It’s a litmus test.
A litmus test for you.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government is in the process of unveiling a ban on certain single-use plastics as early as 2021. It’s a way of trying to deal with the 34 million plastic bags Canadians throw away every day, along with plastic straws, cutlery, plates and a host of other products.
It’s the sort of decision that has to be taken as waterways and oceans fill with plastics, with only about nine per cent of plastic actually being recycled.
The ubiquity of that waste should be especially apparent to those of us who live on the ocean: plastics are on every tideline in increasing amounts, microplastics are turning up in filter feeders like mussels and clams, and larger sea life, including sea turtles and whales are dying with their stomachs packed with plastic waste.
But that doesn’t mean the changes will come easily or quickly.
First off, the Liberals are pitching one of those “we’re taking action now, by which we mean we’re acting maybe two years from now if we’re still the government.” (The federal government plans its own scientific analysis to see if plastic waste can be described as toxic waste, wants to work with the provinces on an overall plan, and expects to make plastics manufacturers responsible for the environmental costs of their products — so, many hurdles yet to jump.)
And while a future plastic ban may endear the Liberals to some voters, it could just as easily turn others away.
Never forget just how many of us are wedded to the conveniences of our wasteful lifestyles.
Never forget just how many of us are wedded to the conveniences of our wasteful lifestyles.
One of the things about environmental changes is that they tend to be supported more broadly before individual impacts start to be felt. It’s along the lines of “Let’s reduce emissions, sure, but don’t tell me I have to buy a smaller truck.”
It’s a crucial line: it’s one thing to want a cleaner ocean and cleaner air, but when you actually have to make changes yourself — or face any sort of increased costs — resistance grows quickly. You need only look at the success that political parties have had campaigning against carbon taxes to see that in action.
We should all be taking a longer view.
How much responsibility are we willing to simply abdicate, passing on the inevitable results to our children instead? Do we want to continue the march to extinction of some of the species we’ve grown up with? Does our need for a new plastic coffee stir stick for every single fresh cup of coffee outweigh the need to protect the planet from still more long-lived and dangerous waste?
Environmental protection isn’t always easy. It isn’t always convenient. And it isn’t always cheap.
It doesn’t mean we can keep on ignoring the problem.
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