Monday, November 24, 2008

Sustainability where art thou

Image:http://greenasathistle.com/
Plastic Plastic Plastic
I do not know how plastic came into such widespread use so much so that we don't think twice before tossing a plastic spoon in the trash...after just "one" use... even after knowing that where ever it ends up...it is going to stay there forever.
When applied in the social context, sustainability is expressed as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
source wiki
I remember going to buy grocery in my hometown Madurai which is a small town in India, when I bought something ...the shopkeeper wrapped that thing in a paper cone and tied it with a coir thread.....think of it the packaging landed in trash and everything would decompose in sometime...
Food to go meant it was wrapped in a Banana leaf to maintain the moisture and then wrapped with the same paper and coir thread.... I do not know if the town still functions the same way..
but... 10 years later here in the United States I observe ...plastic plastic everywhere

one gallon of millk which is already in a plastic container (with handle) is put in 2 plastic bags for "convenience".

I am sure it may be much more difficult to come up with solid wrappers, good Togo boxes, reusable spoons ...without plastic.. but I think somewhere down the production line someone thought if only we could throw the "sustainability" part out of the equation ...life would be so much simpler.
and that is what has happened....

I wish people would be more judicious in using plastic,
-use cloth bags instead of plastic bags
-eating in at a restaurant instead of a take out....take outs take so much packaging.
-cook food instead of eating from instantsoup boxes
-The government would recognize this fact and comeup with "No plastic until decomposable plastic"
For a cleaner planet...... for a sustainable planet!