User:Fraserbrearley

=Group members= Fraser Brearley:Fraserbrearley

=Personal Essay=

Growing up in the United States has been an interesting place when it comes to production and recyling of waste. For as long as I have been alive it seems plastic has always been apart of my life. I find that as I have grown older I have come to realize how much the world does not need plastic. Everywhere one looks there is plastic. Recycling is great and it much needed since we have already produced soo much plastic. But, the issue is far greater than recycling. As a whole the United States and all the countries around the world must stop consuming. The answer to a strong nation is in sustainablity and self reliance. If one truely wants freedom then why do we not want economic freedom through sustainability and localization? There would not be a need for as much plastic because less has to be packaged due to the shorter distance of transportation.

Petroleum in different forms poisons the land: oil, gasoline and lubricants to plastics ranging from car interiors to baby bottle nipples and most packaging. It seems that with out petroleum products of some sort, the human race would cease to exist. Why do we as mammals of this earth allow ourselves to depend on something that is entirely unnatural and harmful? We do not need plastics to go from here to there nor do we need plastic for water or food. Fruit tastes better with out plastic and vegatables are healthier without being seeled in plastic: as all food is. We do not need plastics at all. Now that we have too much plastic in our oceans, nations and homes, there should be plenty of plastic to be recycled for decades to come. So let us stop the production of refined and crude oil.

Every year and practically every minute of my youth it seemed newer and newer plastic toys were being sold. Of course being uneducated and wanting everything that appealed to my senses, I constantly wanted these new toys. Whether is was plastic Batman figures or any other of the millions of petroleum based toys made in the past 20 years, I begged my parents for these worthless plastic figures that were probably harmful and contained lead paint. Because, my parents wanted to please their son, they wasted their hard earned money on these toys; which contributed to and supported the production of plastic. Legos, Knx, toy guns, action figures and a big green plastic tracker with pedals for riding on; the toys of my youth. All made of plastic or petroleum in some form and I played with all this when I wasn't at school.

At school, starting in preschool, everything was plastic. Plastic toys littered the floors and in plastic toy bins. Sitting at plastic tables, in plastic chairs is where I ate my plastic- packaged food with plastic forks and spoons, from a styrofoam or plastic tray. Everyday I used plastic for almost everything. Drank out of plastic cups and waterbottles and I know it wasn't healthy. In fact I remember seeing in the news not too far back that the plastic of Nalgenes was releasing Bisphenol A, a toxin into the contents of the bottle. I can only imagine what toxins may have been in the plastics I regulary relied on.

In third grade I started playing ice hockey. I was so excited not only to be playing hockey and meeting new friends and teammates but I couldn't wait to get all the hockey gear. My helmet and my skates were mostly plastic along with much of the padding I wore on my body. While playing hockey for five years I played in alot of different ice rinks all over the Northwest and even in Denver for a tournament. Every Ice rink had plastic boards all the way around the ice. There was even some sort of petroleum based rubber product on much of the ground for skates to walk on. I can remember to this day the smell of the cold air containing the stale rubbery floors and hockey gear.

I stopped playing hockey in junior high to skateboard and snowboard more. I also started playing music. The wheels on my skateboard are petroleum based polyurithane; the snowboard, bindings, goggles, and probably most of the waterproofing in my jacket, pants and gloves are various plastics. Music equipment also utilizes plastics. From CDs to knobs on guitars, basses, most outboard gear and consoles. Even recording gear the toys of my industry utilize the cheapness and affordability of petroleum products. In everything I do it seems plastic has to be involved in someway. Can we ever stop our dependencies on fossil fuels in plastic form? or at all? I began wondering what happens to all this gear, toys and everything made of plastic. Not everything made of plastic can be recycled, and with more and more plastic stuff being released to the public every year, can we really recycle it all?

New plastic Cell Phones coming out every year along with new CD's and video game consoles. There is always more and more of the stuff. I remember playing Nintendo 64 and even super nintendo where does that out dated plastic stuff go? There aren't enough second hand stores in the Galaxy to store all the old video game consoles and games. More and more cars are being produced and more and more cars are being driven. Millions of pounds of pollution due to petroleum fuels destroy our earth more and more every year. Petroleum products as a whole and especially plastics are flatout unhealthy and toxic. So I just don't think recycling is enough. Even if we stopped producing this second, we would still have way too much plastic to recycle. So why do we continue to produce and produce more plastics?

There are solutions. The first solution: stop producing plastics. Secondly we can implement other forms of plastic from plant sources such as corn, soy and hemp. Not only will the plastics from this source keep availablity of highly moldable and strong plastic but it will also support local farmers across the world, instead of profiting the oil companies. Unfortunately, many solutions will not work effectively unless there is a major reform in the american way of life. Americans consume too much: It is time we return to a simpler way of life. Sustainability through farming and local self reliance is the future and the ultimate solution. The world cannot sustain the american parasite way of life so there must be a change.

The solutions and resources are available: it is up to the people of mostly the United States and Western Societies to take responsibility and start by thinking about their choices. With organic and local farm products more and more readily available it is up to the individual to consider their impact. All of us each day must consider our consumption of petroleum based goods in its many forms of plastic and petroleum. As a world we must recognize not everything we have created can be recycled, thus we must be very wise as to what we as a human race create. Fraserbrearley