This should have bee posted on the 1st of December 2007, as usual i am late...
Development and progress comes at a cost, our environment is being ruined, and the creatures that were here before us, are being forced out of their havens, if they are not already extinct because of poaching or over hunting.
With the discovery of plastic in the early 18 hundreds, life as we know it, or as it was known then, drastically changed. The commercial use of plastic, a petroleum-based by product, was a gigantic leap forward, but it also brought with it a gloomy prospective, of what awaits us in the not too distant future, if we do not wise up and change our way of life, or at least make an effort to reduce the crap we use or throw out.
If you only look at the dump fills around the world, you’d be surprised to see the amount of crap, WE, the so called intelligent beings of this world, consider necessities, only later to have tired of and disposed.
The problem, with any good thing is that there is also a bad trait to it, like yin & yang, one goes with the other. New inventions are used to benefit human being, but the magic word we should be concentrating on most is beings and not ‘human being’. We have the ability to do wonders and the intelligence to back it up, but for some reason or another we don’t; maybe it’s because we do not care, or maybe it’s a flaw in humanity, our GREED, maybe STUPIDITY, ARROGANCE, IGNORANCE, or for any of the many flawed characteristics in us.
Plastic is cheap, strong, lightweight, durable, energy efficiency, available everywhere and has a million and one uses.
Here in Bahrain, it’s no different than any place around the world; as an example…
Go to any mall or hypermarket in Bahrain, or a grocery shop for that matter, and the goods we purchase are handed over to us in plastic bags, we have no say in this matter.
We may choose to carry a cloth sack, but that alone will not be enough, the quantity we purchase demands a minimum of 5/6 plastic bags, at least that the minimum that we leave with; and when at home, the bags go directly into the bin, only to be collected the next day and taken to the local dump, or a land fill that no one is aware of.
We should look to changing our behaviours, take the cloth sack with you, but instead of waiting till the end of the month, go every week and buy the ration for only that week. It may help limit the number of plastic bags being used, then again someone will come out and say that the increased number of visits means that the car would be used more and thus have an effect on the air (pollution).
Yes, but consider car pools where neighbours or friends go together. Or get a freaking hybrid car…..
I don’t presume to know what the best solution is, but we must start somewhere.
The government should seriously look at this matter and introduce measures to curb, if not reduce pollution, and promote the concept of recycling.
How far would you be prepared to inconvenience yourself for the sake of protecting the environment?
One option is an outright ban on the use of plastic bags, but I doubt it would work.
In an article in the GDN titled ‘New push to bin plastic bags crucial’ on Sunday, 22 April 2007, Adele Oshea wrote on the subject of plastic bag pollution, a subject rarely ever discussed in Bahrain or any other GCC country for that matter.
She went on to explain progress being made in the world, where some countries had introduced taxes; some had banned ‘plastic shopping bags’ altogether, yet others had partially banned some forms of plastic bags. She went on to say that reviving the old paper bags was not a solution as the process of producing them caused more damage to the environment that usage of the plastic bags, GO FIGURE.
WE MUST START A RECYCLING CAMPAIN IN OUR COUNTRY. GET THE GOVERNMENT INVOLVED, WE NEED TO START SOMEWHERE.
AN IMMEDIATE BAN IS IMPOSSIBLE BUT WE MAY BE ABLE TO TAKE IT FORWARD, A STEP AT A TIME.
MAKE SURE THIS image STAYS IN YOUR MIND: THE GRAPHIC IMAGE OF THE HORRIBLE EFFECTS ON THE ENVIORNMENT AND OUR NEIGHBOURING ANIMALS.
