Plastic was first discovered in 1907 but it was only in the 1960s that it became popular, for example plastic bags have only been in circulation for the past 50 years. In his extraordinary series on the ‘Blue Planet’ David Attenborough revealed the enormous damage plastic pollution is causing: “The world’s oceans are turning into a ‘toxic soup’ of industrial waste and plastic, putting the future of humanity at risk.” Images of turtles with plastic straws in their nostrils and dolphins slowly dying because of plastic tightly wrapped around their necks, are making everyone think again about our collective and personal use of disposable plastic like straws and water bottles.

www.google.ie/search?q=free+images+of+plastic+pollution Blue Ocean Network

If as David Attenborough states bluntly: “The Future of humanity and all life on earth now depends on us...’"then it is our responsibility to take action now, to ‘care for our Blue Planet’. Plastic is a major culprit of deadly pollution, due to the fact that it is permanent and indestructible, taking hundreds of years to degrade. Currently eight million tonnes of plastic ends up in the ocean each year, making it imperative that each of us addresses the situation as a critical concern.

“We can be silent witnesses to terrible injustices if we think that we can obtain significant benefits by making the rest of humanity, past, present and future, pay the extremely high costs of environmental degradation.” Pope Francis, ‘Laudato Si’ 36

It is possible to address plastic pollution via a two pronged approach. One is to demand that manufacturers produce less plastic, whilst scientists look for a viable alternative. The other is we each consciously work towards not using plastic i.e. eliminate one-use plastic at home, not buy goods like fruit, meat and bread wrapped in it, nor buy non compostable coffee cups.

Awareness Raising – Seeds of Hope...
In recent years various campaigns across the world are making inroads towards a plastic free environment. Signs that momentum is slowly growing is evident in the number of articles and news items on plastic pollution. At the same time there are initiatives offering great hope...

Messages to: Denise Boyle fmdm - Team Leader Mercy Global Action