Every Piece of Plastic Ever Created Still Exists!

Plastic has only been in our lives for around 100 years and in such a short time, comparative to man's time on Earth, we have become grossly dependent on this man-made material.

We have created more plastic in the last 10 years than we did the century before.

Plastic is freaking everywhere. It is engulfing our world at such a terrifying and disgusting pace. And it just doesn’t need to be.

Every single piece of plastic ever produced is still on the planet in some form. How can we possibly sustain this throw-away, plastic life? And why would we want to?

Netflix documentary “A Plastic Ocean” explains it perfectly. Many have been saying that “plastic breaks down into smaller pieces” but the use of the term “breaks down” gives this false image of it disintegrating into nothingness or becoming part of the earth like compost.  When in fact, plastic breaks up into many more pieces of plastic, sometimes hundreds. It multiples therefore its damage multiples.

There are so many wonderful alternatives to the disposable items we use.

People really seem to struggle to wrap their heads around not using plastic bags, they just seem so baffled and respond with "but I always reuse them for other things later, I need plastic bags". Yes, you may reuse it a couple of times but then it will get a hole, food will spill in it or you will be out and about and instead of taking it home to reuse you will throw it out.

I have said ‘no’ to plastic bags for a very long time and I’m surviving perfectly fine.

You can pop your lunch in a lunch box/bag, when you go shopping take your own canvas bags that can be reused time and time again, or if you forget a bag simply say no and carry your shopping! I can't count the number of times I have forgotten to take my enviro bag and started dropping everything as I pile all my things up in my arms - but I recognise that it's my fault and I have to either suck it up and go back to the car or deal with it.

It's not hard, no one is too busy to make the effort, it kinda just is…laziness.

We see all these distressing images of how our floating plastic bags look like jellyfish in a deadly disguise, tricking our beautiful turtles into thinking it’s food, and seals strangled to death by our plastic packaging and the insides of sea birds riddled with plastic lids, straws and micro plastics.

All this suffering and pollution just for the sake of the convenience of one inhabitant on Earth? What are we doing? It’s so unnecessary. We co-exist with wildlife, we aren’t superior.

That one straw you say no to could save the life of one of our beautiful friends under the sea! That one plastic bag you say no to could be one less "jellyfish" a beautiful turtle mistakenly eats! And saving just one life is pretty amazing, imagine the possibilities! Mother Earth gives us so much, don't we owe it to her?

And putting science specifics aside, isn't it just obvious that we shouldn't be destroying and disrespecting the very thing that gives us life?