Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - Who Cares?

Let's be honest, sometimes there's nothing more annoying than carrying around a plastic food bin leaking spaghetti sauce inside your already stuffed backpack.

So, what's the harm in throwing it into your nearest trash can? Or just leaving it next to a bench in the park or on the ocean-side boardwalk? The problem is gone.

Or so it appears.

In the meantime, places around the world are becoming plastic garbage dumps. According to Charles Moore, an American oceanographer, there are about 100 million tons of plastic garbage circulating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean known as the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch". The patch is filled with an assortment of durable plastic items such as water bottles, toys, and other debris.

Plastic debris items such as these might seem relatively harmless at first. However, the U.N. Environment Programme has stated that plastic debris in the world's oceans are responsible for the death of approximately 100,000 marine mammals and more than 1 million seabirds every year.

Charles Moore also warns that over the next 10 years, this toxic “plastic stew” will double in size unless consumers cut back on their use of disposable plastics.

So, the next time you're debating whether or not to throw out a plastic food container, please consider the following questions: Is this container recyclable? Can I rinse it out and and reuse it? Are there any other available options such as ceramic plates?

Overall, we can all take part in those three famous R's (reduce, reuse, recycle), because every little bit can add up to make a big difference.

Giant Hissing Cockroach - friend or foe?

My presentations with the Madagascan Giant Hissing Cockroaches at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry typically resulted in numerous shrieks from visitors.

But, many guests were also surprised to learn that these non-biting insects are highly social and oftentimes hiss to attract mates or defend their territory.

So, what is it about these creatures that makes them initially appear threatening? Is it their spiky legs or bushy antennae? Or, is the problem more deeply rooted in our cultural or evolutionary past?

According to Dr. Phillip Weinstein, a psychologist and professor at the University of Otago, entomophobia (the fear of insects, spiders, and mites) is:

1. a reasonable fear based on knowledge or experience (i.e. wasp or bee sting)
2. an unreasonable but culturally understandable repulsion, or
3. a misplaced fear resulting from inadequate information

To reduce the misplaced fears of visitors at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, my fellow educators and I emphasized the fact that the Madagascan Giant Hissing Cockroaches do not bite or attack. Instead, they make "hissing" noises that help them to attract potential mates, communicate with their young, or defend their territory from predators or other cockroaches.

As these visitors learned to empathize with a variety of organisms, they also began to learn the values of biodiversity and environmental conservation. Several previously apprehensive visitors even thanked us for helping them “overcome their fear” of Madagascan Giant Hissing Cockroaches and other insects.

So, the next time you see a "scary-looking" creature, what will you think: friend or foe?