Paradox

When we are seeing differently and noticing how plastic (and therefore non-renewable petroleum) permeates so very much of what makes up our modern civilization, it can be discouraging.  When we see what the plastic cast-offs are doing to this planet, it is downright depressing. I won't post pics or even links but a simple web search of plastic oceans or the Great Pacific garbage patch and the images will cause anyone to pause and question, "How did it come to this?" or "Why didn't I know about this?" or possibly, "How can we stop it?"

The paradox is that we are not seeing those images in front of us in our daily lives as we walk through each day. Instead we are presented with business as usual single-use plastic at just about every turn. (Even paper coffee cups are lined with plastic!) So it is hard to hold those images and yet make what feels like significant change when the presence of single-use plastic is so very ubiquitous. But we are not helpless in the face of it. 

An environmental heroine of mine, a writer, biologist and poet so eloquently said (actually most everything she says is eloquent and I will likely quote her a lot here, so expect to read more!), 

"What we love we must protect. That’s what love means. From the right to know and the duty to inquire flows the obligation to act." - Sandra Steingraber

Yup. What she said.