Now I Kinda Know How a Dolphin Feels

Yesterday I made my fav hot-weather dessert—Key Lime Pie (KLP.)

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In putting together the graham cracker crust, I snipped off the sealed edge of the waxed paper on the cracker package and pulverized those golden crackers into crumbs, made the filling, baked it all, let it cool and awaited our holiday dessert.

Mmmmmmm, 9pm, about to watch a favorite show with pretty plates with big slices of KLP topped with big pile of whipped cream, (or the squirt can equivalent.) First bite—yum. Second bite —yum, chew—what’s this? A little piece of brown plastic in the cracker crust? Gee that isn’t waxed paper on the crackers anymore, but brown plastic made to look like waxed paper, and some of it got Cuisinarted into the crust. Maybe there was a spare flap of it inside the package or I dropped a bit straight into the chopping bowl. We’ll never know. But not willing to give up the pie or crust, we carefully chewed each bite and found occasional pieces of plastic—easily distinguished from the edible part.

It occurred to me that maybe this is how dolphins and other sea creatures feel when they bite into a beloved food and discover it is not what they expected, or worse yet, swallow it unknowingly.

I am grateful that brave and stalwart states like Hawaii and California have banned all plastic bags. Perhaps even more states are on that track. And Kroger Food Stores recently announced a company wide rule to stop using plastic grocery bags in all of their stores. It is a beginning. As is my determination to watch more carefully what goes into the Cuisinart and the KLP.

This is a real-life reminder of the Law of Conservation of Matter and Energy. (also, First Law of Thermodynamics) Or found in a song by Earth Mama, AWAY, from my Grass Roots! CD. Can be sung alone or in a round with friends! See lyric below.

As always, we are kinder to ourselves and all living things when we live simply, use less, reuse and recycle whatever we can. I do wish manufactures and packagers would return to waxed paper which eventually breaks down in landfills. Meanwhile, I’m sending empathetic energy to the dolphins and all creatures of the deep to chew carefully and spit out the plastic.

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