Plastic is the DEVIL/hipocrisy

Plastic: the most prolific man-made material that will NEVER BIODEGRADE. It is so highly synthesized that no known organism can digest it, and therefore every piece of plastic that is ever manufactured (from petroleum) will persist in our environment FOREVER! This has major implications! It can photo-degrade (break into smaller pieces) but never biodegrade.

First of all, the extraction of crude oil and all of the problems that go along with it (war, environmental destruction, international instability) are part of the plastic cycle because PLASTIC IS MADE FROM CRUDE OIL. (At least, 99.999 percent is at this point).

Next, the manufacture of plastics is incredibly energy intensive, and produces TONS of toxins & some carcinogens. (Toxic = negative health effects, Carcinogen = causes cancer).

After that, many of the plastics themselves are toxic (such as PVC: http://www.noharm.org/us/pvcdehp/issue).

That "new car" or "new paint" smell is most likely giving you brain damage due to off-gassing

Also, drinking and eating from many plastics can cause reproductive harm

And even more so, our natural environment is filling up with this totally unnatural stuff: http://www.greatgarbagepatch.org/

What to do? STOP USING, BUYING, CREATING PLASTICS made from petroleum. They are the most unnatural material on the planet, will never go away and are totally BAD FOR OUR HEALTH AND THE HEALTH OF ALL CURRENT AND FUTURE ORGANISMS ON THIS PLANET.

That said, I am wearing plastic sunglasses, a plastic hat, and a plastic shirt in my profile picture. I didn't know as much about plastics when I bought those things as I do now. But I will also be the first to admit that I am a hypocrite. We are all hypocrites, and while contradicting ourselves constantly is part of human nature, that does not make it "OK". We should strive to rid ourselves of our hypocrisies and live true to our values, especially if we are teaching and spouting those values to others.

When you are able, please buy natural materials and not plastic. A wonderful industry of alternatives is sprouting up everywhere. Some great new advances have turned vegetable oil, silica, soy, bamboo, corn, potatoes, wool, silk and natural rubber latex into all sorts of things that we used to rely on plastics for. Plastic hides under many names, especially when it is turned into apparrel. Here are a few of the names of plastic:

Vinyl
PVC
Nylon
Polyester
Gore-Tex
PTFE
Lexan
polyurethane

Take the time to research your consumption! And if nothing else please don't buy products that are KNOWN TO CAUSE CANCER!!!!