Plastic Free July

During the month of July, people from around the world participate in a group effort to use little to no plastic for the entire month. Participating in the effort can reduce up to 100 pounds of plastic per person depending on the circumstances and location the person lives. Just by participating you become acutely aware of how much of our everyday lives revolves around plastic. From your shopping bags to the plastic utensils at restaurants it seems you cannot go a day living in a city without being offered something made of plastic.

The more you look into the history of plastic, the more horrifying it become. For those who don't know plastic is made of oil. You know that stuff that causes wars, pollution, and climate change? The amount of money and power that the oil and plastic industries hold is staggering. For anyone interested in learning more about the evils and history of the oil industry I recommend watching the documentary "How Big Oil Conquered the World"

For the next few days try to make a conscious note of every time you see or touch plastic, and just remember that plastic will remain on Earth for another 500 years if it doesn't get recycled. I have been noticing how many people throw their plastic in the normal trash or even litter the streets with it in Asia. The sad reality is that such a large amount of the plastic that is used ends up in the ocean.

Luckily for humanity, there are a few organizations coming up with inventions to mitigate our plastic pollution problem. "The Ocean Cleanup" has developed a large scale ocean plastic cleanup system that it plans to launch in 2018 to reduce the amount of pollution in the oceans around China. You can learn more about their project and donate by clicking the link. https://www.theoceancleanup.com/