This op-ed was written by Calvin Levy, a student organizer with California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG) students, a non-profit organization that fights to protect consumers, keep plastic out of our oceans and end hunger on college campuses. Levy graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and Political Science from the University of Colorado Boulder and has been living in Long Beach since August. Levy loves running, hiking and any activity where he can be outside enjoying nature with friends and family.
Thanksgiving is a time for family, friends, food and most importantly, leftovers.
This holiday season, we should be more conscious of how we enjoy those leftovers. One issue your environmentalist nephew and Make America Healthy Again uncle can agree on at the Thanksgiving dinner table is that microplastics are a serious problem.
Tiny microplastics less than 5mm have been found in our lungs, brain, and newborn babies. Even smaller nanoplastics are able to pass the blood-brain barrier and accumulate in our cells and tissues.
These plastics are made with toxic “forever chemicals” linked to cancer, infertility, hormone disruption and neurological disorders. Intuition tells us plastics shouldn’t be in our bodies, science tells us this is a burgeoning public health crisis.
Fortunately, some simple swaps can limit one of our biggest exposure pathways: the food we eat. Trade in your plastic cutting board for wood, swap out your non-stick pans for stainless steel or cast iron and reheat in glass instead of plastic. These are all simple steps you can take to protect your health and the health of your loved ones.
Long Beach has a rich tradition of tackling plastic pollution. Trash from the Los Angeles River combined with pollution from the San Pedro Port Complex has consistently left our beaches lined with plastic bags, bottles, straws, cigarette butts and a wide assortment of other waste.
I witnessed this waste build-up firsthand when myself and a team of 13 student volunteers from Cal State Long Beach joined the Surfrider Foundation’s monthly beach clean-up on Nov. 1 at Belmont Pier. In just two hours we removed over 400 pounds of trash from the beach. While this work is invaluable in keeping our public spaces clean, it’s a stark reminder of the scale of the crisis we are up against.
It can often feel like we are powerless to tackle environmental issues like plastic pollution when the data shows the U.S. generates more plastic waste than any other country — a shocking 42 million metric tons each year. A number like that is daunting and going to take real systemic changes in our production and consumption habits to make a serious dent in.
However, this number comes out to 286 pounds per person, and when you personalize this issue we should all feel empowered knowing there are simple actions we can take to limit our personal waste.
The holiday season is a great time to start changing our habits as we gear up for big gatherings and gift giving. Luckily, here in Long Beach there are a number of great sustainable small-businesses that can make these choices easier for us.
Ethikli is a one-stop shop for ethically sourced, low-waste groceries that can make your Thanksgiving shopping list plastic free. If you have an eco-conscious person in your life you can stop at BYO Long Beach for sustainable skin care and home goods products that will kickstart their zero-waste lifestyle.
When environmental issues feel too big to tackle, the best thing you can do is control your own choices and model these healthy and sustainable practices for your loved ones.
I can’t help but wonder if in 20 or 30 years we will look back on our exposure to microplastics the same way we now view rampant tobacco use a generation ago. We cannot let another toxic pollutant continue to harm us in plain sight. It’s time we break free from plastic.
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