I am choosing to protest the use of Styrofoam because
- it is a local problem, meaning that it is something that I, a regular person living in Vancouver, can change. (This is unlike the illegal whaling that goes on in Japan, for example, which would be much more difficult for me to control in my current situation since I do not eat whale meat, etc.). However, although it is all good and well that I can make a small difference by not taking Styrofoam, actually saving our planet is something that we all have to do together. The only way to do this (and what stops us from doing it) is to make sure that everyone knows about the effect of Styrofoam on the environment.
- it is an environmental problem. I think that we need to start with our environmental problems because if we have no planet then we will never be able to fix our other problems such as poverty and animal cruelty. They will not exist anymore because our Earth will not exist anymore.
For these reasons, I am taking my efforts one step further to do something that will hopefully raise awareness about the issue:
I am going to gather supporters and form an anti-Styrofoam organization in Vancouver (I have been unable to find any pre-existing ones). For one year (or as long as it takes) we will collect all the unnecessary Styrofoam products that we can - Styrofoam cups and containers that are being thrown away, ones that we find on the ground, and ones that we personally use (for our groceries, at events, etc.). We will count the pieces of Styrofoam that we collect, bag them up for storage, and, once we have enough of it (an amount of Styrofoam that can be comparable to 93,000 blue whales), we will choose a public park to dump it in. We will hold a large protest around the Styrofoam pile.
The following is an excerpt from the Vancouver Park By-Laws:
I am going to gather supporters and form an anti-Styrofoam organization in Vancouver (I have been unable to find any pre-existing ones). For one year (or as long as it takes) we will collect all the unnecessary Styrofoam products that we can - Styrofoam cups and containers that are being thrown away, ones that we find on the ground, and ones that we personally use (for our groceries, at events, etc.). We will count the pieces of Styrofoam that we collect, bag them up for storage, and, once we have enough of it (an amount of Styrofoam that can be comparable to 93,000 blue whales), we will choose a public park to dump it in. We will hold a large protest around the Styrofoam pile.
The following is an excerpt from the Vancouver Park By-Laws:
14A. Except for litter which is deposited in compliance with section
14B, no person shall deposit any garbage, refuse or other waste
material in a park.
14B. No person shall deposit litter in a park except in litter containers
provided, maintained or authorized by the Board.
We are doing this to (positive consequences):
- Show people the problem and the threats it poses to the environment. People can ignore the Styrofoam in the oceans and in the landfills because we cannot see it. We value public parks a lot in Vancouver, so we will use one to demonstrate what is happening to the rest of our planet. What good are a few pristine public parks when the rest of the world is being turned into a giant landfill?
- Encourage the Vancouver government to ban the use of all unnecessary Styrofoam products. This has already happened in some places in California. The only necessary products are Styrofoam packing material for transporting things, such as medicine, that must be kept cold (Styrofoam is an excellent insultor). Businesses who need to use Styrofoam packing should be required to get a free license.
- Encourage people to bring their used Styrofoam (e.g. packing peanuts) to a Styrofoam re-using centre that we will establish in Vancouver. The Styrofoam that people do need to use must be brought back to this centre. It will work because, unless being used to transport radioactive compounds, the Styrofoam will remain clean and can be re-used until it is falling apart. Other countries, such as Ireland (where I lived for a few years), are very good at re-using packing Styrofoam, so we must follow their example.
Below is a link to a US petition against packaging food in Styrofoam because of the environmental impact and potential health hazards:
http://www.petitiononline.com/5706esp/petition.html
I have tried to come up with an action that will have the least amount of negative consequences - I do not want to hurt any people or any businesses that currently use Styrofoam. There is a line between not going far enough and going too far. I hope to cross the line to just on the other side of too far so that people actually think about what I have done but that I do not offend them so much that they simply get defensive and ignore the point I am trying to make. If the government does eventually put a ban on Styrofoam products, restaurants may charge extra for takeaway containers because they will be made of more expensive products like paper or sugarcane. The other alternative (that may be a negative for some people) is that some restaurants may not offer any takeout containers – they will expect you to bring your own.
My family says that they will support my action (although I am sure that my mother will soon get tired of all the Styrofoam that will be taking up our garage). Like many people, they think about the environment a lot and try to be eco-friendly in small ways, but have never made drastic changes or tried to change how other people live their eco-unfriendly lives. I am not sure that they believe I am capable of doing it or believe that I actually will. What I will do is prove them wrong. Some of my friends have already started collecting Styrofoam. Others haven't really changed at all and continue to use Styrofoam despite my attempts at explaining how bad it is to them. One person asked me why I was doing it and I said that it is partly for the animals in the ocean whose habitat we continue to destroy. I want to stop killing animals because there is more plastic in the ocean than there is plankton. However, it is also a selfish act. I want to always be ble to enjoy a beautiful sparkling ocean that is free of ugly garbage. I am doing it so that humans can live on the Earth for longer because we have already worked so hard and progressed so far by building cars and learning how to fly . I do not want all of these things to go to waste because we were smart enough to do those things but not smart enough to keep the Earth healthy. If we can be a greener society I know that we will all feel better because no one enjoys making garbage - it just seems unavoidable. We would also become much more responsible because we would have to start caring about where our waste ends up.
http://www.petitiononline.com/5706esp/petition.html
I have tried to come up with an action that will have the least amount of negative consequences - I do not want to hurt any people or any businesses that currently use Styrofoam. There is a line between not going far enough and going too far. I hope to cross the line to just on the other side of too far so that people actually think about what I have done but that I do not offend them so much that they simply get defensive and ignore the point I am trying to make. If the government does eventually put a ban on Styrofoam products, restaurants may charge extra for takeaway containers because they will be made of more expensive products like paper or sugarcane. The other alternative (that may be a negative for some people) is that some restaurants may not offer any takeout containers – they will expect you to bring your own.
My family says that they will support my action (although I am sure that my mother will soon get tired of all the Styrofoam that will be taking up our garage). Like many people, they think about the environment a lot and try to be eco-friendly in small ways, but have never made drastic changes or tried to change how other people live their eco-unfriendly lives. I am not sure that they believe I am capable of doing it or believe that I actually will. What I will do is prove them wrong. Some of my friends have already started collecting Styrofoam. Others haven't really changed at all and continue to use Styrofoam despite my attempts at explaining how bad it is to them. One person asked me why I was doing it and I said that it is partly for the animals in the ocean whose habitat we continue to destroy. I want to stop killing animals because there is more plastic in the ocean than there is plankton. However, it is also a selfish act. I want to always be ble to enjoy a beautiful sparkling ocean that is free of ugly garbage. I am doing it so that humans can live on the Earth for longer because we have already worked so hard and progressed so far by building cars and learning how to fly . I do not want all of these things to go to waste because we were smart enough to do those things but not smart enough to keep the Earth healthy. If we can be a greener society I know that we will all feel better because no one enjoys making garbage - it just seems unavoidable. We would also become much more responsible because we would have to start caring about where our waste ends up.
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