In the memorable and award winning 1967 movie “The Graduate”, Benjamin’s life lessons are chronicled. I happened to be in high school and it seemed shocking that Mrs. Robinson would seduce a much younger person. Simon and Garfunkel wrote the theme song that is still a reminder of that movie. For my purposes the most memorable line came from Mr. McGuire who advised Benjamin on his future. “I just want to say one word to you.” When he was sure he was being heard he said Plastics. “There is a great future in Plastics.” Turns out McGuire was correct. In 1284 we find the oldest surviving historical record of naturally made plastic compounds. In 1862 a London inventor unveiled the first man made plastic compound called Parkesine but it failed due to high production costs. 1909 gave us Bakelite which was commercially viable. In 1925 the word plastic was introduced. It did not seem like the Rowland Dairy guy in Pocatello had any issue delivering the milk in glass jars. Yes they were heavy and we did have to clean and reuse those nearly indestructible bottles. I also failed to realize how great it was for toys and everything else not to be shrink wrapped in plastic. A great invention taken too far.
I wrote about the Galapagos island last week and highlighted those endemic species living away from the rest of our world. So far they have not run afoul of our ocean pollution. Christine Figgener, is a marine conservation biologist. In 2015 she discovered a sea turtle in Costa Rica with a plastic straw lodged up its nose. A video of the process to remove the straw and the pain it created went viral and this heart wrenching display has racked up 32 million plus views on YouTube. Americans alone use as many as 390 million plastic straws each day. This is just a fraction of the 8 million metric tons of plastic that end up in the ocean annually. Companies are pitching in to help with leaders like Starbucks and American Airlines phasing out the plastic tubes. Imagine a Pacific Garbage patch created by the circular ocean currents 1.6 million square miles in size. A similar patch in the Indian Ocean is estimated at 2 million square miles. Factor in that plastic can take up to a thousand years to decompose and it makes the threat to our oceans, the seabirds, turtles and mammals extend well beyond our foreseeable generations.
We have to get our global act together to protect the planet. Leadership is required and as Paul Simon wrote “where have you gone Joe DiMaggio. Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you. …Jolting Joe has left and gone away.” I fear it will take all of us to lead and put the planet first.
I am a bit long winded today but I have to quote our first African American female into outer space, Mae Jamison. “Never limit yourself because of others limited imagination, never limit others because of your own limited imagination.”
Enjoy the beautiful weather. Mike