Readers write: Compassion for each other – and the planet

What about paper?

Thank you for the June 26 cover story, “In search of a post-plastic future.” I appreciate your timely coverage of the growing effort to reduce plastic waste and overproduction by banning single-use plastics. 

Clearly this is a problem that must be addressed, but the article reports that many vendors face challenges in finding alternatives. Oddly, there is no mention of the most obvious alternative: paper. 

Some stores in the United States still offer paper bags, and not long ago, paper was the usual wrapping for freshly cut meats and fish. It would be helpful to know what prevents a return to paper as the default material for bagging and wrapping.

Jennifer Quinn
Abingdon, Virginia

Out of sight, not out of mind

The cover story on a post-plastic future reminded me of a time I’ll never forget about five years ago, when a TV news reporter randomly asked a young Vancouver urbanite what he thought of government restrictions on disposable plastic straws. “It’s like we’re living in a nanny state,” I remember him retorting. “They’re always telling us what we can and cannot do.”

His mentality revealed to me why so much gratuitous animal-life-destroying plastic waste eventually finds its way into the natural environment, where there are few, if any, caring souls to immediately see it.

Way too many people continue recklessly behaving as though nonbiodegradable garbage and pollutants can be thrown down a dark chute, flushed down drainage pipes, emitted out of exhaust pipes, or spewed into the sky – as if they could be safely absorbed into the air, water, and land. Even the largest toxic contaminant spills in rarely visited areas of wilderness reflect the harmful tendency toward “out of sight, out of mind.” 

It’s like people believe we can inconsequentially dispense of that waste into a black hole singularity, in which it’s compressed into nothing.

Frank Sterle Jr.    
White Rock, British Columbia

Keeping hope alive

I applaud the fine cover story “Stopping culture wars in their tracks,” published in the June 12 Weekly magazine. 

As a native Middletonian, I tire of the stories in the media that paint the mill towns of southwestern Ohio as dreary sites. The quiet work and alliances among folks in Middletown, Hamilton, Springfield, Lima, and so on continue to push forward. 

Yes, the heavier industries have gone or cut back within these cities. Yes, the challenges to retain youthful energy and talent in the area are there. But the necessary day-to-day work is going on, thanks to the various units mentioned in the article, as well as other examples like the Feed the Hungry Project and Teen Mentoring Committee. They keep hope alive.

John McCluskey Jr.
Bloomington, Indiana

Why I leave my phone behind 

“One is the loneliest number: What will help people connect again?” from the July 10 & 17 Weekly was very well done! For myself, I am trying to learn to leave the house without my cellphone and to stop eating while peering into the digital world (though communication through email is pretty amazing!). 

I am more likely to sit out on the patio and be content to watch for the occasional bird or read a book. When I’m with people, I try to pay attention to listening while “seeing” the other person – maybe some visual cues will help me better assess what they’re telling me, or us, while at a meal table.

Howard Tenenbaum
San Diego