plastic
musings on the permanence of plastic
plastic
noun
a synthetic material made from a wide range of organic polymers such as polyethylene, PVC, nylon, etc., that can be moulded into shape while soft, and then set into a rigid or slightly elastic form.
There have been many plastic bags I’ve come across that have fallen apart in my hands. Usually they’ve been decades old or just left in direct sunlight over a consistently long period of time. It’s a strange sensation as the plastic breaks at your touch like an overly sensitive wafer.
Sometimes it’s difficult to comprehend the permanence of plastic when it can so readily fall apart in your hands. I find it difficult to square that experience with the reality that plastic takes thousands of years to degrade.
And yet that’s the reality of the situation. Plastic will not decay in the same way as food, animals or other organic matter. These things decay and become humus, essentially soil, dust to dust as they say. Plastic doesn’t do that.
Plastic gets smaller and small but it stays as plastic. It floats in the air, sinks to the depths of the ocean, or is ingested up the food chain as micro and nano plastics. Plastic has been found in the polar ice caps and other remote places of our planet.
I was initially searching for information about plastic to verify the credibility of a metaphor I was planning to use. As I looked things up my mind was taken to podcasts and literature I’d seen about the impact of plastic in the environment.
It’s really depressing when you get into it. I’m not a big animal person but you shouldn’t need to be, to be devastated by the impact of human beings on the planet. As someone who believes mankind has been given dominion over the earth, I’m ashamed of what we do with that responsibility.
Over and over it feels like all mankind knows is death and destruction. Typically we understand that as war and violence between people. However we exercise death and destruction over other species and habitats. We cause extinction in so many species. I’m constantly listening to podcasts which discuss how there’s reduced biodiversity. We stay moving mad.
Yet as I write this I’m craving cashew nuts. So I get up and pour some into my palm from the packet I keep in my room. The packaging is non recyclable and yet I buy it still. I haven’t boycotted plastic packaging all together. I am complicit even though it seems to me I don’t have much power to be anything else.
Now I know there’s nuance needed in the packaging debate. For example plastic packaging on a cucumber can seem unnecessary but is actually more effective for the environment. It’s not simply about being rid of all plastic packaging. To be honest though I don’t know what it’s really all about. It’s easy to feel powerless about the state of the environment.
I’m not a climate activist. I’m not in these streets fighting for climate change. I stay at home mostly. However I think it’s important to never become numb. I think apathy is one of the biggest obstacles to collective change. I don’t know what my actions ought to be but I think ensuring I always care is a decent place to begin.