Plasticulture

 The curious looking rows of seats being pulled on the back of a tractor that we saw yesterday, are used for planting strawberries through holes in vast sheets of plastic that are spread over acres of land. 

Today, as we drove through Ventura County toward L.A., we saw acres and acres of polytunnels. I imagine they're used as greenhouses for growing winter crop in a cool temperate climate on the coast.

I can't help wondering why I worry about plastic drinking straws and ziplock bags when I see the grand scale of plastic that is used to grow the things I store in them or drink through them. But I do.  Once I started to pay attention to the amount of single use plastic I use, I realize that practically everything I use is associated one way or another. Doing without it would be virtually impossible unless I lived under a rock and never came out.

It was literally as we were driving past the Monterey Bay, that I heard on the radio that this bay, which is an environmental  success story due to environmental protections and sustainable fishing, is facing a new challenge...microplastic, microscopic bits of plastic found in huge concentrations at about a quarter of a mile below the surface of Monterey Bay.

It seems that the worst culprit is single use plastics, such as take out food containers and plastic produce bags are among the worst offenders. I can do that....

We stopped off in San Luis Obispo this morning to have breakfast with Will  at a wonderfully funky cafe called Rio Monte. I'm embarrassed to say that even though Will has been at school there for three years at Cal Poly, I haven't been there since my mother lived there many years ago. It was a bit of a trip down memory lane as well as a nice visit with Will.

We are now at Matt and Amy's. Graduation festivities begin tomorrow....