To the editor:

Here is a question we can pose to our young readers: What sort of new practice(s) today is being developed or introduced into society that claims to make our lives easier that you think will cause detriment to our environment in the future? Would you be more motivated to protest the use of that product knowing how detrimental the use of plastics have been on the environment today?

For instance when I was in my 20s and 30s, society began introducing the use of plastics in furniture, microwave foods, trash bags or children’s playground equipment, etc. It took me years to succumb to using these products even through I knew eventually what impact they would have on the environment because this is such a throw-away society. We almost have no choice but to use plastics – tough to avoid. Now we are paying the price. If only we’d been motivated in our youth to protest the use of so much plastic in our daily use of things. But then would a protest have made a difference?

Kathleen Christian,
Lawrence