The BBC Documentary Blue Planet II highlighted the sheer volume of plastic in our oceans and its danger to marine species - mammals, fish and birds. Many people were profoundly moved and began an important, and long-delayed, conversation.
Quicker, safer and more convenient packaging has been the goal of the developed world for many years. But our increased use of plastics to such end has come at a cost. Now, our oceans are polluted with plastic - from small micro-plastics, through plastic bags and on up to larger pieces.
Porpoises are a common victim. Their diet is largely jellyfish and so they are likely to mistake a plastic bag for food. If they survive the swallowing of the bag, it is unlikely that they can continue with normal digestion and thus eventually die a slow and painful death from toxicity or intestinal blockage.[i]
We have all been touched by the sight of the exposed internal organs of dead sea-birds showing a vast amount of swallowed plastic.
We have, in the United Kingdom, been reducing our plastic bag use for some years by taxing them but there is clearly now a bigger crisis with plastics. The great vision of a quick, durable and easy solution to solid material has not been sufficiently thought through with regards to disposal. Too much ends up in the ocean.
.jpg)
Sir David Attenborough recently narrated and presented the documentary Blue Planet II. His reputation as a wildlife broadcaster over several decades (he is now 91) is such that when he draws attention to a problem, decision-makers tend to listen.
From open-cast mining to litter dropping, humans have had an impact on the environment for as long as we have been around. Only recently have we fully understood the deadlier, but less obvious, impact upon the environment of our plastic-discarding lifestyle in the developed world. This has been revealed as a disaster on a huge scale and marine wildlife has suffered damage. It reopens the debate about sustainability and recycling.
Materialism and consumerism are now being questioned as having gone too far. Can we live in a society with a burden to achieve constant growth?
Especially with our food packaging, we have lost touch with the seasons. Too many of us accept the food-miles necessary to bring us products all year round when they have a short season in this country.
We use too much of it. Look in any supermarket at the amount of plastic used to keep vegetables separate from each other. Not all such plastic is recyclable.
We are all going to have to accept the need to cut back on our consumption. Only when plastic use becomes socially outcast will the public mood shift. It is happening with plastic bags, dog poo and diesel cars. It can happen with general plastics. To put it simply - we have polluted the sea. Who should clean it up?
Governments do not want to tell people what products to use. However, changes are needed, and it is not clear they will come about voluntarily.
It is complex to work from the Bronze Age of the Old Testament, and an entire Bible that knows of nothing greater than horsepower, to the complexities of third millennium life CE. We need to look at principles.
We will find that Genesis understands human responsibility to be the stewardship of the earth.[ii]
We will see an understanding that possessions, however one might come by them, are to be seen as a gift from God.[iii] But our 'treasure' lies elsewhere.[iv]
We will see a clear desire from God, epitomised and emphasised by the prophets, that people act justly.[v]
We will see Jesus' underlining of Old Testament teaching in, for instance, the Sermon on the Mount, where he condemns the storing of riches for their own sake.[vi]
Throughout the rest of the New Testament, as the Gospel spreads, the writers are far more concerned with the attitude of the disciple (both individually before God and corporately as part of the church) than they are for specific actions or occupations.
The sweep of scripture is more concerned with salvation than ecology. But again and again, there are reminders that we are merely tenants of God's earth. We were not there when it was made.[vii] It is part of a universe which points to the glory of God.[viii] Creation itself should help people to call to mind God's invisible qualities.[ix] It is not our true dwelling place. It is only temporary.[x] Our home is with God, in eternity.[xi] One day there will be a new heaven and a new earth.[xii]
We can conclude that the Bible would not specifically condemn the packaging industry but would condemn greed, penny-pinching short-cuts, corruption and a failure to care for the poor.
1. Bring in some heavily packaged products. How much of the wrapping if re-useable? How much of it is necessary?
2. Do something green. Can your group mirror the Gulf clean-up operation by cleaning up part of your town or village? Litter? Graffiti? What can you clean?
3. Discuss your group's reliance on packaging. Have they any idea how much they use each day? Can you work it out?
4. Smash a biscuit. Use this to demonstrate that the smaller the crumbs the smaller the creature able to consume it. Biscuit crumbs, not cleared up, attract vermin. The smaller the piece of plastic the smaller the creature able to eat it. Thus, plastics pass into and up the food chain. Our fish and chips involve eating a creature that ate a creature that may have eaten plastic.
5. Do an audit of a local hedgerow. See if you can identify the source of most local plastic pollutants and write a letter to the originators.
6. Display some of Mandy Barker's sensational images (see link below). Discuss whether knowing what they are made of makes them any less beautiful?
7. Follow through some of the Bible material as a study on God's intention for his creation. Work out what the group might like to do because of their investigation to get involved.
(All http:// unless stated)
Science for Students
www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/tiny-plastic-big-problem
Useful article on the problem of plastics as it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces.
Mandy Barker
Amazing images made of plastic waste recovered from the oceans. Look out for an army of plastic turtles and 'Penalty', a work made of plastic footballs.
Quotes
'How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly ocean.'
(Arthur C. Clarke)
'Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.'
(Jacques Cousteau)
'In 2007 ... We abandoned our tentative move towards biofuels, stopped using biodegradable plastic bags, stopped using UK heated glass houses and argued that plastic often has a lower carbon footprint than paper. Plastic marine pollution was not a widely recognised issue at the time; our assumption was that climate change was the main challenge facing our planet.'
(Guy Watson - Riverford Organic Farmers newsletter 12/2/18)
[i] http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/14901/1/The-Effects-of-Plastic-Bags-on-Environment.html
[ii] Genesis 2:15
[iii] Joshua 1:6
[iv] Matthew 6:20
[v] Amos 5:24
[vi] Matthew 6:19
[vii] Job 38:4-11
[viii] Psalm 19:1
[ix] Romans 1:20
[xi] Philippians 3:20
[xii] Revelation 21:1