Real Buddhists Don’t Use Plastic

Try going a day without it. I bet you’ll say you can’t, but I’m going to challenge you anyway. Because, what if I told you that just by changing one thing in your life, you could save thousands, perhaps millions of lives? Would you do it? I hope so. The change I’m referring to is plastic. Homo sapiens has lived tens of thousands of years without it and we can, and must, do so again.

For the millions of people who call themselves Buddhist, the time is now to practice what you preach. All Buddhists, no matter whether Zen, Tibetan, Theravada or Pure Land, follow the Five Precepts of Buddhism:

Refrain from harming living beings
Refrain from taking what is not given
Refrain from sexual misconduct
Refrain from false speech
Refrain from ingesting alcohol or other mind-altering substances

It is the first precept we are concerned with here. Refraining from harming living beings means just that — do nothing that can cause harm, whether psychological, emotional, and especially harm that would take away one’s life. We all have heard by now about mass species die-off. According to Earth Day Network, “ We are amidst the largest period of species extinction in the last 60 million years. Normally, between one and five species will go extinct annually. However, scientists estimate that we are now losing species at 1,000 to 10,000 times the normal rate, with multiple extinctions daily.” What we’re witnessing, and participating in, is ecocide on a massive scale.

Mass destruction of ecosystems in the Anthropocene era seems to be yet another ‘yawn’ moment for most of society, but for Buddhists, continuing to participate in mass murder is not and should not be acceptable. We must do all we can to protect the lives of those still left on earth, especially when it requires so little of us.

Ahimsa, or harmlessness, is the guiding principle of Buddhism. We can’t order an iced latte to go and practice harmlessness. We can’t accept a double plastic bag of groceries and practice harmlessness. We can’t use a straw for our can of soda and practice harmlessness. All these actions are harmful, because they all involve plastic.

Plastic is a petroleum product. The oil and gas industries extract petroleum found in vast underground reservoirs where ancient seas were located. Petroleum reservoirs can be found beneath land or the ocean floor. Their crude oil is extracted with giant drilling machines that disrupt sea life and leak oil into the ocean. In fact, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that it responds to over one hundred chemical and oil spills every year in U.S. waters, destroying coral reefs, sea life and sea birds. Single use plastics are weapons of mass destruction, and therefore there is no safe limit to single use plastic.

What We Know: Plastic Harms Living Beings

Plastic does not biodegrade. It stays on the planet for hundreds or thousands of years, depending on what form it’s in and where, and how, it’s disposed. This, we know. And now, after reading this sentence, you’ll know that the ubiquity of plastic is literally choking the life out of our oceans.

Maybe you’ve read recently about the whales that washed up onto the shore, dead from bellies clogged with plastic. One pilot whale washed up on the shores of Thailand with close to 20 pounds of plastic in its stomach, including 80 shopping bags.

80 shopping bags. Ask yourself, how many times do you go to the store or even just the corner bodega to buy a bag of chips, and the bag of chips is placed in yet another bag, which you then throw out the moment you leave the store? How quickly is that bag of chips eaten before it, too, is tossed in the trash to end up who knows where?

Can you be certain that the plastic bag you accept at the point of purchase won’t act as a murder weapon to a hapless creature? If not, where does that place you, one supposedly devoted to ahimsa, on the chain of harming living beings?

Recycling Makes it Okay!

“It’s okay,” you may say, “my town recycles.” Are you sure of that? The facts may surprise you: Less that 20% of all plastics are recycled worldwide. While plastic recycling is highest in Europe, at a rate of 30% of all plastic, it still leaves 70% of all plastic not recycled. The United States? We recycle a mere 9% of all plastic trash. And plastic bags aren’t recycled at all. Where does it all end up?

How is it that shoppers in Denmark use an average of 4 plastic bags a year, while those in America use 365 bags a year? Do they shop more than us? Eat more than us? Buy more than us? Or, do they simply want to take care of the planet more than us? Are you part of the problem, or the solution?

Well, if you go grocery shopping without your own bags, then you’re part of the problem. Plastic is decimating our oceans and all living beings in it. Plastic has now been found in the deepest part of the ocean, in the Mariana Trench. So, if you’re not using your own bags every time you shop, one could say you’re not fully following the precepts.

14 Reasons Why

All it takes is 14 pieces of plastic to kill a sea turtle, according to a study by Scientific Reports. In fact, depending on what it is, one item can kill a sea turtle. You sea, once a sea turtle has swallowed something, it can’t throw it back up again. It stays in its belly until, and if, it can be digested. Plastic bags in the ocean can look just like the jellyfish sea turtles eat. So anytime we accept a plastic bag from a store, we are putting a sea turtle at risk of death, and a painful one at that.

Sea turtles can live up to age 80 (80 years old!) and can weigh anywhere from 90 to 1,500 pounds. They’re estimated to have been on the planet for 65 million years–by comparison, we’re mere planetary party crashers. But despite our recent arrival, we’re making headway on eliminating these and many thousand other wondrous creatures. Sadly, almost all species of sea turtle are classified as Endangered.

Slaughtered for their eggs, meat, skin and shells, sea turtles suffer from poaching and over-exploitation. They also face habitat destruction and accidental capture in fishing gear. Do we need to add to their problems by the careless use of single-use bags, straws and take-out containers?

And, as mentioned, it’s not just turtles that pay the ultimate price for out plastic addiction. There are only 350–400 North Atlantic Right Whales in North America today. These whales, hunted for their blubber and whale oil, were hunted almost to the point of extinction in the 1800s. These beautiful creatures can measure anywhere from 45 to 55 feet long.

These whales have a normal life span of up to 70 years, but ships strikes and entanglement have cut their life span down to an average of 15 years, barely enough time for them to reach maturity. 85% of all Right Whales will suffer entanglement at least once in their lives.

While females can give birth at 9 years of age, they only give birth every 3 to 6 years. Mammals that are killed more often than they can give birth are destined for eradication. Making matters worse, sea creatures can die from starvation by ingesting plastic. Bound up in their stomachs, plastic can make it impossible to digest food.

It’s time we quit making excuses and start doing our part to keep these sentient beings from dying out completely. If you see every plastic bag, cup, straw, candy wrapper and needless doodad as a murder weapon, perhaps you’d be less inclined to indulge in the plastic addiction that’s killing millions of animals.

What Can I Do?

Here’s the important part. Preventing unnecessary death and suffering begins with our choices. These few are easy, yet will go a long way to stem our choking the life out of the Earth’s oceans, forests, rivers and streams:

Do not accept plastic bags at stores, ever. Remember, when even one bag can kill, there is no safe limit for plastic bags. Just say no. Take the zero waste pledge to refrain from plastic.
Say no to takeout. With the exception of pizza, which comes in a box, almost all takeout food comes in single use plastic containers. Remember, the United States only recycles 9% of its plastic. Can you be absolutely sure your food containers will be recycled? If not, just say no.
Don’t buy water or soda. Water companies don’t produce water, they produce plastic. Refuse to support the commodification of water, which is a natural resource belonging to all. Soda companies create plastic and dental caries, obesity and diabetes. Don’t buy their poisonous, addictive, products.
Give straws the send-off. Humans have been able to live for eons without straws. They are not necessary. They induce air into your digestive tract, make teeth more cavity prone, and cause unattractive facial wrinkles. Still, Americans toss out 500 million straws a day. You may use a straw for 5 or 10 minutes, but they’re non-recyclable and destroy marine life.

These are just a few of the many things we can all do to maintain adherence to the first precept, but they will go a long way to saving lives. The next time you go shopping, bring your own bags, buy unprocessed foods that don’t come in plastic containers. The healthiest foods are not sold in plastic containers: fruits, vegetables, and grains can all be bought unpacked. If your grocery doesn’t sell grains in bulk, support one that does. While these actions may seem inconvenient, our lives, and millions of others, depend on our making the effort.

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