How have we been sold this idea that it is normal & sensible to crack open a brand new plastic bottle... whenever we happen to be thirsty? When bottled water became a popular trend, at least some ecological concerns had already crept into public awareness... It is amazing what we can become used to.
Thankfully, many people have since taken to alternatives, including stainless steel reusable bottles. However, to many, here and in other countries, the plastic bottle remains a convenience when out and about town... For others, including my own family and community members, large cases are brought home and this has become the default drink... half drank bottles scattered about... full recycle bins (at best).
Were I public speaking, I would have to let people know ahead of time that I wouldn't want to drink out of one... or be seen with one, honestly.
It may seem common sense to bring an end to casual use, especially in consideration of ecological concerns... and furthermore, all the strange health issues connected to plastics. If we recognize the insensibility of the habit and yet can't outgrow it, then one might argue that we are perhaps unable, or more likely, unwilling to truly choose.
At the same time, one could also say we have been successfully manipulated. Because to someone out there (regardless of intent) we are a statistic that is being marketed to, influenced.
Our culture has been sold the idea of plastic bottles, just like it has been sold the idea of coke-a-cola (the corporation of which... in addition to perpetuating use of plastic bottles... has invested substantial amounts of money into prevention of labeling of genetically modified foods... meaning it seeks to prevent us direct knowledge of what we eat).
Profit seems the bottom line in this case. This doesn't mean evil is afoot, so much as it means unawareness is at foot... and perhaps greed. The brainwasher is brainwashed as well.
Our culture has likewise been sold McDonalds (who continues to serve sub par food with sub par environmental and social consequences). These companies and these products may provide a deep comfort, as they have been interwoven with our past. For example, when I was a very young child, my Aunt asked me where I wanted to go one day... I said McDonaldland (as seen on tv).
The advertisements, the happy meals have been interwoven with many of our childhoods... that is to say, we have become comfortable with them and thus they become the background upon which we live. A relationship that might appear dysfunctional to the onlooker becomes normal to the insider. So we may look around the world to see the strangeness without ever looking in the mirror.
I have had conversations with some who accept McDonalds as a good, socially aware company, citing the charity Ronald McDonald House... this seems like saying that an abusive spouse is just fine b/c this person brought his lover flowers.
If we want to talk about democratic process, but at the same time we give up our vote on a regular basis... the daily consumer choices that empower the processes that impact the habitat and this country... the complications, the ones we may say we are so concerned about all the time, that is quite a twist.
It begs the question, can a given person handle the notion of indirect consequences? That is to say... have we, since our departure from tribal living, become aware, in our daily lives, of indirect consequences?
Gun violence, for example, is interesting to consider as a partial function mental instability, which happens to be influenced by quality of diet, and furthermore is influenced by interactions with other community members (whose mental balance is also affected by diet) The person may act (based not only upon his social conditioning and experiences... but also due to his own exaggerated qualities as influenced by nutrition)
Haven't we already been flooded with sound information pertaining to nutrition's link to behavior and emotional conditions? So what are soda machines still doing in schools? And what is the point in talking democracy if we have given our power, our day to day vote, to the advertiser and the attached song that hooks us... if we've given our power to the television, essentially... This all feels like The Matrix... lite version.
Maybe its true that some of us are more programmed for stability and want to hold on to these labels, behaviors, products that define us. That could be said of any country's people really.
If we want our votes to serve to the betterment of our culture and our habit... perhaps, we have to find our voting opportunities in the first place... freedoms are hidden behind our addictive impulses, buying patterns and unnoticed behaviors... behind the numerous distractions of our lives, often knowingly or unknowingly convenient to the seller, to the advertiser. That is to say that our choices often are not conscious ones... and since they aren't conscious ones, one might ask if they are choices at all.
If we are going to truly choose, it seems we've got to see through the film of our behaviors and buying patterns. I don't know what the average family spends on groceries in a week, but consider five families spending just $100 each on groceries every week... that is $24,000 a year... handed to the particular companies that determine the quality of our living in terms of ingredients, environment impacts, etc.
While, it shouldn't be the case that the particular company/corporation has this power, it is the case that we are entangled with these dynamics at present... so its seems beneficial to be aware. Heightened awareness may lead to evolved choices which have evolved consequences.
Maybe if the public stops buying plastic bottles... the company will stop producing them. It's that simple.
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