I Have Met the Enemy and It Is Plastic.

I'm sitting here in a striped cardigan, with Paul & Art (yep, we're tight) spinning on the phonograph and a room that has spent all day under seige. Bags of recycling old schoolwork, bags of trash, bags of things to sell, bags of clothes that didn't fit me even when I bought them. Bags and bags and boxes and boxes.

Out of curiosity, since when did plastic become the height of aesthetic? Yeah, okay since never. I know. It merely became the height of convenience, didn't it? It's cheaper, and easier, and simpler.

And uglier.

Let's just be honest. Plastic is pretty ugly. Sure, pretty things can be DONE with it, but usually the things that surround us made of plastic were not designed with beauty in mind. Utility, maybe. Ease of cleaning, sure. But style? Not necessarily.

I know I'm a sap, but I have a Luddite depreciation for plastic. I use it, of course, when necessary. Where would I be without my vinyl records? Or my electric kettle, which is sturdy white plastic? Or the pens and mechanical pencils I use every day? Plastic is here to stay, of course, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

So I flew in the face of plastic today. Three times! First, I replaced a garish yellow plastic tub that had housed my nail polish since...what...fourth grade (?)...with a tiny wooden crate purchased secondhand from Value Village. Looks nicer, and now the yellow tub can go into the garage sale pile and be purchased by someone who actually likes it and will use it for the eons it will last. Thanks for lasting forever, plastic.

Second...well, and third...I bought two glass bottles. You know the ones. With the skinny necks and little pour spouts on them for oil and vinegar. But they're not FOR oil and vinegar. Not in my room, heck no. The small one is for liquid hand soap, yessir. And the bigger one with a cork in the top is for the honey I pour in my tea. Now the one is sitting next to my bathroom sink, and the other is very demurely waiting beside my electric kettle. And oh, don't they look so much better than plastic!

Now, to be truly eco-friendly I have to find a way of buying both honey and soap in bulk and refilling the bottles dutifully. We'll see how that goes.

However, plastic always wins, in the end.

I used my (quite plastic) debit card to buy the stuff.

D'oh!

-The GLS