Humanity is Creating Continents of Trash
We Must Consume Less
Humans are the only species that creates waste. We are the only species that can live anywhere on the planet. These two “attributes” set us apart from all other species, yet these two “attributes” are killing thousands of other species.
The climate crisis is about CO2 and all other GHG emissions, but it is also about the reality that humans live in consumer economies where waste is an integral part of the system.
“Waste is a design flaw.”
Nature doesn’t produce waste, but the human species has created enough for all the species, and then some.
You might have heard about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It’s been called the 8th Continent. It is currently expanding and is three times the size of France.
This visual explains how big, how old, and how deadly this floating garbage patch truly is. It is a symbol of the excesses humans have created on Spaceship Earth. It has worked its way into the zeitgeist. I just finished reading a short novel called “The Sultan of Garbage”. The book uses the floating plastic garbage patch as a metaphor for the clutter in the author’s life. In a major plot point, the protagonist charters a yacht to take him to the floating plastic continent. It is not an environmental book, which is the point. It is a novel that incorporates this new thing, discovered in the 1990s, that is a metaphor for the superficiality and waste of modern life.
Did you know that plastic comes from petroleum? That it is a product of the fossil fuel industry? Yes it is convenient for all of us, but at what cost? The death of millions of marine animals every year? Here is a valuable site to learn more about the plastic continent https://www.iberdrola.com/sustainability/plastic-island-in-pacific-eighth-continent.
On this website, Tim Rumage, the Co-Founder of This Spaceship Earth, stars in a short video about plastic bottles. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a look: https://thisspaceshipearth.org/2016/12/plastic-bottles/
As Tim states in this video, the key thing for Crew Members is to use ‘reusable systems’ for beverages. I have one for hot drinks and another for cold ones that take me through the day with no plastic waste.
Stop mindlessly buying plastic. Look at how much waste you create every day and try to reduce it as much as possible. Start to crew This Spaceship Earth and stop being a mindless passenger.
“There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.”
