Our Vast Plastic Trash

 Although I have lived in the Blue Ridge now for far longer than that long-ago past when I grew up, down in Louisiana . . . where, as TonyJoe White sang, "the alligators grow so mean," I still remember the bayou state with fond memories. I remember those moss-laden bayous where my dad and I, or my brother and I, would drift in the old "johnboat" in search of the elusive sac-a-lait and brim, and maybe haul out a net or two of them crawfish.

In those still, swampy waters, water quality is a delicate balance between what God and the mighty Mississippi hath bestowed in that great delta alluvial mouth and what we mortals have cast into it.

I was reminded of this today when I was reading about Dave Rivers and Trey Dennis in the New York Times

Just over the state line in Texas is a very big city called Houston. To be honest with you, I never thought much of the place, but today I had to give them some credit for hiring these two brave citizens, Dave and Trey, whose job it is to clean everybody else's friggin throwaway mess on a bayou that runs right through the city of Houston. 

Here's the comment that I wrote after reading about that very important work that Dave and Trey are doing. . . work that we should all be minimizing by proper disposal at our myriad-millions points of consumption:

These men are angels, doing the dirty work that we should all be doing.

We hear so much nowadays about climate change, carbon emissions and global warming.  These problems are global in scale and should be remedied by laws and through public education.

But what about this plastic and throwaway trash that would actually be easier to properly dispose, if laws were passed accordingly, and we Americans could collectively begin solving theproblem by passing laws to control disposal, placing the responsibility squarely on each citizen, and . . .

building new industries to convert these supposedly neutral substances, which are actually lethal to our wildlife and ecosystem. . . converting them to useful products such as lawn furniture, parking lot bumpers, street signs and God-only-knows what else.

And speaking of God, let us proclaim God bless America, but even more importantly that that blessing is this entreaty:

God help us clean up the mess we have made and are still making every day, until we finally acquire the commonsense to quit trashing our planetary home.

And God bless Trey Dennis and Dave Rivers!

Glass half-Full