Comments on: No Man is a (Plastic) Island

By: Bob

Bob — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:51:35 +0000

As any sailor who has been through the doldrums could tell you, there are similar islands of garbage in the Atlantic. It really is disgusting.

I’ve heard a few people say that just the US ‘solving’ its plastic disposal problem won’t make a significant dent, because, like greenhouse gas, the developing world is responsible for that vast majority of the world’s pollution. While this may be true, it’s no excuse for poor stewardship of the world God gave us.

Just a thought – even though these garbage islands are too remote for most fishing vessels, we clearly have the technology to skim it all up. Of course, nobody wants to own up and foot the clean-up bill. Why not put the world’s Navies to work on it, funded via the UN? I bet the US Navy could do it on their own…

By: Daniel Marriott: International Tough Guy

Daniel Marriott: International Tough Guy — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 22:36:57 +0000

i love the little things in life, and reading this struck me as particularly funny. i’m aware of (most) contemporary social/cultural/ecological issues, including refuse. (aside: plastic bags contribute less than 1% of landfill waste in NZ). about half an hour before i checked my emails, i was getting gas at a station when i bumped into a friend. we stood about for 5 minutes, talking and smoking cigerettes (yes, on the gas station forecourt). i always carry with me a nalgene bottle filled with water. it goes everywhere my campervan goes. well, in a not uncommon momemt of absent-mindedness, i left my nalgene on top of a bin at the station, and may be lost forever) The point is this: i hate the overuse of plastic. i never get bags, buy consumer products with unneccesary packaging, etc, and i love my nalgene for its simplicity. i have one plastic bottle that is sufficient for all my needs. and a half hour ago i lost it…..and it really pissed me off. and reading this website kinda encapulates why such a seemingly trivial incident like losing a water bottle can cause my blood pressure to skyrocket and set me on a course of road-rage for the remainder of my journey. it’s precisely because of ‘society’s’ indifference and apathy towards perceived irrelevant or unimportant things that we experience and behave every day of our lives, and when i find myself, unwittingly or not, guilty of acts that cause harm to the environment, i feel the guilt of the whole world….well, except France of course. F*#k them. in fact, u know what, DeJong, i’m gonna go back to that gas station and find my muthaf*#@ing nalgene even if it means rummaging through a garbage bin! Ha! in your face plastic bottle polluters. let my example be an…..er…..well, an example to u all.

good chat, DeJong.

metta

ps the irony of worrying about the global impact of a single water bottle while consuming petrolium is not lost on me. and i hope isn’t lost on u.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 00:29:42 +0000

Consider the third point a suggestion, not a requirement. (Just planting the seed.) Baby steps… baby steps…

By: RAW

RAW — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 17:04:31 +0000

I love you for raising the bar. I’m all over the first two points, but avoiding other plastic containers has always seemed to daunting. This is now at the top of my resolutions list! Thanks Shannon… Miss you! RAW

By: Ian Matthew Gray, Esq.

Ian Matthew Gray, Esq. — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 02:44:57 +0000

i love that comment for so many reasons.

here’s to a more flexible (but less plastic) ’09.

By: auntie gigi

auntie gigi — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 07:47:07 +0000

I’ll do my best. Why are you so damned good? Makes me feel bad about myself – or actually, inspires me to be a better person.