Ding Huang demonstrates the art of paper cutting
Laura Reynolds looks at the habits of exam-weary students
James Tompkinson discusses the benefits of using Facebook for revision
Laura Reynolds provides some tips to help you save
This is what Rebecca Hoskins witnessed when she left her home town Modbury, Devon, to go and film wildlife for BBC 2 in Hawaii. What she saw from behind the camera left her in tears. Turtles, dolphins and albatrosses all slowly dying a painful death due to being trapped in plastic debris. This motivated her to take drastic action- the result of which was to make her home town the first plastic bag free place in Europe.
So now if you visit any one of the 40 or so small shops on the high street you will be given a cloth bag, or cotton bag, or your purchase will be wrapped in corn starch paper. Not a plastic bag in sight. The 43 traders of the Modbury have pledged to no longer provide or have available a plastic bag of any sort and have sent all their plastic bags up to Newcastle to be made into plastic chairs.
Now I’m not suggesting that this was an easy task for Rebecca Hoskins, nor am I suggesting that everywhere else should immediately follow suit. But for me whatstands out from this episode is that someone felt almost personally responsible for the pollution that our throwaway style of living here in Britain was causing thousands of miles away. So why shouldn’t everyone else?
To make this idea more tangible for us students living a sheltered university life, think of the number of bags that Costcutter would hand out on an average day, and the amount of time they are used for? I’m sure it would exactly mirror the statistic given at the top; therefore we are no less guilty of environmental damage.
So next time you go shopping don’t take the plastic bag offered to you- it will only end up as poisonous landfill waste, or as litter in the sea. Take a cotton bag and help save our planet!
You must log in to submit a comment.
