Every year, around 8 million kilograms of plastic make its way into the ocean, building up in a massive pile in the middle of the Pacific Ocean known as ‘The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’. This island of waste is now around the size of Queensland and growing by the day. Our planet is suffocating in plastic, leading to hugely detrimental impacts on not only wildlife - but also you. Research shows that we have approximately 12 years to take action. 12 years before the world becomes too polluted to sustain human life.
“Unless we get to grips with this quickly, we will soon find our oceans dominated by plastic. It’s a prospect that hardly bears thinking.” – Sir David Attenborough, 2019.
Take a minute to consider that image: more plastic in the ocean than wildlife, and humans regularly consuming potentially lethal amounts of microplastics. Do you want to live in a world like that? The first step to a solution to pollution is raising awareness - making society see the devastating effects of our careless actions. We’ve all seen examples of the positive impact we can make, when we care strongly about an issue. When the Notre-Dame Cathedral burnt to the ground earlier this year, dozens of billionaires stepped forward, offering large sums of money to help rebuild. Just this week when TV show Survivor favourite Luke Toki failed to win the prize money that he said he would use to provide for his 3 children with severe medical issues, a Go-Fund-Me page raised more than $500 000 for his family within the space of only 60 hours. Imagine this level of concern and effort directed towards cleaning up the Pacific Garbage Patch. What an immense difference we could make in our world, if only our society understood the severity of this devastating issue.
Plastic pollution is an issue that can be solely blamed on people, and therefore, it is our responsibility to find a solution. The first step to creating a long-term fix is to raise awareness around the issue, inspiring people to make much-needed changes. Only then can we begin to solve this colossal crisis. We all contribute to the pollution, but we can also be part of the solution.