Plastic Island

My friend Ann wrote the following blog, I think it needs to be shared with as many people as possible:

Hello! I am really excited to be writing another blog.. I have been extremely busy lately with work and buying my very first house. (I will definitely be writing more about that in a later blog).

My topic today needs everyone’s attention asap!

I never really plan my blogs. I just wait for something inspiring to make it’s way into my very random thoughts.

Yesterday I was talking with my fabulous friend and Realtor, Tony Ray, while waiting for my housing inspection to be done (It passed…huge sigh of relief). We started talking about his newest project and going green.

I will be the first to admit that while I am aware of how wasteful we as humans can be, I was utterly shocked when he told me about something called “Plastic Island” . Maybe you have heard of it, but until yesterday, I was completely oblivious to what was happening to our used plastics.

Mainly water bottles and grocery store bags. Think about it, for a minute….we live in the desert. On any given day I use at least two plastic water bottles. It is a routine when I go anywhere to have a bottle of water with me at all times. Now think about every single person using at least one a day. The amount of waste is frightening!

Maybe we have never given a second thought to where it all goes. Well, It is time we all know. Awareness is the first step to creating change. Plastic Island was described to me as this enormous “Island” twice the size of the state of Texas made up of used plastics floating in the middle of the Ocean that is killing all kinds of marine life and polluting the Ocean.

As Tony Ray and I parted ways for the day, I could not get this out of my mind. As soon as I could, I logged onto my computer and typed in “Plastic Island” in Google. I found some really disturbing facts…heart breaking, really. Some of the highlights that I took away are:

  1. it weighs 3.5 million tons
  2. it is floating between San Francisco and Hawaii
  3. 267 species of Marine Life are suffering.

You always hear that one person can change the world. If that is true, Just imagine what we could do if we all worked together. Instead of buying a water bottle every day, buy one that you can re use all the time. Instead of using plastic bags, buy the cloth ones that all the food stores are selling now. Little changes can make a huge difference! This is our planet and we need to start taking care of it.