143 / Plastics

Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
Mr. McGuire: Plastics.
Benjamin: Just how do you mean that, sir?

The "Graduate" (Dustin Hoffman) was seduced by Mrs. Robinson. We (in our modern civilization) have been seduced by plastics.

Living within the constraints of the natural world has not been enough. We are, literally, physically constructing a different world, of our own design, building it up within the world of nature, and using "plastics" as one of the main building materials.

But there is a problem with plastics. The synthetic materials that we manufacture, not being part of the natural environment, are not part of the cycles of life and death, recycling and rebirth, that characterize everything that belongs to the natural world.

Where do they go, all these "plastics?" They call it the Pacific (or Atlantic) "garbage patch."

Garbage? It's a lot more sinister than that!