Pointing Fingers at Plastic

The push to stop transforming fossil fuels to plastic has not received the attention it deserves. We easily point fingers (and rightfully so) at the transportation sector as a contributor to climate change; in response, there’s a push for solar energy and electric vehicles as preferential climate change solutions. Climate solutions also require smaller scale changes and nuanced legislation changes, but these options are not nearly as flashy and popular. The irony of environmental movements is we often focus on the elusive, big picture solutions. We make lofty goals such as 100% renewable energy or phasing out ALL single use plastics by 2050, before getting into the details of how we would accomplish these goals. What we need to remember to prioritize is to push for regulations and policy that restrains the plastic market in light of the prevalence and persistence of plastic pollution and to walk before we can run. 

Recent research from a team of scientists that spanned the fields of chemistry, engineering, sustainability, and materials science stressed, “To achieve a more sustainable future, integration of not only technological considerations, but also equity analysis, consumer behavior, geographical demands, policy reform, life-cycle assessment, infrastructure alignment, and supply chain partnerships are vital,”. In other words, the backbone of a sustainable future requires complex and collaborative solutions. It seems like all kinds of scientists are on the same page and they call for new approaches to plastics design, production and use, in order to keep plastics out of landfills and waterways. Now all that’s left is for consumers, producers, and lawmakers to get on board.

World-wide Tipping Point

“Technology, and clean-ups, won’t save us from plastic pollution” according to leading environmental and geotechnical scientists. To tackle the plastic problem at its root, before it’s too late, recent research, called for caps on the production of virgin plastic to increase the value of recycled plastic and a ban on the export of plastic waste. The article stressed lack of progress in mitigating plastic pollution could lead to an array problems– what they call “hypothetical examples of possible effects” such as 1) exacerbation of climate change due to global carbon alteration, 2) biodiversity loss in the ocean where plastic pollution is an additional stressor to overfishing, 3) ongoing habitat loss caused by changes in water temperature, nutrient supply and chemical exposure. 

These hypothetical, enormous environmental disasters have the potential to manifest in our lifetime without an alteration of human behavior. Indeed, global emissions of plastic to the world’s waters are expected to almost double by 2025 if business-as-usual scenarios continue. Plastic pollution is approaching an irreversible tipping point and we all are called to play a part in the providing pressure for progress.