Do you have an environmental "line in the sand"? I mean, is there some environmental activity you must do because you believe it is important for sustainability?

Okay, activities such as recycling our cans and plastic don't really count here, because they are not that hard to do. I'm talking about things that challenge us a little. Over the years I've had one activity that I just have to do that's not easy—that is to save and eventually recycle block styrofoam. Styrofoam, or as it is technically known, expanded polystyrene (EPS), has been my "line in the sand" for environmental sustainability for over 25 years.

It all started in the mid-1980's, when I began saving and recycling almost every piece of EPS that came into my possession. This has mostly included various types of packing material (peanuts and blocks) that I received with product purchases, but in the early years, it also included food take-out containers (which it turns out cannot be recycled for what should have been obvious reasons). Yet even with the more-recyclable blocks of EPS, it took almost 10 years before I found a recycling center that would accept it in the Bay Area where I lived at the time, and by then I had about six boxes full of it. Over the past several years, once again EPS has become more challenging to recycle, since, to my knowledge, there are no recycling centers in North State that will take it. I'll come back to that problem in a minute.

The main concerns with regard to EPS are: 1) it comprises a significant part of our garbage (20% or more according to some websites), 2) it doesn't break down or decompose in landfills, 3) it is alleged to contain toxic carcinogens, and 4) it finds its way through drainage systems into the Pacific and Atlantic oceans where, along with other types of plastic, it has formed massive "garbage patches."

All of this creates a strong likelihood that EPS affects planetary ecosystems. And while no one knows the effect of EPS on these ecosystems for sure, it's something that I've always intuitively felt is not good for the planet. Then there is also the GAIA hypothesis, which states essentially that everything on earth forms a self-regulating system that maintains the conditions for life. Whether and how much EPS affects this self-regulating system we don't know, but the possibilities give me cause for concern.

It may be a long time before we know what the combined effects of EPS are, but it is not my purpose here to argue that point. Rather, I'm suggesting that each one of us who is environmentally conscious is eventually confronted with an issue or situation that forces us to consider how much we appreciate or respect this planet and how far we are we willing to go to demonstrate it—in other words what our personal "line in the sand" IS for planetary sustainability.

For me, refusing to put EPS into the waste stream is my way to say in effect, "I'm drawing the line here—this is the where I'm going to take a stand for sustainability." Perhaps I'm being overly dramatic, and the point may even be invalid. After all, as mentioned, we don't actually know the effects of EPS on the planet. But I believe that unless enough of us make a stand on at least one environmental issue that is important to us, eventually sustainability of life on this planet will be an issue.

When we take a challenging environmental stand, in effect we are saying to the living consciousness that is our planet, "We recognize that we have caused a problem and we are trying to fix it." In other words, we care, and by taking action, we create proactive thought forms about caring, which in turn have the potential to affect all people to be more environmentally conscious. It's something to think about—that each one of us affects how the rest of us think and act.

Coming back to the recyclability of EPS, while it is clearly challenging, there is some good news despite the lack of recycling potentials. For one, the use of EPS plastic is gradually being reduced in business packing supplies and in restaurants. Secondly, some major manufacturers of EPS packing materials are making it a practice to use recycled EPS in part of their production operation. Third, people are finding that they can reduce the amount of EPS that they take in, thereby reducing the need to recycle. Finally, some retail and shipping businesses are using less EPS (because it is more costly, probably) and taking back certain types of EPS for reuse. In a future article I will look at some specific things that we as individuals can do to support this reduction in the use and production of EPS.