To the editor:

Are you worried about plastic; microplastic, plastic accumulating in our waterways, in our soil, in our food, in our bodies, in our children’s bodies?

I have a simple suggestion for you - pick it up! Get yourself a grabber (I would recommend the 33" Grappler Extended Reach & Pick-Up Tool at Amazon) and a bag holder (The Handy Bag Opener, also at Amazon), make an arrangement with a sympathetic trash dumpster in the neighborhood, and make picking up plastic (and the rest of the trash while you’re at it) part of your regular walk. Or part of the walk that you wish was regular, if only you had the motivation. I’ll bet you’ll find the enterprise both satisfying and motivating. 

Can you only walk a block? You’ll find yourself on intimate terms with your route, whatever you can manage.  Perhaps you aren’t seeing much trash, but the plastic will reveal itself over time, because while we aren’t watching and aren’t picking it up, we are burying the earth in plastic.

There are other side benefits that will reveal themselves as well, especially if you can do this without judgment. If you can afford the tools and the time and have the will to make the effort, you are blessed with resources, understanding and responsibility that are not accessible to many of us.

Make the effort.

Janet Learned

Potsdam