Plastics are everywhere, does the efforts of one person really matter?
One morning, my wife and I were on our way to work, riding through the calm streets of Watamu. As we were passing the surrounding vibandas (kiosks), she mentioned something that I couldn’t get out of my mind for the rest of the day. She really wanted to get some mahamri (a donut, if it was triangular and without a hole) but couldn’t because she was afraid they would use a plastic bag for packaging. At first, that just seemed absurd to hear, since we were literally passing a pile of single use plastics dumped a few centimeters from the road. The whole street, and almost all the other streets in the area, was full of plastics.
My wife, who is an Environmental Education Officer, didn’t seem to notice how ironic her statement sounded or how astounded I looked. Which made me even more curious to hear her reasoning. I mean, why refuse to buy something she really wanted just because they would package it in a plastic carrier bag? The environment was already full of them anyway. Besides, I knew she would dispose of it in the right way- she always segregates the rubbish at home. In addition, we have millions of single use plastics in circulation, and almost everyone I know uses them. I have to admit, it didn’t occur to me what she was hoping to achieve with what seemed like a very feeble effort to me?
Loren's Starfish story
As she took her time to explain, she deepened my understanding and convictions of conservation. It turns out, at the end of the day, conservation isn’t just about the big events, but the small things in our day to day lives. As I sat pondering over her insights, I realized the correlation between what she was saying and Loren Eisley’s Starfish Story. Loren writes;
“One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?” The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up, and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.” “Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said…” I made a difference for that one.”- From Starfish Story by Loren Eisley
Yes, the efforts of an individual matters
As an individual, I have always held Loren’s story close to the heart. I love how it demonstrates resilience,hope and continuity in the eyes of almost guaranteed defeat. Even when all hope seems lost and all the odds stacked against us, the call is to make the bold step forward and do the next right thing.
To bring this back to the original story. I realized that it was true for me, as it is to most of us, we have in some ways “given up”. We are like that man looking at the many starfish on the beach and thinking, “they are so many, we will never get them all in time, why bother?”. Even though we know that plastics are harmful to the environment, we rarely do anything about it, or worse, won’t stop using them. This is because we think our individual efforts won’t amount to much. And so, we choose to just go with the flow because we believe the earth is doomed anyway, why waste your energy trying to do anything about it?
Our stories vary from person to person and from place to place. Maybe for you, it is the overwhelming number of people in your area using single-use plastics, or maybe it is the excess number of plastics already dumped in the oceans or environment near you, or maybe you live next to a company or know someone who works with a company that produces plastics, or maybe it a combination of two or all the scenarios listed above. The bottom-line is, with the current situation in the world, it is almost impossible not to have a good excuse as to why you have lost hope in conservation.
Saving the world, one plastic bag at a time
But if there is anything I learned from my wife and the boy from Loren’s story, is that every individual effort matters! Standing as an individual and refusing to use single-use plastics matters! It may not seem like much in the eyes of what is going on, but it matters! Taking your own container to the shop to reduce the number of plastics you bring in your home matters! Recycling and re-using the plastics you already have at home matters!
And just like the boy, you don’t have to transform the lives of thousands or everyone in your circle regarding the use of plastics. Even if you manage to change just the attitude of your neighbour, husband or wife, children at home or a friend, that will amount to something. It may take time, and it will, but together, in the long run, we will realize a stabilizing curve in the use of plastics. Imagine if all of us decided to say no to single-use plastics! That is what I learned that morning, that the only guaranteed way of stopping the production of single-use plastics is by stopping to use them altogether. Recycling and re-using will only reduce the number of what is dumped in the environment, but it won’t stop it.
Also, the governments can only do so much. In Kenya for example, the government banned plastic carrier bags in 2017, but they are still in use! Policies can only go so far, really transformation, comes from a changed attitude.
If you started reading this post thinking that your small individual efforts doesn’t amount to anything, I hope you are leaving hopeful and strengthened, knowing exactly the future you are fighting for. Gosh, it is beautiful! And hey, chin up, there is a lot of beautiful souls like you out there doing what you are doing. Refusing to use single-use plastics doesn’t make you an old-timer, it makes you a visionary.