Recycling should be our first thought on awakening. Last thing at night: recycle, recycle, recycle, a mantra and a prayer. And this is not an ideological argument but rather a purely practical one. You can save the planet as well as sparing your wallet.
Eco scientists are warning that, by 2050, the quantity of plastics in the oceans will outweigh fish. And you can’t eat plastic with your chips.
By 2030 we can expect severe penalties to be imposed upon households that are found to be recklessly and wilfully avoiding recycling measures. By 2045 a house will be expected to be completely carbon-free, and every item in the house from the kitchen to the control system recyclable.
Even today there are very simple steps a household can take to reduce its pollution trail.
- Reduce Use of Single-Use Plastics.
- Recycle Properly.
- Participate In (or Organize) a Beach or River Cleanup.
- Support Bans.
- Avoid Products Containing Microbeads.
- Evangelise.
- Support Organizations Addressing Plastic Pollution.
Is likely that petrol and gas vehicles will be banned in Europe and the US. The super rich may find that they will no longer be allowed to use fuel without some form of imposition. Although yachts have a low impact, they are very visible in the public imagination. The ‘one rule for them and one for us’ is a politically sensitive issue. Expect EU legislation in 2023.
European Commission has presented its Zero Pollution Action Plan, which aims to eliminate all harmful pollution by 2050 by reducing air, water and soil contamination to levels “no longer considered harmful to health and natural ecosystems”, in line with the objectives of the European Green Deal. However, it sets out only limited action to tackle pollution levels in our ocean.
MicronPlastic People
Back in 1966, The rock group The Mothers of Invention had an absurdist song with the refrain plastic people you’re such a drag. By plastic they meant artificial, insincere, people living and unrealised life of plasticity controlled by a system that did not have their best interests at heart.
This was at the dawn of the synthetic age of oil derivatives: lava lamps bri nylon and stretch pants. Cotton was old school, square, uncool.
Now plastic is the enemy, an alien species that has invaded our bodies. Micro plastics have been found in human blood. In the guts of new born babies. In fish, at the bottom of the ocean, in remote islands where humans hardly venture. Your microwave coats your food with the stuff. You can’t filter it from your water.
Organic is now the buzz word. Cotton is natural because it is not an oil derivative. And yet whole lakes are drained to make cotton clothes. Sheep are shorn, cows are skinned for leather and glue. Human hair sold for wigs and extensions. What is next? Human DNA? On Amazon?
We are now part Neanderthal, part human, part plastic.
Plastic people you are such a drag.
