Taking on a life of their own : The Plastacian Age
In what seems like a terrifying science fiction movie , left to its own devices , the fossil fuel monster had babies of its own , creating chemicals not previously identified . Godzilla babies are a new species of living plastic , not yet deemed living but self-propagating , so ...
These new plastic molecules have been deemed “ forever plastics ,” permeating every corner of the earth above and below , including the placenta and breast milk , threatening our infants . This proliferation has led science to name our current times the Plastacian Age .
The Recycling Myth
What came out of Earth Day in the 1970s was Reduce , Reuse , Recycle . Cities began to set up recycling plants , and soon , America established a good recycling program with a promising young industrial market exploring technology and building a manufacturing base to create many new products , from carpets to car parts out of recycled plastic .
In what seems like SOP , the U . S . Government ended recycling almost overnight , instead setting up agreements with China to offshore our plastic trash . In China ’ s defense , at the time , they were just beginning to get on top of its trash problems and thought it could create a viable industry from recycled goods . By the mid to late 1980s , the move bankrupted the U . S . recycling industry . Manufacturing and research came to a screeching halt .
It was a decade before China realized it had severely underestimated the amount of plastic waste the U . S . generated .
In 1995 , China closed its ports to plastic garbage barges without notice , stranding an estimated 111 million tons of plastic outside the Chinese Ports . After the 30-40-day journey , China told the barges to turn around .
The result : about 111 million tons of plastic was taken back to sea and dumped in the ocean so the barges could meet their next stops . Now we have The Plastic Ocean .
Never Saw This Coming
The over 203 different basic types of plastic used around the world , made with various combinations of over 10,000 different chemicals , make it virtually impossible to avoid encountering plastics or microplastics , even in my work scrubs , which I recently found out were made from 100 % fossil fuel fabric .
Perhaps glass tubes would be a better packaging option .
New science has evidence that microplastics bioaccumulate in our major organs and , in a terrifying twist , found that nanoplastics can breach the blood-brain barrier . We have to hit the accelerator on building a viable alternative to plastic or face a bleak future of a new Godzilla of brain-eating plastic babies .
Plastic has permeated our lives . It is up to the hemp industry to light a fire by re-developing the technology to create completely harmless biodegradable plastic that can be thrown in our compost piles .
Never Saw It Coming
What I never saw coming is 4 / 20 having an affair behind our backs with Big Oil , who does a victory dance every time it sees a joint stuffed in a plastic tube . There is absolutely NO justification for buying or selling one pre-rolled joint in non-recyclable fossil fuel tubes . That is a crime against the planet and the earth .
From an old lady who has been fighting for this plant for 54 years , I am shaking my finger at cannabis consumers who buy or sell these tubes . Shame on you . Clean up your act . You owe that much to the plant and planet .
The Future ?
The goal of Earthday . org is to eliminate fossil fuel plastic and replace it with bioplant plastic by 2040 . The fossil fuel plastic industry aims to increase production by 40 % by the same year . The plastic wars have begun .
I still have hope . I ’ m a little sketchy on faith , simply based on over 50 years on the battlefield . We desperately need these two baby boomers to meet and join forces for the changes we need to make .
Earth Day needs to meet the cannabis plant , and the cannabis plant needs to lead the parade on Earth Day . Please help make that happen . Take the Jack Herer Pledge my husband and I took in 1985 when we read the first edition of The Emperor .
“ I promise to do something every day to free the plant , save the earth , and free all pot prisoners until we are 83 . Then we can quit if we want to .” Herer ’ s book is available on Amazon .
Herer died in 2010 . He was only 70 , so he didn ’ t get to retire or see his work through . I ’ m barreling in on 70 , and the thought of spending another 13 years trying to free the plant — well , I would appreciate some help . Get the book , take the pledge , save the planet , and stop with those stupid fossil fuel tubes . They are an insult to the spirit and worth of the plant !
The only operating recycling plant in the U . S . is in Birch , TX . In California , where recycling is mandated , plastic is taken to special landfills designed to contain the contaminants . Realizing the futility of recycling , California has led the way in replacing plastic products with plant-based products and banned single-use plastics .
Dolores Montgomery Halbin , RN , BSN , and Ordained Nurse Minister , resides in SW Missouri . After her husband passed in 2015 , she retired from nursing . She worked with the 2014- 2018 Missouri campaigns for legalized medical marijuana . She continues as a cannabis reform activist volunteering with Canna Convict Project and working toward Federal decriminalization through educational speaking and freelance journalism . Dolores Halbin , doloreshalbin @ gmail . com .
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