We Are Lying to Ourselves About Saving the Planet

You might remember the turtle with a straw in his nose. Did you know it was not a plastic straw? It was, most likely, wire insulation. 

Why did we quickly jump to that conclusion? Because it was something easy to blame. It was something that we could ban and would barely disrupt our lives. Did we accomplish something? Yes, we managed to make a change. There's no law banning the straws; you can still buy them if you like. We just collectively decided not to use them. And that is great; it means we don't need laws, government, or associations to make great things. We feel good about the ban. We feel good when judging others.  We feel good when we use other types of saws.

We are the best. Right? Nope, we are not. This is the Pacific Garbage Patch. An “island” made from trapped garbage just floating around. You can see a close-up at the top. Do you see any straws? Not really. Shouldn't we grab a big sample of that patch and just ban whatever we find there?

The sad part is we don't even need the images. If I told anyone, “There's a huge pile of garbage floating in the sea,” I bet most people would be able to correctly guess what it is made of.  Plastic bottles and plastic bags. “No straws?” I guess there are some. But again, can you see  any?

We know what needs to be banned. If it is wire insulation, why are we not banning that? There are plenty of videos showing fish trapped in plastic bags. Turtles are eating plastic bags, thinking they are jellyfish. But we all stay quiet. We all keep buying them. We all do enough to feel good about ourselves: “I recycle the plastic bottles,” “I reuse containers before throwing them away,” “I use cotton instead of synthetic fabrics,” etc., etc. 

However, we know most of the recyclable materials are not actually recyclable. We know we could choose glass or metal instead of plastic. We know 100 ways to save the planet, but we decide not to. And we blame the government: “They should make laws,” “They should punish companies.” Yes, companies should change. Governments should regulate. Waste systems should improve. But we didn't need that for plastic straws. We don't need it for anything else.

Something I always ask when people say “companies are evil” or “companies are polluting.” Sure, please let us know which companies. List them, and we can stop buying their products. You can stop buying their products. But nope, that would be inconvenient. It is way easier to blame the government, the companies, and their products. We can make the change; we have done it before. We just don't care enough.

- Plastic Joy