! A single footfall could be heard in Times Square! People sang songs together out their windows above the streets of Milan! There were no planes buzzing overhead! The factory noise eight miles away from my rural home fell silent and the train whistles and ships horns did not sound. What if the whole world shut down like that for just three days a month? Every month. What if?

What. Will. It. Be. Like. When our precious granddaughters and grandsons are grandparents???