World Environment Day 2018: Beat Plastic Pollution!

While I identify as an ‘environmentalist’ and some of my past actions echo the same, I feel that I have been a complete let down to the course. I think the battle to fight climate change and secure a sustainable planet is not weakened by the ignorant and/or anti-climate change campaign industrialists. I think our biggest let down is the decision by climate change experts and specialists to remain silent or allow themselves to be blinded by short term development agenda.

I frequently allude to the words of the late Professor Wangari Maathai, through the Green Belt Movement, which reminds humans that ‘it is the little things we do that make a difference’. That said, I want to do my little thing today in honor of the men and women who tirelessly fight for a green planet. I want to remind us of the little thing that we must do to “BEAT PLASTIC POLLUTION” which is the 2018 theme of the World Environment Day. More information and updates about the official WED event hosted by the city of New Delhi in India, one of the world’s top 5 plastic polluters, can be accessed here. 

 

     Source: World Environment Day

According the UN, plastic waste is responsible for killing about 1 million sea birds and 100,000 marine mammals annually. A recent study warns that 90% of today’s waste will last for another 500 years, and oceans will be home to more plastics than fish!  Two days ago, CNN reported that a pilot whale died in Thailand after swallowing more than 80 bags of plastic (about 17 pounds). It is also estimated that every day, at least a truck full of plastic waste finds its way in the oceans and that this will triple by 2050 if no action is taken today. Annually, the world produces about 500 billion plastic bags and has in the last decade produced more plastic than it did in the whole of the last century. These are a few of the shocking facts we have to deal with!

Nations such as Rwanda long set an example of a commitment to reduce plastic waste by banning plastic bags while others such as US and Germany have pioneered and implemented waste to energy power plants the past 3 decades. However, the climb remains very steep and a hard nut to crack across most jurisdictions simply because it takes more than policy and political gimmicks to drive change. There must be a simultaneous behavioral change in the mindset of the people; they must understand and embrace change and see the shared value in it.  But how long it would it take to educate the entire globe and have them see the shared value in eliminating plastic use? Perhaps another decade, half a century or never. We must however try or die trying! We owe at least that much to mother nature; let us keep talking about and act to beat plastic pollution. Let it become that annoying reminder we do not want to told about anymore. But most importantly, let us avoid plastic pollution in threefold steps: REDUCE-RECYCLE-REFUSE! Ever asked yourself why it is hard to find empty Coca Cola glass soda bottles in the trash bins?  Why can’t we do the same for plastic-bottled sodas and every other drink?  I think making plastic-bottled drinks relatively more expensive (in order to retrieve the packaging cost) instead of recycling them is one of our biggest sustainability failures. Globally, it is estimated that about 1 million plastic bottles are bought per minute which is extremely sad given the fact that most if not all of these will eventually end up in the oceans.  

As we join the rest of the world to mark WED, lets REDUCE, RECYCLE and/or REFUSE all forms of plastic waste at home or school or work place. If you have a minute to spare, visit EcoWatch website for more ideas on the simple yet fun things you can do to #BeatPlasticPollution! Join the global movement today!