Word: styrofoam
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When it was Weld's turn to speak, a large and silverheaded Weld supporter--slightly miffed about the sponge balls--whipped his styrofoam Dixie hat frisbee-style across the delegation. His target was a Pierce supporter who was waving a placard and chanting, "Steve, Steve." The Pierce supporter smiled back like a child who has just outwitted a younger sibling as the hat sailed far to his right...
Then one day last month, county water testers in North Carolina, who use Perrier's purity in their labs to gauge local water quality, found that the French product was contaminated with excessive levels of benzene, a solvent used, among other things, to make Styrofoam. The Food and Drug Administration ordered random tests and found similar benzene levels in 13 bottles. FDA officials noted that there was not much danger. Drinking two small bottles of contaminated Perrier a day, they estimated, would increase one's lifetime risk of cancer by only one in a million...
...similar tunnel-vision mentality underlies our drive to place convenience above all other considerations. We fret and worry over the crisis of solid waste disposal, but God forbid we should have to do without our disposable diapers, plastic six-pack harnesses and styrofoam coffee cups...
...litany of environmental hazards associated with our throw-away society is old news. Deteriorating styrofoam releases chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), resulting in serious depletion of the earth's protective ozone layer. A group of British scientists reported in 1985 that the ozone layer over Antartica had been diminished by 40 percent. Despite global agreements to curb their use, CFCs' destructive potential lasts long after they are released. And even CFC- free styromfoams are not harmless; they will clog our landfills for centuries to come...
Every time we drive somewhere unnecessarily, every time we eat a meal using styrofoam containers and plastic utensils, every time we use aerosol sprays, every time we pass over slightly discolored apples in the produce section in favor of shiny, pesticide-treated ones, we are increasing the economic incentives for companies to maul the environment...