The Great Pacific Garbage Patch caused by plastic. Thousands of Wildlife dying and being strangled because of plastic. Climate Change being contributed to by plastic. Our Health being harmed by plastics. What is more to say about the huge problem of plastics?
Plastic has toxic pollutants that can damage the environment and allow land, water, and air pollution to occur. Plastic takes thousands of years to break down, so its damage to the environment is long-lasting.
Wildlife can also be greatly affected by plastic. Many animals become entangled in plastic and eat plastic, mistaking it for food and feeding it to their young. In oceans alone, plastic debris outweighs zooplankton by a ratio of 36-to-1. Over 260 species have been reported to ingest or become entangled in plastic debris, resulting in impaired movement and feeding, reduced reproductive output, and eventually death. Microplastics are still existent in oceans to date. This excessive plastic can also cause the bioaccumulation of plastic in our food web.
Plastics are also known to harm human health. Toxic chemicals leached from plastic are found in the blood and tissue of almost all humans. Plastic is often associated with cancers, birth defects, and several other diseases. Its exposure can cause a significant impact on human health.
Despite all the dangers that we know and understand about plastics in our world, we still refuse to accept this huge problem. We still refuse to take action against plastics. We still seem to contribute, despite the negative effects, to the plastic problem.
One of the most-inspiring articles about Plastic was a Teen Vogue Article by Alli Maloney. It highlighted the experiences of a person who actually went on a trip to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and how they felt. As they put it,
It was hard to not feel the monumental weight of human failure as I spent day after day in the GPGP. Early on in the trip, U.S. actions director for Greenpeace Katie Flynn-Jambeck warned that “we might all cry” when we got there, and she was right. I did. I felt hopeless standing Starboard-side on the Sunrise, counting my 97th piece of large plastic spotted in two hours on watch. Counting and organizing hundreds upon thousands of microplastics, tiny fragments that came bleached white, hot pink, and robin’s egg blue alongside tiny bits of broken-down rope, I found myself thinking about the caps of pens, lids of yogurt, Barbie cars — plastic, everywhere, across the landscape of my life.
I know that plastic has become such a common aspect of our daily lives. Even though accidentally, we tend to use plastics quite often; when we go shopping and use plastic bags when we drink from bottled water made of plastic, and when we use materials made of plastic. Our daily lives seem to be revolving around this item. Despite this, it is important that we learn not to forget. That we learn to care, and really motivate ourselves to understand the immense problem, and how it can affect us today.
I hope that I was able to inspire everyone to understand and take action about the plastic situation in our world today. Being aware of the effects of plastic is already one step in our fight against plastic pollution in our world today. It is important to remind ourselves about the impact we are creating, each and every time we use plastic. It is important not to forget, and to care. Truly, each and every plastic still makes a huge difference in our world today.
“It’s just one plastic straw… said 8 million people” – Unknown
