Two photos of the same plastic bag. It is hanging out there in the wind and the rain and the sun and the frost in my back garden. The first photo was taken on the 21 September 2007 (070921) the autumn equinox. I will continue to take photos of this plastic bag every three months on the equinox and solstice until either the bag rots or I do.
It is a little disheartening to realise this humble plastic bag will probably last much longer than me.
The second was taken yesterday 14 October 2007 (071014), the day before Blog action Day. Not much sign of deterioration yet
Meanwhile click here to see what people around the world are doing to try and make sure that this plastic bag is amongst the last 10 trillion plastic bags ever made.
Fact; The world uses over 1.2 trillion plastic bags a year.
That's 1 200 000 000 000 in round (mostly) numbers.
Or 1.2 times 10 to the power 12.
Or 1000101110101100100101110000000000000 in binary number.
That's a lot how ever you write it. So even if we stopped making plastic bags in 5 years time that would mean there would be 6 trillion MORE plastic bags to bugger the world up. That's a 1000 plastic bags per person on the planet, compared with one Kalashnikov per 60 people or one car per 2 people (in the UK) and that isn't counting the 50 trillion plastic bags already in existence. Do YOU need a thousand plastic bags? Where would you keep them all? Oh yeah, in some land fill site the size of Devon. Though hopefully not in Devon if you don't mind. Or maybe we could take them all out to some redundant North Sea Oil platform and push them back down the pipe to where they came from in the first place and in 60 million years they would have turned back to oil. Recycling in the long term and a grand scale.
Oh yeah, don't for get as well as plastic bags, of which I have 27 in a cupboard in the kitchen, shame on me, there are plastic bottles out there in their trillions.
This photo shows just a few of the 2 million plastic bottles used in the US every 5 minutes.
Please note I am not having a dig at the US, it was just a meaningful photo.
To see all of the 2 million bottles and 60 000 bags used every 5 second all in one place
click here.Photo by CHRIS JORDAN.
So what can we do about this and other problems that Blog Action Day is highlighting?
Lots! I am sure, if you have clicked on the links above you will have plenty of ideas like the people of Modbury in the fair county of Devon who have banned the plastic bag. Even if you think this is a bit too much then here is one idea of how you can help.
At the lowest level you can reuse your plastic bags again and again for years. How? when you go shopping take some of the couple of dozen that are in the kitchen with you so the shop doesn't need to give you yet an other pile of plastic bags that you will probably fill with rubbish to take out to the wheelie bin. Most plastic bags only get used twice. Once to bring the food home from the shop and the 2nd time to take the rubbish to the bin. Re-use your plastic bags instead of throwing them away.
Final comment. What WILL we do about it in time to save the Planet? Nothing. Well not quiet nothing. We have in the last 40 years managed to get rid of CFCs, leaded petrol and fitted catalytic converters to cars but we have also pushed hundreds of animals species off the planet and thousands more about to follow, possibly (probably?) including us. So when, not if, the environment collapses and mass extinction takes place, what then?
Am I sounding pessimistic by the way? I prefer to think I am a long, long term optimist. What! The human race wiped out along with the tiger, blue whale, the cane toad, oak trees and blue bells as well as all the domestic cats in the world optimistic?
Well, that is where Mr Charles Darwin comes in. He will go round for the next 65 Million years evolving and one day some scientist will announce to the world that there is a layer of material all over the planet, all dating back to 65 million years ago. This material does not exist naturally on Earth so a giant meteor the size of Manhattan made of plastic must have hit the Earth all those years ago wiping out over 95% of all living things.
Clean up the environment or.................................
Think long term like me.
Yesterday Was Mid Summer's Day though you could be forgiven for not noticing that it was even summer when you see this view of Torquay Harbour. Dull, overcast all day long. Much better today. The other thing that happens on Mid Summer's Day is I take a photo of a plastic bag. Not just any plastic bag though there are trillions of them to choose from. The plastic bag I photograph has been hanging on the washing line in the back garden since Blog Action Day last year. I put it there intending to photograph it every 3 months to show how long plastic bags last and the harm they are doing to the environment. It expected it to last for ever. We had some strong winds down here a couple of months ago and as you can see I have discovered a way of getting rid of plastic bags.
All you have to do is hang all your plastic bags on the washing line and leave them there. However as there are trillions of them we would need a washing line going round the world about fifteen times which is not the most practical solution to a problem I have ever come up with.
