Ginta — From the bottom up – can it be done?

Daniela Ginta writes for The Armchair Mayor on Fridays.

COLUMN — It was two days ago when we took the boys to the train station to greet the Christmas train. Everything about the train was right: the lights, the mission, and the joy it brings to so many just to see it and hear the music; something was sorely missing though. The snow. The train band played jolly winter songs that talked of snow yet there was nothing on the ground or in the three-day forecast to show for it.

During the time we lived on the coast we accepted the snow-less Christmas because rain happens more often. Moving to Kamloops meant, among others, snowy winters. Or so we thought. We’re not giving up hope yet as the forecast predicts that some snow will come around Christmas time and New Year’s. Fingers crossed.

But there is a reality that we cannot ignore and that is the fact that things are shifting in the world. Temperatures climb higher than we’ve ever had (2014 is the hottest year on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA) and no amount of denial will help when numbers are loud and clear.

What then? We need to drive places (emphasis on need) and we need fuel to heat our homes and grow and transport our food, to name but a couple of the basics life revolves around. The list of bare necessities runs a little longer yet that’s not what’s cooking up the planet.

We are all in the hot seat, literally, and that means we cannot wait until the next big industrial or retail giant decides to go green, because that may or may not work after all. Big industry and retail are somewhat opposite to green and sustainable. So it cannot be changed from the top.

Which leaves the other option: from the bottom up. It’s up to you and me. Consumerism is what drives big industry and what fills the shelves with useless stuff that many buy just to throw out. Out means landfills and the oceans where the piles keep on growing; patches, respectively. We buy it, they produce it. They produce more, tell us we need it, we buy more, thinking we need it. We don’t.

Most of it it’s plastic. Garbage in, garbage out never sounded truer. Yet it is not garbage out. Garbage is in, all in. It stays here, on this planet and it keeps on growing.

There are 300 million tonnes of plastic manufactured annually around the globe and that is one big number. Per year. It’s hard to comprehend how we can all make use of so much plastic until you see people stomping their way into stores for more gadgets, more toys and more appliances. Much of it becomes garbage, and often times that happens because it’s cheaper to throw it out then to buy another one. Cheaper for the individual, but not for the species.

A while ago scientists were wondering where all the plastic went since not all that was thrown out could be accounted for. Nothing short of a mystery one could say, until some curious researchers took sediment and coral samples. Guessing game was over when plastic bits were found all over; in corals, and in faraway places at the bottom of the ocean.

Reading the numbers in that report made my eyes dance (not with joy, mind you). Billions and many zeroes, that’s how we measure our plastic waste in the oceans these days.

Landfills are no better. Stuff doesn’t go anywhere unless it’s biodegradable (in less than 500 years ideally) and by breaking down, it gives off fumes and it also leaches chemicals into the ground. It’s all a big circle in the end, you know. Whatever we put into the air, water and soil, we end up consuming.

People have a short memory though when it comes to garbage. Out of sight, out of mind leads to us buying more, and that means more is being produced. Nothing will stop until we stop.

Many have said that before and it sounds like a lecture, yet every day of winter with balmy temperatures and no snow, and every report that talks about melting glaciers and a warm Arctic region makes me think we need to hear it more. Perhaps this time it’ll work.

There is no planet B, and planet A is getting compromised as we speak. Just look at the garbage that comes out of one household these days, and multiply that by at least three and a half billion. It’s dizzying and it doesn’t stop there.

But it has to. If we are to fix some of the things. It starts with people changing their minds and living as if they have all they need. Many of us do, it’s just easy to forget about it, and no, it is not material possessions.

Boxing Day and any other big shopping event should become regular days – just imagine! – because if they did, the snow might return and the Arctic might get cold enough for generations to come.

And gift giving will not suffer. Less time spent shopping, less time spent on new gadgets and less time spent anywhere else but with our loved ones and doing things that matter, that means more time spend right.

You won’t find advertised in many flyers, but time well spent with those who matter to you is the most precious gift you can ever give and receive. Merry Christmas!

Daniela Ginta is a mother, scientist, writer and blogger. She can be reached at daniela.ginta@gmail.com, or through her blog at http://www.thinkofclouds.com.