The Undying Legacy of Plastic
If I wrote a script for a movie where life on earth had finished, and the two people who miraculously left came back to the earth after an odd 120 years in space. Imagine they would land on an ocean patch full of plastic garbage and swim through that for days and days.
It seems pretty bad, but considering the current situation we as humankind are in, it doesn’t sound impossible.
We are producing, consuming, and leaving behind more plastic than ever before and filling our land, streets, and oceans with this convenient piece of human invention than anyone ever expected.
Different authors studied and estimated 12 billion metric tons of plastic garbage, filling our landfills and oceans by 2050. I wouldn’t call it anything else but a plastic pollution crisis, which is taking us nowhere but an unlivable place in a few years.
For some, it might not seem as the biggest problem of the moment considering the pandemic we are dealing with right now. But in years to come, we will work endlessly to leave behind a place we found in a much better position. Not just that, but we are raising a generation that is so plastic dependent too, in forms of packaged food, bottled water, beverages, disposable but non biodegradable utensils, and a never-ending list of other products.
Plastic Waste has been Unchecked For Decades
For decades this phenomenon of plastic pollution and junk piling was unchecked, resulting in the plastic pollution crisis we are facing today.
New York Times states that 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic have been produced since the 1950s, and almost half were produced after 2004. This gigantic figure only assures our dependence on plastic and how carelessly we have been contributing.
Today, it almost seems like life without plastic is unimaginable.
However, nothing is impossible if a firm belief is established and measures are being taken by all those responsible for protecting the ecosystem : suppliers, manufacturers, governments, institutions, and us “consumers” or even better citizens.
Let’s All Join Hands
Small steps!
That is all that we need to take and contribute towards a better living place and conditioning of our planet. I will tell you where I started from : I started buying glass aluminum tin and cloth bag instead of a plastic bag. Wherever possible, I have begun to reuse anything and everything I possibly can. Use bottles for planting, paint them, and use them as vases for carrying small miscellaneous things roaming around in the house, flask instead of the plastic bottle, and buy sustainable and plastic-free makeup products.
The concept of zero plastic might seem “too much of a hassle”. But, let’s focus on the big picture and join efforts to find convenient ways to reduce plastic consumption.
Start involving your friends and family for the cause, and you would be surprised to see how many people will happily join you in this mission. As a kid, I would buy soda in a glass bottle and then collect more to save myself some money and get a refill for free. It looks like we probably need to go back in time and start over, maybe not, but we need to find new options and move towards this journey.
One may walk over the highest mountain one step at a time
Barbara Walters
