Less Plastic is Not Better Plastic

"But it's BPA-free!"

"But it uses LESS plastic than the other bottles!"

It's still plastic, people. I could stop there, but you know me, I must continue.

Plastic is plastic. It's not going away. Even though there is less of it, it's still IT. It's still gonna float around in the ocean. It still sits in the landfills. It still breaks and then becomes useless 'cuz ya can't fix plastic and you still gotta throw it away. How about NO plastic? Can we try that for at least a little bit? Maybe just in spurts at first? Maybe?

It can be done. Sure it's not as cheap or convenient, but what is at stake here? I am quite sure I don't have a normal household. I've been to other homes and - maybe I'm overly sensitive to this kind of thing, but - I am ALARMED at the number of plastic bottles of CRAP found there! DO we even think about it?? Or do we just go about our days with nary a thought?

What can we do? What do we say? Living by example clearly doesn't work well. Do we say something? Do we point it out? Do we just continue to write and hope some of it bleeds through?

I was given a bottle of "special" water. I was in a situation to be polite, and the water was very good, and the bottle was BPA-free and made largely from RPET (recycled plastic)... but it's still a plastic bottle and it still isn't going anywhere. Just stop the madness. We need to cut way back and just get it over with. I've said it before, I'll say it again, the only way to get rid of the 5 Gyres is to stop adding to them. People are taking stuff from the Gyres and making other stuff from it, and that is a good thing, but on our end, can't we just... stop?

Stop. And now I will.