As I write this I’ve just enjoyed a beautiful spring afternoon walking along the seafront and onto the downs along the cliff path to Cow Gap, looking down at a calm sea glinting in the sunlight.
Creation is a source of wonder and wisdom, and a witness to God’s divine nature and eternal power. God delights in the natural world in all its wildness, beauty and mystery, declaring it ‘very good’. Humans have been given responsibility to reflect God’s character in delighting in and caring for the Earth, yet so often make selfish choices which damage God’s creation.
As I walked this afternoon I thought about all the plastic waste in the sea, not visible from my vantage point but very much present. Each year, millions of tons of plastics enter our world’s oceans, according to some estimates the equivalent of one rubbish truck of plastic dumped into the oceans every minute! Much of this plastic comes from products people use every day such as disposable water bottles, plastic bags, clingfilm, plastic cups and lids, packaging, balloons, bathroom plastics, condiment sachets and straws and stirrers. 38½ million plastic bottles are bought every day in the UK. Around half end up in landfill, being burnt or in the environment. And in the UK we use 7 million disposable coffee cups every day!
Plastic poses a serious threat to our oceans and waterways. Birds, turtles, fish, and other marine life ingest plastic pieces, mistaking them for fish eggs, plankton, jellyfish, or other food sources. Every year, hundreds of thousands of sea creatures, both large and small, die from complications relating to plastic debris – they may have a stomach full of plastic that they cannot digest, or they may become fatally entangled in debris. 1 in 3 seabirds which die are found to have balloons in their stomachs.
And of course, 99% of plastic is fossil fuel derived, and plastic does not biodegrade. Once discarded into the environment, it breaks up into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics. Even clothing sheds microplastics as a result of washing polyester, rayon, and other synthetic fibres. Risks to human health from microplastics in seafood are still being assessed.
We have a local group called ‘Plastic Free Eastbourne’ who organise regular beach cleanups, have provided drinking water points along the seafront and elsewhere, and generally advocate for the elimination of single use plastics to protect nature and the environment. You can find out more here plasticfreeeastbourne.co.uk and perhaps you’d like to get involved?
I’ve had people tell me that our individual actions are a waste of time because we need large-scale system change, and Governments in the biggest polluting countries are working against any small changes that we make. I watched a TED talk recently where the presenter put it better than I could. She said “Our individual actions do matter because they embody our values and our care for the planet to other people. They can spread like a ripple effect to instigate collective action. They send a market signal to businesses and they can trigger broader structural institutional change. So yes, we do need system change, but we also need individual behaviour change. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” We should never underestimate the power of collective action.
What steps could you take this month to reduce your use of single-use plastic?
p.s. On Saturday 26th April we are really pleased to be hosting the Eastbourne Carbon Neutral Symposium at Emmanuel, from 1pm to 4.30pm. This is being put on by the Eastbourne Eco Action Network. There will be a number of speakers and a round up of updates from many of the local organisations involved in the campaign for Eastbourne to be carbon neutral by 2030, as well as a Q&A session to explore what we need to do collectively as a community to reach this 2030 target. I hope some of you can come and be inspired!