Not In My Backyard

Have you ever heard of the Cuyahoga River? As recently as 40 years ago, it was not unheard of to see it on fire. The depth of pollution on the surface of the water was often several inches thick. You can read more about that here. Since then, the EPA has worked to clean up disasters such as that one, from mines to chemical dumps to DoD sites, but in recent years, the EPA has suffered from funding cuts (thank Bush for that one), and it struggles to fight major polluters. That problem can only get worse as more executives from those corporations find their way into the government. This is not the point I am trying to make today.
I read an article about the EPA which was written on Earth Day (I was attempting a digital detox last week) which stated that today's problems are invisible (greenhouse gases etc) becuase the EPA has cleaned up the visible pollution. While the burning rivers and toxic sludge of the 70's have been dealt with, pollution has not gone away. Ask the people of Libby, Picher or Anniston.
Earlier this year, news broke of a new floating garbage patch - this time in the Atlantic Ocean. Read the National Geographic article here. There are between 500,000 and 1,900,000 pieces of plastic trash in each square mile of the garbage patch. Can you imagine what we've done? You don't have to. This BBC video shows the scale of the problem on a Hawaiian beach. A new harvest of plastic debris washes up each day. Not only that, but the beach itself is becoming plastic!
I'm not sure what kind of a warning sign we need to see before we do something. If the average suburb looked like that beach, would we change the way we live? Should we use disposable products at all?