Guest writer today: Eva

Hi All

People use plastic everywhere, whether poor or rich or in-between.  They may not even have a house or home but surely something they possess is made from plastic.  Most of them use it every day without a thought about what to is, who made it, what it’s made of and what will happen to it when they are done with it.  It ends up in landfills and water ways mostly, and then ultimately in the ocean.  We’ve known this for some time now and haven’t done much to stop any of it.  I wrote about this in my book Lahni’s Mission (good book:-)…get it for your kids 10+), which I finished a year ago and published last October online on this blog.

I thought nothing was going to change much but in the last few months all of a sudden I noticed a huge difference.  For instance, I went for stroll on my favourite beach today, on Winter solstice,  in Australia and I only had to pick up a couple of bits of garbage along my walk.  That’s a big change…normally I would’ve filled an entire plastic bag (also found on the beach) while walking just along the water’s edge.  I’ve even done a photo series on this documenting some of the more recognisable trash with my camera.

Anyway to get back to my point…in the last few months a few groups have taken it upon themselves to clean up where they run (click on the hyper link to get more info about where you can join and help).  They are called Responsible Runners Bondi….there is a group by the same name in Maroubra as well and  other beaches in Sydney and around Australia.  There is also a group called Plastic Pollution Coalition who bring awareness and attention to the issue of plastic…everywhere!  They share articles, information and what to do about it.

It’s pretty much a given that plastic is here to stay but it’s not a given that we have to be choked by it and that we have to keep polluting the earth and the oceans with it.  Become responsible by thinking about what you use, why you use it and how you dispose of it.  To start with we can all make a pledge to go Plastic Free in July this year to help with the clean up.  Our environment needs a break…please give Plastic a break!

Yours, Eva

with Lahni