I eat Love, I drink Love, I sleep Love……………it seems so romantic.
But,
if we replace “Love” with “Plastic”, how do you think it will sound.
The first statement may sound good but it works mostly in movies and not sure how realistic it is. But the second statement might sound boring but that is the fact. Knowingly or unknowingly we all are surrounded by plastics. Everything we use in our daily life is made of plastic, starting the day with tooth brush, plastic milk bags, plastic bag for groceries, food packaging, plastics spoons and plates, clothes we wear, furniture around us, etc. etc. etc. Our entire environment is contaminated because of plastic. The air we breath if filled with plastics, our oceans are filled with plastics, the water we drink is full of plastics, the food we consume is full of plastics. Micro & Nano plastics are so small that they are not visible to our naked eye, but they are like cancer slowly and slowly eating away our environment and affecting our health. We human beings have not only endangered the lives of our future generation, but have also affected other species living on land and in water. Most of the plastics we use end up in water bodies and because of that the marine life is getting badly. Fishes eat those plastics and we eat fishes, so that plastic again enters into our bodies.
Plastics are non biodegradable and bacteria known to cause human diseases tends to grow on the plastic surface. Microorganisms and other abiotic factors together break down complex substances into simpler organic matters which eventually suspend and fade into the soil. These biodegradable substances act as manure in some cases, but they don’t harm the nature. But Non biodegradable substances like plastics are not affected by these microorganisms, they remain untouched for 100’s of years, they break down into small particles under pressure and heat and find their way into our environment and human bodies.
The toxic element coming from these plastics affect the hormones regulation in our body. These hormones play an important role in the development of newborn babies and children, affect our metabolism, affect sexual function and cause infertility, lead to autism and other behavioral changes, different type of cancers and many other infections.
This is a very big problem and we all are facing it. May be we don’t see an immediate impact on our health, but slowly and steadily plastic is eating our nature and will cause a big problem for our future generations.
Every problem can be solved, but requires a very big joint effort between government and citizens. Government should bring in strong laws to regulate the plastic industry, and citizens should find alternatives to use of plastics.
But can alternatives really solve the problem. Let’s say we all decide to replace plastics bags with paper bags, it might solve one problem but can lead to another. Where does paper come from ? Trees, and we would end up cutting more trees causing another problem.
Government should encourage research industries to develop biodegradable plastics, put firm laws against those who don’t follow the standards laid down by Government. But more than government it is us “citizens” who should be more responsible in our day to day actions and help government solve the problem.
Here are some of the steps we can take;
- Cut back on single use plastic.
- Take your reusable bags while doing groceries shopping.
- Use reusable water bottles.
- Take milk in vessels instead of plastic bags
- Take your own vessels to carry left overs
- Stop using plastic spoons, plastic glasses, coffee cups, etc…..All can be replaced with steel.
- If shopkeepers are giving plastics and are not following standards laid down by government, report about it to the right agencies so corrective action can be taken.
- Buy clothes which doesn’t have plastics in it. Reduce the number of wash so less plastic goes in water bodies.
There are 100’s of other ways by which we can reduce consumption of plastics, and this would actually benefit us and out future generations.
If you have some innovative ways to reduce plastic consumption and save mother Earth, please do share with all of us.