Every spring, the slopes of Mission Peak turn green with grass rich and matted. The birds perch on tree branches to sing their songs, and bees bumble and dance to pollinate our poppies. From the perfect brightness of the sun, the perfect breath of the breeze, the perfect brush of the shade--we love Fremont, and we love our Earth. But while we’re enjoying the spring and the crisp, clean earth around us, we are also killing our Earth. We are staining our wildlife and destroying our future with chemicals called polystyrene. 

What is polystyrene? Polystyrene is a toxic chemical, a carcinogen, a plastic, a threat to our well being. You’ve ingested it at least hundreds if not thousands of times before because it leaches so easily into our food, drink, and land. Here’s another name for it: styrofoam. Styrofoam is made up entirely of styrene and polystyrene, and we no longer have the liberty to think of it as a nostalgic, childhood plaything. Styrofoam may be convenient, but it causes massive harm.  

A slayer disguised as a supporter, styrofoam slaughters you. Polystyrene, a petroleum-based plastic, has been labeled a human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency. Each time you devour a warm slice of pizza from a styrofoam plate, you are actually ingesting harmful chemicals. Each time you drink a fizzy soda from a styrofoam cup, you are actually ingesting cancerous particles. Each time you eat or drink anything from any styrofoam container, you are ingesting toxins and bringing them into your bloodstreams and tissues. Your bloodstreams and tissues become vulnerable to a number of diseases including Leukemia, Lymphoma, spontaneous abortions in women, and kidney failure. But simply limiting your use of styrofoam containers won’t set you in the safe zone. Air pollution from nearby factories that spew styrene everywhere is another tract that styrene can take to enter your body. Styrene has already been found in 40 percent of Americans, and this 40 percent of Americans is rapidly rising with each meal served in a seemingly harmless styrofoam plate. 

The effects of styrofoam only get a tad bit worse from here. Aside from tarnishing our air and depleting our one and only ozone layer, styrofoam takes up to 1 million years to fully decompose in soil. In the meantime, it disintegrates into our water sources as toxic, microscopic particles. Did you know that over 100,000 marine animals die every year by styrofoam? Animals easily ingest small pieces of discarded styrofoam, and when eaten, styrofoam can block and tear the animals’ digestive systems and release toxins. Our fight to end styrene usage and to replace styrofoam with better goods isn’t just a personal cause--it’s a cause to end environmental violence.

On New Year’s Day in Fremont 2011, the City banned polystyrene packaging in restaurants, requiring food vendors to use alternatives instead. An entire decade later, in a time when historic new chapters are being written into our very own history books, we still haven’t turned a single new page. More cities, more counties, more states, and finally the federal government must wipe the dust off their book covers and put pen to paper to ban polystyrene for good. Even apart, we can work together to protect our future, starting in our own home of Fremont, California.