P is for plastics - images of America

One of the many joys of travelling is seeing how other cultures do normal everyday things. The tendency is not only to look for similarities and differences, but to wonder if they're doing whatever it is better!

Whilst I would love to have taken a tent and camped, it didn't seem particularly friendly. No doubt there were ravenous BEARS roaming around all over the place who'd just woken up and would be looking for a tasty meal - oh, and it was pretty cold as well!

So, motels it was.

In Australia, it's common for motel rooms to have a frig, kettle, either fresh or dinky containers of long-life milk, tea bags, coffee, sometimes cocoa and mostly there'll be small packs of sweet bikkies. Often there'll be a toaster and microwave as well! And there are china cups or mugs and generally real glasses for your water, juice or wine.

So it was with some surprise that we discovered this was not the usual custom in the US, at least where we visited. Plastic, polystyrene and paper were common not only in the rooms, but also where breakfast was included.

I've never seen such huge mounds of plastic after a meal. Large bins were strategically placed and full to overflowing each morning. This was presumably happening in motels all over the country as well as in fast food places everywhere. What an environmental disaster.

Is it because water is so scarce or is it a labour saving strategy? If there are no plates to wash, you don't need to employ anyone for the task, and also don't use water - which makes sense on a small scale, but country wide I'm not so sure.

Someone, somewhere may have done a comparison of the amount of water and cost required to extract oil, transport it to be made into the plastic pellets, then possibly somewhere else to be made into the plastic item, then ship it to the end user. I wonder if it uses less water over the life of the item? And of course, that's not including the environmental problems of disposing of plastics and their enormous role as a pollutant. There's more about plastics here: P is for Plastics and Pollution.

I'd never eaten a meal from a polystyrene bowl or plate before, and can't recommend it, there's an extraordinary amount of waste, polystyrene isn't biodegradable, and it's an unpleasant experience eating from them.  It's horrible stuff however you look at it. The wibbly plastic knife and fork weren't anywhere near capable of the demanding rigours of slicing through a waffle, even though it was freshly made.

 Great beer in a plastic container, just doesn't work ...

Honestly guys, paper plates, made from reliably sourced, sustainable timber must be better! See here for Info about the Sustainable Forestry Program. Some places are doing it really well! I'd love to see all the motel chains follow suite.

So how to manage when you're travelling? We purchased refillable traveller mugs, refilled the water bottles I'd brought from home with tap water, and mostly ate breakfast in our room using one container each that doubled as a bowl. It was sturdy enough to survive! We mostly used our own knives, forks and spoons at the provided breakfast and took a spoon with us when we purchased a drink and wanted to stir it. It mightn't have made a huge difference to the amount of plastic that was disposed, but ... well, it's a start.

Some information about being a responsible traveller is here

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O is for oil - images of America

Oil comes from deep underground

 from vast areas of land

to feed our addiction,
to power trains, cars and trucks

vying for space with agriculture: vineyards

and orchards of oranges, plums and olives in the fertile valley where sometimes the air is clear and mountains visible.

More often resulting in toxic air,

and problems we don't seem to be either willing or able to solve adequately (see N is for noxious)

The high Sierra Nevadas can't always be seen through the dense haze, the magnificent snow capped peaks are hidden, yet you know they're there ... somewhere.

From the valley floor, you drive through mile upon mile of orange groves, the sprays and fertilisers adding to the toxic potion rising up into the mountains when the conditions are right (or wrong depending on how you look at it).

The geography and climate cause an inversion layer to form over the valleys, trapping the air and concentrating the pollutants in it. A high proportion (10%) of the US population lives in California, and whilst air quality has improved over the years, more will need to be done to ensure the survival and health of the plants and animals in the surrounding peaks as well as the health of the people on the valley floor.

A 2013 interactive map by the California Environmental Protection Agency showing assorted data including pollutants can be found via this link.


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N is for Noxious: images of America

N could have been for nightmare, describing the nerve-wracking experience of driving on the wrong side of the road. A "character building" experience from which I'm still recovering!

Or N could be for "No".  The kind of long, drawn out "No" one utters when stuck for words after having seen something surprising or unexpected. A bit like "Nooooooo, that can't possibly be real."

"No!" in the sense I've described above, could refer to the close relationship some US citizens have with Aliens, the extraordinary landscape of Death Valley, the giant Sequoia trees, the weird Joshua trees or the strange fibrous golden floss on the tree below:

"NO, that can't possibly be real" is also how one friend reacted when I told her of the warnings I'd read about becoming ill as a result of visiting the Sequoia National Park.

But unfortunately it's true, so N is for noxious. An unpleasantly accurate word for poisoning the air so badly beneath the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks that tourists are warned that during the Summer months they may feel light headed and ill and are advised when it's unsafe to hike. Job applicants are warned that the workplace can be unhealthy. Your lungs can be blistered by the pollutants surging up from the valley below.

Visiting the Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Parks can make you ill. That deserves an extremely loud NO - this should not be allowed to continue. Surely it's time to invest heavily in addressing the pollution problem at the source, increasing funding to the responsible agencies and supporting the National Parks Service rather than continually cutting back!

National Parks are traditionally places where people come to become rejuvenated, they paint, contemplate, exercise and delight in the wonders of nature.

Wikipedia informs us (here) that:

On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill that mandated the agency [ie the National Park Service] "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." (my bold)

But in less than a hundred years from that mandate, trees which can live for over 2500 years are being damaged by airborne pollutants. The generations in between have allowed an appalling situation to arise ... continue ... and get worse.

The noxious air is a combination of fertilisers, PCB's (which affect wildlife reproduction, intelligence and behaviour as well as leading to cancers and mutations) pesticides from the sprays used on fruit trees in the highly productive valley as well as pollutants from factories and vehicles.

The beautiful, majestic forest of giant Sequoia trees are suffering from the noxious air. Seedlings are stressed and some trees have yellowing, dropping needles. Of course, it's not just the awe inspiring Sequoia trees, but other varieties as well.

Their worth is beyond a dollar value, our entire environment is priceless and unable to be replicated.

For now tourists can stand in awe at the base of these amazing trees, to muse and wonder as they gaze upwards with delight.

Where will they and we be in another hundred years?


A 2013 interactive map by the California Environmental Protection Agency showing assorted data including pollutants can be found via this link.

You can read more about the toxic fumes here, here and here. A quick Google search will lead to many more discussions about the air pollution.


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