I guess you could say that I am a bit of an environmentalist. I always have been. My rural New England childhood was full of nature walks and camping. Outdoor exploration was one of my favorite activities, which was aided by my curiosity and vivid imagination. I have always appreciated nature and have always respected all that "nature" encompasses.

Graduating high school in the mid 1990s I am part of the "triple-R" youth. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle were mantras driven into our heads during elementary school recycling awareness assemblies. However, it wasn't until I read an amazing article that I really began to question the human effect on our environment. Best Life (now Men's Health) published an article by Susan Casey titled "Our Oceans are Turning Into Plastic... Are We?" This has had such a strong impact on the way I view our relationship with our planet.

“Except for the small amount that’s been incinerated—and it’s a very small amount—every bit of plastic ever made still exists,” Moore says, describing how the material’s molecular structure resists biodegradation. Instead, plastic crumbles into ever-tinier fragments as it’s exposed to sunlight and the elements. And none of these untold gazillions of fragments is disappearing anytime soon: Even when plastic is broken down to a single molecule, it remains too tough for biodegradation.

The article goes into detail on what plastic is doing to our world - and how we continue to make more. That is the purpose of this blog. To, hopefully, raise awareness of the effect that plastics (and humankind) have on this world. We are suffocating ourselves and our resources right out existence.

A lot of people look at me funny when I bring this up. Many think that it is not so much of a problem or that it is under control. My response is to ask them to do a simple exercise.

Just once, next time you are in your nearest mega-mart, grocery store or shopping mall look at all shelves lined with consumer goods, all those things you need or want, all the toys, disposable containers, hangers, bags, DVDs, latest electronics and individually wrapped candies. Look at all that surrounds you. The light fixtures, the handle of your grocery cart, the sales clerks name tag. Look at yourself. The buttons on your clothes, the frames of your sunglasses, your license, credit cards, and the little plastic thingies in your wallet that hold pictures of your loved ones. Look at all the plastic. Just there in that one location; one location of hundreds and thousands just like it, with billions of people just like you. Realize the amount of plastic we are using. Realize that it ALL will eventually become garbage.