i mentioned the
www.storyofstuff.com earlier in my 25 random facts meme

and i will mention it again and again.
The entire media industry glamourises consumption as a way of life,
the latest gadgets, the latest shoes, bags, clothes, trends,
they are the cogwheels that drives capitalism,
if you step out of this hamster wheel and think for yourself,
do you really need all this STUFF?
i hardly buy stuff now,
extra clothes and bags and trinkets that are not essential at all,
usually a consequence of frivolous mindless shopping.
it isn't driven by a motive to save money,
it is driven by a fear of the amount of trash that we accumulate.
Everything we own or use is made for one-time use, or to be disposed in a few years.
How many phones, mp3 players have you been lemming for in the past 5 years?
How many plastic bottles of green tea do I consume, wooden chopsticks, tissue papers, plastic forks and spoons... all these scare me now.
Where does all this stuff go?
It doesn't go anywhere.
Plastic takes more than 500 years to break down, all the plastic bottles you threw away are still here on this earth.
ALL.
All your mineral water bottles, shampoo and soap bottles that you'ved used all your life.
Plastics never actually 'decompose', they merely break down into smaller and smaller pieces.

"If someone knew that their toothbrush would one day end up thousands of miles away from the nearest spot of land, would they still carelessly throw it away?"

Welcome to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.


PLASTIC IS FOREVER.
We're sweeping this problem under the rug, into the ocean.