Writing a lot about plastics has made me increasingly aware of my plastic use and what seems like an almost astronomical use of plastic use globally. Just the other day, I was on the train when I stopped and observed just how many people were wearing disposable masks. For each 8 seater row, there was an average of about 1-2 people wearing reusable masks.
Following that, I decided to have a conversation with my brother about just how much plastic disposable masks are creating, but this conversation led to an uncomfortable realisation. He replied, “… but there is already so much plastic.”
To me, this revealed two things:
- People know about their plastic use.
- But they would carry on using them because there is ‘already so much plastic’.
That’s like saying, ‘so many people are dying, killing more won’t seem so unreasonable’. Now in that context, doesn’t that just sound like a load of rubbish? What we really see here is that the word ‘plastic’ no longer holds weight. This idea that people wouldn’t associate plastics as harmful, or for some, just plain indifferent to it. To this, I strongly urge more people to understand and educate themselves of the burden of plastics on the environment.
Plastics shouldn’t be just an environmentalist’s problem and neither reducing plastics an environmentalist’s advocacy. Ultimately, this is our ecosystem we are protecting and we all play a part in making a change. Just because the implications of plastics are secondary, doesn’t mean it is any less hostile than a mass killer going around killing people. Perhaps society needs to care for the environment in order to truly care for humanity. ‘Plastics’ should be a good enough reason.
