Working at Rue Morgue, I’m often asked what scares me, or “What’s the scariest thing you’ve seen lately.” Well, hands down the scariest thing I’ve read in a long time is this report on just one of the many ways we’re slowly killing ourselves: with plastic. The scariest thing I’ve seen in a long time, is this related short documentary piece. Both detail the absolutely catastrophic effects of our plastic waste. It horrifies me in ways no fiction ever could. Click on those links; they will upset you, and rightfully so.
Right now it’s nearly five in the morning and I’m wide awake. It’s been a very exhausting week simultaneously recovering from the Festival of Fear while working long hours to get the Halloween issue done on schedule. I’m exhausted but I can’t stop thinking about plastic, about how much plastic crap we buy as horror fans, as collectors. I’ve got boxes and boxes of MacFarlane figures, Star Wars toys and various horror-related trinkets in storage back in Edmonton — plastic toys, often still in their plastic cases. In my condo there are enough DVD cases to literally build a fort. Forget the fact that this stuff won’t biodegrade ’til long after my great, great, great grandchildren’s great, great, great grandchildren are dead — the refining and manufacturing process of petroleum-based plastics is toxic as hell.
Speaking of which, I wanna be around long enough to someday show my grandchildren the great horror films, to watch them watch Frankenstein for the first time, to tell them about meeting George Romero, to — who knows — maybe show them something I made myself. But I’m looking at all those DVD cases and other synthetic things surrounding me, thinking about all that plastic crap I saw carted out of the Convention Center in plastic bags (some of it by me), replaying those haunting images of a chunk of ocean twice the size of Texas choked with planet-killing plastics and it’s an effort to not give in to total hopelessness. As horror fans we’re experts at facing our fears, but it’s our reality we should really be facing.
And if this sounds like a lecture, I don’t apologize, because it is — as much to myself on this sleepless night as anyone else. As horror culture junkies it’s our nature to desire, collect, archive, display and fawn over all manner of collectibles, but I’m trying, as of late, to not accumulate so much of it. I’m trying to borrow or rent that much desired DVD instead of buying it, if I’m not really gonna watch it again for a while. I haven’t stopped collecting but I’m focusing now on vintage genre posters, which take up less space and *sniff* will some day return to dust. And these days a plastic figure really, really has to pique my interest before it gets added to the shelf. I’m also refusing plastic bags at the checkout counter whenever I can. I want future horror fans to able to enjoy the shit out of the genre and all its offerings, many generations from now, so I figure we’d better make a little effort to keep the apocalypses in the realm of fiction.
The alternative scares the hell out of me.
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This is something that has been driving me crazy for years. When I was working at a national coffee chain a few years ago, I found myself getting angry and making very rude, snide remarks to regular customers who came in every day, sometimes twice a day, to get their fill of tasting-of-shit coffee, always in disposable cups. (I’m not so good at the pleasant customer service thing — I didn’t last very long there.)
I have found it incredibly difficult to maintain a balance between living my life entrenched in this consumer society and becoming a raving environmental lunatic. Feeling incredibly guilty whenever I DO buy a coffee on the run, or have to get a bag for groceries, or even just the food that I buy: milk, yogurt, deli salads, whatever – it all comes in plastic. I could choose to feel self-righteous that I don’t own a car, but those people are just annoying, you know? And if I had the money, I’d still want to buy a gas guzzling ’67 Camaro.
Although, since plastic is going to last forever, leaving behind a stellar collection of horror collectibles at least has more value than a pile of plastic water bottles. Or bags. Great-great grandpa dave had some cool shit… or great great grandpa dave was fucking crazy – did you see the crap he spent his money on? Either way, you’re a goldmine of stories for furture generations already.
Geez, thanks for bumming my stone, Dave! Seriously though, that is really disturbing. The clip describing how plastic mimics plankton is very troubling.
If manufacturers of DVDs and CD’s would stop using plastic casing and go with recyclable paper, how bad would that be? Neil Young and Pearl Jam have been releasing their albums using paper for a few years now. I wish the rest of the entertainment industry could be as environmentally conscious. As far as buying toys, I’ve cut that down significantly, but mainly because I don’t have the room for another Frankenstein or Jason doll but this will be in the back of my mind the next time I make a needless purchase. However, I would imagine you could buy a Wicker Man figure without any guilt.
“I would imagine you could buy a Wicker Man figure without any guilt.”
Yeah, but then you’d have to buy the Edward Woodward figure. And I think we both know where that would go the next time we’re drunk with a lighter…
Just to be a pain in the ass: from an archival point of view, for long term storage – plastic CD and DVD covers are the way to go. Paper containers, though biodegradable, can mess with the CD, especially when compressed against others (stacked on shelves, etc.). Alright. Unasked for media storage advice lesson over now.
It took me nearly a year of showing my boyfriend how much recycling we put out before he really got the idea that it’s absolutely necessary. Recycling is a whole other mess too, as I’ve found out about how THAT really works recently, but it’s better than the landfill/ocean scenario. Because we participate in the Green Bin program in my neighbourhood (pet litter, soiled napkins, bones, shells – all kinds of biodegradable stuff that makes compost) as well as the Blue and Gray bins, I think we put out one or two kitchen katchers of garbage per week, as opposed to the people down the street who’ve got a diet coke addiction and put about 5 of those 2 litre fuckers in the trash each week. To think about how much landfill space that uses up – if frightens me.
Thanks for the links.
Nice to see this topic come up. The good news is that you don’t have to give up the things you love (be that plastic toys or DVDs) to have a big impact. And I like to think you don’t have to be a “raving environmental lunatic” either. (Although I think I am and it’s pretty fun. Smug factor is very high!)
Just stop using plastic bags. Really. Remember that it’s only been about 30 years since consumers started using throw-away plastic bags for all their groceries, department store shopping, even bread bags. It’s not like humans are hard-wired to do so, or can’t live without them. Europeans manage. Re-use the ones you have to get (who actually buys actual kitchen garbage bags anymore?) and re-fuse! more at the counter.
As with most things, consumers do have the power for change here. Retailers believe that customers want plastic bags, so they dole them out. (At my last retail job I was hassled for asking customers if they “need” a bag — I was told that makes them feel bad! Have I mentioned it was my last retail job?). But you can Just Say No.
Of course, I practise the “reduce” part of the three Rs pretty hardcore when it comes to packaging and plastics of all kind, but even if you just Stop Using Plastic Bags, you’ll make a difference to our lakes, our birds, and our landfills. It doesn’t cost anything but a moment’s thought.
It’s about personal responsiblitiy.
The picture at the top of this blog alone is enough to make me quit on plastics…and poultry!