Plastics

Have you ever thought about how much we (especially as Americans) depend on plastic? I hear people talk all the time about our dependence on (foreign) oil for gas, but what about everything else we use oil for. What about plastic, which is made from oil?

I'm sure you've heard of BPA in plastics, like baby bottles, water bottles, etc. and how harmful it is. In fact, many baby products are now flaunting their 'BPA free' status. Did you know that when you leave a bottle of water in your car on a hot day the bottle heats up releasing chemicals (BPA - Bisphenol-A) into your drinking water? This particular chemical (BPA) can cause health defects up to and including cancer. BPA has been shown to emulate the feminine hormone estrogen, and once in the human body will essentially raise estrogen levels. This chemical is found in plastic food containers as well, making it pretty risky to microwave your dinner in tupperware.

Not only is it pretty bad for your body, but for the environment as well. Think about all the plastic surrounding you on a day to day basis:

cups

plastic forks/spoons/knives

plastic plates/bowls

computers

electronics

remote controls

picture frames

appliances

food storage bags

your car's interior

light switches

shampoo bottles

power cords

pacifiers

dvd cases

dvds

cds

pens

straws

spatulas

baby gates

toothbrushes

toothpaste tubes

--the list goes on and on. If it's not healthy to drink from a warm water bottle because of the chemicals that seep out, it can't possibly be healthy to use toothpaste from a plastic tube that has always been kept at room temperature, or warmer. Think about warehouses that mass produce plastics, I bet they don't keep everything cool.

And we have to make sure we recycle. If not, plastic lies around for years and years before decomposing, and chemicals such as BPA leak out into the land around it, eventually reaching ground water, lakes, rivers, whatever, until it finds its way into our drinking water. Yep, its in tap water.

So, I think we all need to think twice about what we're doing to our environment, and especially our bodies. Even if you start small and just stop buying plastic drinking cups, we could make a huge impact.