I got an interesting message the other day from Whole Foods about the "Do Something Reel" Film Festival happening across the country. They are showing six films in one month in seventy cities. The first one on the list for SoCal was this weekend--the "Bag It: Is Your Life Too Plastic?" movie about the horrendous issues we are having on this planet with disposable plastic bags. It was time to ROLE/ROLL, so I snagged the family, and we headed for Encino this morning. I've been using less and less plastic bags for years--and rarely use any of them now. We have been recycling more and more the last five years too. Our twins are seven and plenty old enough to learn about ecology issues like plastic bags.
I quickly purchased tickets this morning once we decided to attend for sure. I was worried about getting a seat since Encino is a fairly progressive part of Los Angeles. We arrived just seven minutes before show time! We met a friendly management rep from Whole Foods inside the door who gave us a reusable shopping bag and pointed us to the correct theatre door. We rushed inside--to an EMPTY theatre! Amazing since there are about TEN MILLION people in Los Angeles County. According to the Bag It website, "In the United States alone, an estimated 12 million barrels of oil is used annually to make the plastic bags that Americans consume. The United States International Trade Commission reported that 102 billion plastic bags were used in the U.S. in 2009." Other sources I found informed me that the bags cost much more to recycle than they can ever be resold for; therefore, the real root cause solution is to STOP USING PLASTIC BAGS. Yet on Sunday, April 3rd, with ten million in LA County, only four people were at the Bag It documentary in Encino. Hopefully there were many more at the other showing site in Santa Monica. Welcome to LA where some of the women probably have more plastic in them than some of the scavenger fish in the oceans!!!
We we learned? We CAN and WILL make a difference. We can and will make changes at home--today--not tomorrow. We can and will do better. There are too many chemicals in our world today--in the air, food, clothes, cars, and just about everywhere we turn in modern society. We have used our fair share too. We will always use plastics now--welcome to modern civilization. The movie was not trying to tell people never to use plastics--but the movie did make us all realize that the irresponsible use of "throw away" singe use plastic bags and single use containers is reckless for the environment. Why the hell do I need a plastic bag for an item that I can carry in my hand and home just so I can throw the bag into the trash perfectly clean and basically unused? It's stupid--and irresponsible to our environment. Shame on myself for being duped so many years! Enough!
Another MAJOR point that was brought to light--if we don't fix this mess, nature will. Nature always wins. We either make it right, or we will simply choke ourselves out over time, then nature will take over the clean up for another few million years without humans around to screw it up more. It reminds me of the Wall-e movie...one of the most "serious" social statement films I've ever seen yet thought by most to be a cute animation by most. Ha!
Get REEL...Do Something Reel...see Bag It or one of the other five films showing across the country.
Make a change--one bag at a time, one body at a time, one breath at a time, and more importantly, ONE CHILD at a time. I hope you see the movie. It will change my life...and already has.
In ACTION, Coach RJ
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