The World is Made of Plastic, by Dr. Lorin Swinehart

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” -The Lorax

It should come as no surprise that micro-plastics have now been identified in 80% of human lungs and blood samples that have been tested. Plastic residue and trash have been found at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean’s Marianas Trench, six and a half miles beneath the surface, the deepest location in all the seven seas. Traces of plastic exist in every aspect of our lives.

Members of older generations may suffer the illusion that we lived much of our lives basically plastics free, but that is not the case unless we are very old indeed. In 1869, John Wesley Hyatt experimented with a new type of billiard balls. Up to then, billiard balls were made of elephant ivory. Hyatt, instead, created them by converting cotton treated with camphor into celluloid, thus saving the lives of many elephants. In 1907, a chemist named Leo Baekeland produced an early form of plastic which he named after himself, Bakelite. For years, many uses for Bakelite were found, including electric insulators, radio and telephone cases, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s famous cigarette holders.

As with so many other products, uses for plastic proliferated during World War II, as it was used to replace ingredients necessary for industrial production but were in short supply, including steel, paper, glass and wood. During the postwar years, from 1950 to 2015, plastic production in the US increased by 8.4%. annually. We now produce twenty times as much plastic every year as we did twenty years ago, but it is estimated that only 10% is recycled. The rest goes into landfills or into the sea. All too much finds its way into fields, woodlots and roadsides as litter.

According to the journal Science, the numerous components utilized in plastic production, include coal, salt, natural gas, cellulite, and crude oil.

More and different uses for plastics continue to be found. The computer keyboard that I am typing on this very moment is made of plastic, as are the pens I use to keep notes, the TV set in the corner, the lamp- stand on this desk, parts of picture frames, a flowerpot, the coffeemaker, clock and thermometer on the wall, my cell phone, the handle on my Swiss Army knife, water and soft drink bottles, the flatware—knives, forks and spoons— given out by fast food businesses and many of the components of our Toyota. Plastic is cheap and convenient. Plastic has become such a part of our lives and such a benefit to manufacturing that until the 1960’s, few even questioned any negative side effects that might be associated with its use. For most of us, not a day goes by that we do not eat, drink or breathe micro-plastics.

During that decade known popularly as the Sizzling’ Sixties, many previous assumptions called into question for the first time. When Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring was published, many began to express concern about man’s activities negatively affecting the natural environment. Ohio’s Cuyahoga River, bisecting the major industrial city of Cleveland, had been so riddled with pollutants that it had burst into flames more than once. But this time the national press got hold of the story. A reporter was on hand, and the outrageous state of the Cuyahoga’s waters as well as many other US waterways entered the public consciousness.

Mayor Carl Stokes, the nation’s first mayor of African descent to lead a major city, worked closely with his brother Congressman Louis Stokes to support legislation to clean up the Cuyahoga. At the same time, President Richard Nixon signed the Environmental Protection Agency into law in December, 1970. On April 7, 1972, President Nixon also signed into law the Clean Water Act. The American people were waking up to threats to the environment and human health on many levels. As a consequence, The Endangered Species Act was also signed into law by Mr. Nixon on December 28, 1973.

Thomas Jefferson wisely observed that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. It is also the price of every other good thing, including the sanctity of the natural environment that sustains

us. Despite the many successful efforts during past decades to improve and protect life on our island home, threats to health and safety continue to surface. So it may be with plastic.

We have all seen the heartrending news photos of sea turtles strangled with those plastic rings used in packs of soft drinks, of others with plastic straws impaled in their nostrils, of dolphins choked with plastic items, of the guts of seabirds packed tight with indigestible plastics cast off thoughtlessly by a careless or indifferent human populace.

Coca Cola sells an estimated 120 billion plastic bottles each year. The company has pledged to make 25% of its packaging reusable by 2030. That is tragically insufficient. Sadly, many plastic soft drink and water bottles are used once and then tossed away. Such bottles constitute one of the major forces behind fossil fuel use. More petrochemical plants and most incinerators that burn plastics are located near impoverished or minority municipalities, adding to the health threats of the citizenry.

The ingestion of plastic residue may also constitute threats to human health. The reality is that we don’t know for certain, but it stands to reason that it cannot be a good thing. Harvard Medical School warns that heating plastics in a microwave may cause chemicals to leach into food, possibly contributing to metabolic disorders like obesity. The National Library of Medicine cautions against small children chewing on plastic teethers and toys, that doing so could lead to impaired immunity, endocrine disruption and even some forms of cancer.

The US Food and Drug Administration has ruled that the Bisphenola (BPA) used in the manufacture of many plastic products is safe “in small amounts”. BPA is used to coat the inside of bottle caps, food cans and water supply lines. BPA is used in the manufacture of water bottles and soft drink bottles. In the body, BPA behaves like estrogen, possibly causing chromosomal abnormalities that could lead to birth defects and childhood disabilities. Given such widespread use, one is left wondering what constitutes “small amounts.”

Chemicals called phthalates, sometimes called plasticizers, used in the manufacture of plastics can leach out into food and water and into human bodies in sufficient amounts to disrupt the endocrine system. The concern is that such chemicals may especially pose a threat to small children.

What, then, can be done? What can we as individuals do, and what needs to be done nationally and globally to curb the growing menace of plastics pollution? Individually, of course, we can commit to recycling. While only an estimated 10% of plastic bottles are recycled, it does make a difference. We can urge our members of Congress to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Bill and the National Bottle Bill. We can urge national leaders to work toward a Global Plastics Treaty. The problem is huge, but there are solutions if people and their representatives recognize the potential threats and create policies to deal effectively with them.

It has been said that since the end of World War II, mankind has been engaged in a vast, global chemical experiment, with no real idea of the possible consequences. The presence of plastic molecules in human blood samples adds to that concern. It is uncertain at this juncture whether or not those plastic molecules constitute a threat to human heart. And yet, exactly how comfortable are we with the knowledge that we may be carrying traces of plastic around in our bodies?

Lorin Swinehart

Streets of Mexico

By David Ellison

Lázaro Cárdenas

“I made an effort to serve my country... with greater commitment to the needy people,” Lázaro Cárdenas wrote in his journal after he’d stepped away

from the presidency and power. “I canceled many privileges and distributed much of the wealth that was in few hands.” Indeed, with a remarkable combination of compassion, cunning, and courage, he did more to fulfill the promise of the Mexican Revolución and implement the liberal tenets of the Constitución of 1917 than any other president, before or since.

After serving as a general in the Revolution and then as the liberal governor of Michoacán, Cárdenas was tapped to become the next of former President Calles’ puppets in the 1934 presidential election.

Cárdenas immediately distinguished himself as his own man, however, traveling during his presidential campaign nearly 16,000 miles throughout Mexico, eschewing the Mexico City elite and endearing himself to the rural and urban poor. He listened to them, and clearly empathized. “Nothing can more eloquently justify the long struggle of the Mexican Revolution like the existence of entire regions in which the men of Mexico live alien to all material and spiritual civilization, sunk in ignorance and absolute poverty, subjected to inferior food, clothing and accommodation that are inappropriate for a country that, like ours, has sufficient material resources to ensure a just civilization.” And he believed the federal government to be “the only institution capable of ensuring the common good of Mexicans.”

Once elected by an amazing 98% of the vote, Cárdenas turned the opulent presidential Chapultepec Palace (where Los Niños Héroes had made their supreme sacrifice) into a national museum, chose to reside instead in the far more modest Los Pinos, and cut his and all federal government salaries in half. Then, he threw his support behind labor unions, which responded by throwing their support behind him. Thus empowered, Cárdenas abruptly ordered Calles and his allies into exile, and then replaced Calles’ political party with his own, the corporatist Mexican Revolution Party (which would eventually become the current Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI). It was an astounding coup.

Cárdenas designed his new party with great care, giving equal representation to four major Mexican groups: the peasant union, the industrial union, the urban (government worker) union, and the military. (Noticeably lacking were the wealthy hacienda owners and the Catholic Church.) His co-opting the generals was a controversial but wiley ploy, forcing them to share their hitherto immense power with three other, now equal partners. And all were subservient to the government, i.e, Cárdenas and his party.

And then Lázaro Cárdenas rolled up his sleeves. Aggressively implementing the Constitution of 1917, he redistributed more land than all his revolutionary predecessors combined, replacing the huge haciendas with ejidos, communally owned peasant land. In fact, when he was done, one half of the county’s arable land was in the hands of previously landless farmers. He’d finally undone much of the damage that Benito Juárez’ and Porfirio Díaz’ neoliberal “reforms” had wrought.

Although wisely choosing not to implement the radical anti-cleric tenets of the Constitution (and thus avoiding another Cristero War), Cárdenas did pry the Church’s fingers off of schools, insisting on a secular, even socialist curriculum, and investing twice as much in rural education as, once again, all his predecessors together.

But his most radical moves were yet to come. First, yet again citing the Constitution, Cárdenas nationalized the Mexican railroad system, handing management over to the unions. Next, in a breathtaking stroke when foreign—predominantly American— oil companies refused to comply with a Mexican Supreme Court ruling in favor of the workers, he nationalized the petroleum industry as well, creating what is now known as Pemex. (His and the decision’s wild popularity in Mexico protected him from what would soon become common American-sponsored coups in other Latin-American countries for far less egregious affronts to corporate, capitalist neocolonialism.)

Cárdenas had consolidated immense power in himself and his party. Nonetheless, like a modern-day Cincinatus, he relinquished it all at the end of his term, no more wealthy than when he’d begun (quite the exception, then and now). While he watched his successors and the party turn decidedly conservative, he spent the rest of his life supporting irrigation projects, free medical clinics, and education for the poor.

Today, Lázaro Cárdenas is deservedly one of Mexico’s most beloved presidents, second only to Benito Juárez. There is nary a city, town or village that doesn’t honor him with a street name.

This is a selection from Ellison’s upcoming book, Niños Héroes: The Fascinating Stories Behind Mexican Street Names.

Politics, Religion, Toilet Tissue

Visits to my mother in Louisiana are full of sur-

prises. Two of my sisters take turns staying with her, and both are colorful personalities. I think my mother enjoys the minidramas that ensue as my sisters pursue their various interests.

When we are with people outside of family, we have always been cautioned that conversations which veer into politics or religion can change the tone of a visit rapidly. That seems to have only become more noticeable in recent years. However, when my family members gather, no topic is forbidden.

This visit, out of left field, my sister animatedly presented me with the topic du jour: Environmentally conscious toilet paper made of bamboo. Bamboo grows extremely fast and is an alternative to using precious tree pulp.

“Mother was furious when I came home with bamboo toilet tissue!” she exclaimed.

“Mom demanded, ‘Why on earth would you buy me beige toilet paper?’”

Two weeks later, our mother came in and changed her tune.

“I never want anything but bamboo toilet tissue! No more white toilet paper,” Mom had informed her, a new edict of the house.

Now my sister had a problem. She explained to me that she couldn’t find this bamboo tissue anywhere. She had searched and searched and there appeared to be yet another product shortage, due to supply chain issues.

I smugly pulled out my phone to look on my Amazon app. One can find anything on this app. I searched and there was no bamboo toilet paper. I was stumped. I decided to Google bamboo paper, of the brand my mother wanted. One site had it at an astronomical, price-gauging cost. It was quadruple the cost of the “out of stock” rate. Only one pharmacy chain had it, and it could not be ordered online. Shoppers had to go to their nearest store and see if it was in stock.

My sister had already checked with the nearest pharmacy the day before and been told it would be two weeks until a new delivery came in. I suggested we drive to the nearest small town, a place where people wouldn’t try beige toilet tissue, and try our luck there. We all loaded into the car for our important road trip. I felt like this would have made a great documentary film: In Search of Beige Toilet Tissue.

My mom and I waited patiently as my sister shopped. Shortly, I saw what looked like a small boat, loaded to overflowing, coming out of the store’s double doors. It was being piloted by my sister, who was not visible behind the mountain of paper rolls. She had emptied the shelves. Perched crookedly on top of the stack was a sign proclaiming, “Buy one, get two free!”

She exuberantly wheeled her way to the car and filled the vehicle with packs of tissue. “I have to return the sign,” she shared, as she ran back with her empty basket. In the manner of small towns, there had been no limits put on her purchases.

As she jumped victoriously behind the wheel, she exclaimed, “The clerk told me the store right near us received their delivery today. They have ten packs.” Off to the races!

After our next stop, and an emptying of those shelves of the undesired brown tissue paper, we couldn’t see each other in the car. Every space had tissues crammed in.

Our mother would have the tissues she wanted, the earth would be in a better place with more trees and we, the loving sisters, had won a special place in the pantheon of “Those Who Please Mom the Most.”

But the story did not end here. The next morning, my earth-loving sister whispered to me that she had slept on our project. “I’m worried that taking down the bamboo may affect the habitat of panda bears.”

This is how toilet tissue was added to politics and religion as a verboten topic, too hot to get into in general discussion.

Katina Pontikes