Plastically Challenged...

12/5/10

Well the day has finally arrived, the day I attempt the Plastics Challenge… naturally put off until the last possible day.

I woke up at the crack of mid-afternoon after a long night of tom-foolery, ready and raring to begin my day of zero-plastics.

Alas, the day was short-lived, as I immediately broke the rules: I check the time on my plastic clock.

Dagnabbit.

“Ok, re-do,” I tell myself.

I then reach for my contact case… and stop short. That too is made of plastic. Heck, even the contacts themselves are plastic.

Fooey.

I’ll just wear my glasses, I guess. Nope, damn, those are plastic as well.

I blindly stumble out of my room to the restroom. No way to brush my teeth (the brush AND the paste tube are comprised of plastic). Showering is out of the question. What’s the point if I can’t use the shampoo and soap in their plastic bottles? The toilet even has a plastic handle… as does the sink. Not wanting to piss off my roommates by not flushing (pun intended), I leave the bathroom, very dirty and unrelieved.

I next head to the kitchen for some grub. Not able to use the plastic-handled refrigerator, I visually scour the cabinets (wooden, thank goodness) for something of nutritional value. Finding nothing not in a plastic bag or container (except unappealing, boxed potato flakes), I walk away hungry.

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At this point I gave up; I was blind, uncomfortable, and hungry. Unfortunately, in today’s world, there are few things we are exposed to that aren't made, at least partly, of plastic. Yeah, I could’ve spent the whole day in bed reading a paperback until the sun went down, but I think my productivity would’ve suffered (Plus, typing this up would’ve been a real hassle w/o this plastic keyboard…)

Plastics are convenient and have many good qualities, but it's scary to think that a substance can have such a dominating influence on our modern daily lives. This challenge forced me to step back and really see (albeit myopically) how completely plastics have infiltrated our world.

-Aaron Heimann, Env.St. 113-311