On New Year’s Day, after nearly two years of preparation, Mexico City became one of the largest municipalities in the world to ban most single-use plastic items.
Even in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, plastic pollution is not just apparent, but lethal – as detailed by the recent discovery of an alarming plastic problem among the desert ecosystem’s most iconic animal — the camel.
What once began as a religious holiday and a jolly celebration of life has now become a season of spending, splurging and over-indulgence. How did it get this way?
Christmas is the annual Christian festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, which is primarily observed on the 25th of December. It is celebrated all around the world in a whole manner of different ways but usually involving a gathering of family and friends and the sharing of a meal.
The holidays are quickly approaching and the shopping frenzy makes it hard to to be aware of the waste that’s involved with the season. Creating a more sustainable holiday is something we can all do with a very small effort. Here are some ideas to gift with meaning, purpose, and without the plastic!
In a report released on Tuesday, by Oceana, it was estimated that online retail giant, Amazon.com, was responsible for generating more than 465 million pounds of plastic packaging waste in 2019. They further estimate that 22 million pounds of that is ending up in our marine and freshwater ecosystems, adding to the growing problems created by plastic pollution.
Over the past few years we’ve certainly seen plenty of scientific research that confirms that plastic material, and the toxins attached to them, are entering our bodies. This isn’t a shock, as we also know that micro and nano plastics are now found in literally every corner of our planet … in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat and the soil that we cultivate. So there’s no doubt that it’s there, but what we don’t clearly know yet is the impact that plastic is having on human health.
We believe it can’t possibly be having a positive affect on us, but science will eventually answer that question. For now, let’s have a look at how much plastic we are ingesting over time, via this infographic about humans eating plastic:
So – studies reveal – it looks like we humans are consuming a horrifying amount of plastic, week on week.
Are we surprised?
A couple weeks ago Break Free From Plastic put out their report Branded Vol. III: Demanding Corporate Accountability for Plastic Pollution, which made headlines for identifying the 10 worst plastic polluters in the world. Here’s the list:
It’s no secret that our human impact on Earth is greatly reshaping our shared experience – and often not for the good. Extinction of species, scarce drinking water, polluted air, disease-causing chemicals, more CO2, climate change, and … well you get the idea.
Sure, we’ve done some great things as well, but it’s hard to look past the damage that we are increasingly responsible for. As our species has “advanced” to the top of the food chain, so too has our appetite for things and the production and infrastructure required to satisfy our need for those things. And it is a BIG need – a hunger that has driven an addiction that recovery might never come from.
For decades, China has been seen as the global bête noire of climate action. Notwithstanding an intensifying climate crisis, and subsequent geopolitical pressure to reduce its carbon footprint, this vast and complicated autocracy has made little environmental progress.