Definitely!
I'm a person who deeply values the importance of our environment that's why I really spend a lot of time in researching about some things we usually use in everyday life that has its adversing damage to our environment. Today, I am so happy , fulfilled and proud that I am writing my very first pro-environment advocacy post to discourage people and to appeal to our food industry to stop the use of Polystyrene (EPS), or what we standardly call as, "Styrofoams".
Polystyrene is a "polymer" (a plastic) made from a liquid substance "monomer styrene" and are commercially concocted out of petroleum by chemical industries. It is usually white in color and are widely used in packaging as an Expanded Polystyrene Foam (aka Styrofoams). Although styrofoams has a lot of advantageous modern uses, it poses a high threat to our environment due to its plasticity which, as we are all aware of, takes a longer period of time (several hundreds of years) to decompose unlike the regular plastics. Another thing is the sad fact that these types of material aren't easily recyclable due to its light weight attribute and scrap value. As a matter of fact, there are only few praise-worthy plants here in the Philippines that's shelling their money to recycle these pollutants.
The rampant use of Styrofoams can be best observed in excessive packaging of our food industry, particularly the fast food industry. We have been in this practice for a good 3-4 decades now and just imagine how much waste of such materials we have right now. Being known litterers that we Filipinos are, there have been reported incidents where in a plastic-like styrofoam killed a Tortoise after eating it. The poor reptile mistakenly thought of it as a jellyfish. In other countries, reports say that styrofoams are among the principal component of marine debris which causes starvation to its inhabitants and other sea birds alike.
Some cities of highly-developed countries are actually implementing laws banning the use of these materials in food packaging. Several Pro-environment organizations on the other hand, calls for a protest against McDonald's, the world's fast food leader in foam consumption, to put an end of massively using EPSs, but up to now, that company is still deaf and is still a major contributor aiming a terrible threat to mother nature. Locally, fast food companies such as McDonald's Philippines and Jollibee are the main proponents of heavily using styrofoams to cater their affordable products. Local pro-environment NGOs have been negotiating continuously with these and other companies to minimize their usage of such materials but the public's reception in polystyrene usage makes it a really tough battle to win.
Let us not tolerate this, it's gonna be for our own good and for further generations ahead. Why not politely ask the service crew of a fast food restaurant to serve your food in a plate instead of styrofoams right? It's a really simple request to do but it can make a big difference. Besides, it's a whole lot more comfortable (and more natural) to eat in a plate. It can even inspire others to do the same. I've been doing this for several months now and it really feels great knowing that I'm doing something, even in my own little way, to preserve our dear Earth.
You too can spread this awareness. Try doing these:
1. Post a bulletin in Friendster or MySpace encouraging everyone in your network to avoid eating on styrofoams.
2. Make a research about this and create your own blog entry to discourage your readers/fellow bloggers from using these materials.
It's a really simple thing right? I've done my share. Now it's your turn. (^^,|
* You can read some more articles about Polystyrene or ESPs in Wikipedia.
Labels: Advocacy Post
hey! i'm going to cali this weekend and won't be back until september...here is the website i was talking about where i made extra summer cash. Later! the website is here