A few weeks ago I posted about plastic pollution in the oceans in Bali. Since then I've been even more keenly aware of any kinds of movements or actions that may help to do something about this. I wrote:

We've been told this for years, us Australians - we know that microbeads in cosmetic products never break down in the sea and affect the sealife, we know that ringpulls on sixpacks of stubbies end up wound round the legs of turtles, we know that plastics never, ever break down in the ocean. This drives most of our consumer habits back home, if you care enough. Although large companies like Coles are taking steps to do their bit, such as not supplying single use plastic bags from the start of this month, I fail to see why we don't mandate against plastic packaging for food products at all (why the fuck do I need a lemon on a polysterene tray wrapped in clingfilm??) and it makes me angry that it's money and media marketing that seems to have far more sway than the environment.

My nephew read this post and looked at me in despair, his big blue eyes welling with tears. 'It makes me feel that we can't do anything about it and that we're doomed. What's the point?'. Now if a 12 year old kid is saying that, the rest of us should be hanging our heads in shame. My heart bled for him. He's a surfer too and I showed him the picture of this surfer captured by photographer Zak Noyle in a 'trash wave' in Indonesia:

Gabriel Aoun writes:

Indonesia, a country comprised of more than 17,000 islands, suffers from a terrible trash problem that is polluting its waters. Some of the population centers have little to no trash collection infrastructure, leading locals to dispose of their waste in the street or in river beds, after which it inevitably is washed out to sea. Often, the only other disposal option Indonesians have is burning their trash. Incinerating waste creates equally harmful (albeit less visible) damage to the environment. According to the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, the byproducts of burned waste “produce a variety of toxic discharges to the air, water and ground that are significant sources of a range of powerful pollutants. Many of these toxins enter the food supply.”

Clearly, Indo has a problem. In Australia, we've got no excuse apart from our own laziness and irresponsible consumer habits. We can't blame the state of the world without doing things to change it ourselves. This is what I reassure my nephew: you are only responsible for your own actions. All you can do is be happy that it is YOU doing what YOU can to change the world - and this can start now. I tell him not to worry about it because he's 12, and I don't want him to be so upset that it destroys his faith in the world, but at the same time I tell him this is why he needs to know about these things, so he can change them.

One of my favourite do-able campaigns about plastic pollution is the Take 3 campaign on SurfCoast beaches. It's simple and I wish something like this could roll out across Indonesia, but then where does the rubbish go after that? As I said to my nephew, it's better not to even use plastic in the first place, but some serious campaigning needs to be done in places like that. We definitely have no excuse here. We know.

Yet with all our education and understanding about plastic pollution, people were still kicking off about Coles Supermarkets decision to ban single use plastic bags in their stores. My mother's reaction?

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'People who can't figure out how to live without plastic bags are morons"

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God I love my mother sometimes. This is her response to the reactions of the last few weeks by people who can't organise their lives to not use a plastic bag. She is unequivocal about it: 'it's not rocket science, for god's sake'. In fact, this conversation forms a rant of at least half an hour and a blow by blow run down of her strategies. She is prepared and ready and has been doing this for a long time. I asked to take a photo of her bag, which she initially refused to do because 'I was only going to tease her online' but I assured her I had nothing but admiration for her resourcefulness.

Note the recycled bags are on a clip that are clipped to her bag. They won't get lost in there and she makes sure that as soon as she unpacks the groceries, she's ready for next time. She also has bags perfect for keeping vegetables crisp, and the next day she brings me a box of 8, because that was my problem too. So all these people complaining that the 15c bags are useless and break, or that they're still plastic and end up in landfill anyway, or that 'what else can I carry my rubbish in' ought to listen to my mother. I'm not even sure that anyone these days can complain about having to spend 99cents on a recycled bag - haven't these been in circulation for eons? And I know charity shops often give them away. Hell, I'll buy you a few if you like. Plus - um? cardboard boxes? They'll give you those for free too.

We need to stop complaining about change, and embrace it. Or perhaps save our outrage for things that really matter, rather than 'I'm so darn personally inconvenienced by this'. Tell that to this turtle:

'I'm so outraged that my supermarket banned plastic bags, and no, I don't care about turtles' said no one ever.

I absolutely agree with those who are raging because they see a hypocrisy in this - sure, Coles, it looks awesome that you've banned single use plastic bags, but there's plenty of products that they buy that are unnecessarily wrapped in layers and layers of plastic. I don't buy those products, or try my best not to - I swear about it, but I can deal with it. Like I can deal with not using a plastic bin liner, as people felt annoyed about. In the words of my Mum, 'why the hell do you need a plastic bag? Just rinse the bloody bin out'

I've removed stronger expletives, which wasn't like her, but it was something she felt so strongly about that I felt she was justified in using them. Gee, I was in admiration of my Mum. The world needs more people like her. She's my new trash hero.

I'm glad of this small change. It might be too little, too late, but at least it's something. At least it's something.

What do you think?

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