Look around you

Look around you, right where you sit, right now.  Or if you have the energy, walk around your house and count the number of things that are made from plastic of some kind or at least has part of it made with plastic.  The job too big for you?  Too much to count?  I can just imagine. It is truly mind boggling. Yet, it is difficult today to imagine a world without plastic of some form or other. It has help save some of our forests being used in place of it and amde our life better in many ways.  So how did all of this plastic become such a large part of our lives?  I'm glad you asked.

The first plastic was made in 1862 by a man by the name of Alexander Parkes.  He invented a compound call parkesine from cellulose.  It was transparent, could be shaped any way you wanted and it would hold that shape once it was cooled. Incredible! By 1930 plastic became a part of our everyday language to describe a wide variety of new materials that are today made from carbon and other elements.

So now you have had your lesson for the day that you will be able to spout off at the the drop of a plastic toothpick. Plastic has become both a blessing and a curse to us today.  A blessing for us and a curse for our planet.  Since man was smart enough to figure out how to make it, they should be responsible for finding the best ways to keep it from being a blight and a problem for the future. If we care so much about our children's  financial future and debt we should care no less about the state of the earth they will inherit, too. Amen. 

 Got a party to finish putting together for our friends this afternoon. I didn't count a single plastic item that I'm using.  Not even the toothpicks.