Plastic Pollution Crisis

The purpose of this article is to highlight the growing social issue of plastic pollution and how plastic is flooding and damaging our oceans. Every day, almost 8 million pieces of plastic make their way into our oceans. If we continue polluting at the current rate, ocean plastic will outweigh all the fish in the sea by 2050. I will be talking about the effect of plastic pollution on marine life. I will highlight the impact of art on this worldwide issue. Art is such a unique and compelling way to bring eyes to the alarming amount of plastic entering the ocean. It draws people in and gets them intrigued in an aesthetically pleasing way. I plan to approach this by talking about how some groups are trying to fix this issue through art and discuss just how severe the problem is. I will highlight the importance of art in a world of tone-deaf people who don’t think twice about tossing their plastic. I will talk about certain unique visions of transformation that will lead to hopefully a brighter future. I will argue that this issue is so important right now, and we need people to realize it before it is too late. This has been an ongoing issue for a long time. My counterarguments are how people are trying to help this issue now. This matters because if we don’t make significant changes now, there will be more plastic in the water than fish, which is a big issue to life as we know it on earth. Art is such an impactful way to bring awareness to this issue and get the public talking about it. Turning plastic into art is an incredible way to turn old trash into a beautiful end product.

Plastic has been filling our oceans for years, and marine life is severely suffering. We have all seen disturbing photos of dolphins, sea life, and birds strangled by six-pack plastic holders. Ecosystems have been wrecked, species have been wiped, and our planet is only being polluted more and more every day. Significant societal change is needed to reduce the growth in plastic entering the sea. Plastic going into the water threatens ocean health, food safety, quality, human health, coastal tourism, and climate change. 1 Microplastics from the trash are easily ingested by sea life. “Microplastics are derived either from small particles developed for specific applications or produced through the breakdown of larger items. Micro-sized and nano-sized plastic particles are increasingly being consumed by marine life that confuses them with food sources.” 2 Plastic kills up to a million seabirds a year and causes starvation in sea turtles because of the plastic filling up their stomachs. Plastic makes up 80% of all marine debris. There have been many efforts to help this fast-growing problem, but it isn’t easy to resolve because everyone would have to be accountable for their plastic. Coral reefs have been bleached, many animals have died, and ocean levels are off. If less plastic goes into the water, the ocean would have a chance to thrive like it once did. This convenience we created has heavily affected our oceans, and immediate attention from all humans is required. A great way to pull the public’s attention to this issue is through art. Specifically, art that is made out of the plastic flooding our oceans.

Plastics composed of fossil fuels are a century old. So much plastic was created and developed that the world without plastic would be unrecognizable today. Plastics revolutionized the medicine world with life-saving devices, made space travel possible, lightened cars and jets. Plastic is such a convenience that, unfortunately, led to a throwaway culture. Only 9% of plastic is recycled out of the 8.3 billion tonnes that have been produced. That is the weight of 47 million blue whales. 3 Annual plastic production has only grown and grown since the early 1950s, reaching 322 million tonnes in 2015. It is expected that plastic production will continue to increase, likely doubling by 2025. Today, single-use plastics account for 40 percent of the plastic produced every year. These single-use plastics have a lifespan of only minutes to hours, yet they may persist in the environment for hundreds of years. The concept of turning plastic into art is not a new idea. Early American settlers used bits of fabric from flour sacks and old clothing to make patchwork quilts. During World War I, soldiers in the trenches would take spent artillery shells and carved images on them to create artwork. 4 Future artists introduced reclaimed art. “Low-cost and versatile, plastics have immediately drawn the attention of artists with a penchant for the exploration of new materials and techniques to develop revolutionary means of expression.” 5 Plastic being used for art not only was an excellent place for it to reside, but future artists decided it make large art installations of plastics to specifically bring awareness to the plastic pollution issue in the ocean.

One vision of transformation through art was when the Monterrey Bay Aquarium wanted to bring attention to the plastic pollution issue, so they went to an advertising agency in San Francisco. The ad agency’s creatives were inspired by a blue whale washed up on the shore 20 minutes away. They decided to commission artists to make a lifesize replica of this blue whale made of melted down plastic trash. It represented how much plastic went into the water every 9 minutes. The art installation was placed in the middle of Crissy Field, overlooking the Golden gate Bridge. It gleamed in the sun and got everyone talking and wrote below it explaining plastic pollution details. In my documentary program at my high school, we made a documentary on this process and talked to all the parties involved. I have attached it to view. 6 This is a vision of transformation that the Monterrey Bay Aquarium took, and I think it did an excellent job at getting people talking. Multiple qualified individuals are speaking on the issue and how effectively the art speaks for the crisis. They turned a terrible plaguing problem into a beautiful installation for people to learn from. I believe that if people watched our documentary, they would begin to cut down their single-use plastic intake. The documentary itself is also an example of art created to raise awareness around the plastics pollution problem.

Another important example that uses art to battle this social issue is the Washed Ashore Organization. This organization combats ocean pollution and exhibits sculptures of sea creatures made of bottles and plastic products. 7 The founder of this organization said, “Our idea is to generate positive changes in consumer habits, as we are aware of the need for the use of plastic for some critical products such as medical equipment, but a change in attitudes can have a very positive impact on pollution.” Finding a way to impact plastic pollution positively is vital at this time if we don’t want to receive our fate of having more plastic in the ocean than fish by 2050. This organization works as a “voice for the animals” through the art installations. They are attracting a global audience to spark positive changes in consumer habits. Attracting this audience is important because many people have to be involved to see positive change in this worldwide issue. This is such a unique way to bring eyes to this social issue. This organization turns a terrible problem into beautiful art. The beautiful finished art represents a brighter and more colorful ocean that we hope to work towards. The suffering marine life has no way to plead out for help, so it is vital that humans share their suffering and why it is occurring.

The issue of plastic pollution only gets drastically worse as time passes. Transformation is vital to this social issue. A better and brighter future will consist of a vibrant, colorful ocean free of plastic. There will be no bleached corals in sight, and no animals are washing up on shore with plastic in their stomachs. We need to continue with transformative efforts because if we don’t, by 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish. Change happens through a community coming together and working towards a common goal. Everyone needs to contribute and do their part by making personal choice changes around plastic use. Plastic is such a convenience for everyone globally, which makes it a complicated issue to resolve. These art installations can remind people of that, and change can be created. They symbolize a brighter future. Some individuals are blind to how drastic our footprint on this planet is, but these art pieces bringing to light the suffering of animals and the drastic shift in the ocean can open the public’s eyes. People need to be stopped in their tracks and realize that this inconvenience we created and start doing their part. If everyone takes responsibility and does a little every day, our oceans will have a chance to thrive like they once did.

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References

1. IUCN. 2021. Marine plastics. [online] Available at: <https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/marine-plastics#:~:text=Plastic%20pollution%20is%20the%20most,and%20contributes%20to%20climate%20change> [Accessed 21 April 2021].

2. Haward, M. (2018). Plastic pollution of the world’s seas and oceans as a contemporary challenge in ocean governance. Nature Communications, 9, 1\http://dx.doi.org.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/10.1038/s41467-018-03104-3.

3. Greenpeace USA. 2021. Key Facts About Plastic Pollution. [online] Available at: <https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/key-facts-about-plastic-pollution/> [Accessed 21 April 2021].

4. Study.com. 2021. [online] Available at: <https://study.com/academy/lesson/recycled-art-history-materials.html> [Accessed 21 April 2021].

5. Artland Magazine. 2021. Agents Of Change: Plastic. Or How Plastic Became An Era-Defining Material | Artland Magazine. [online] Available at: <https://magazine.artland.com/agents-of-change-plastic-or-how-plastic-became-an-era-defining-material/> [Accessed 21 April 2021].

6. “Break It Down.” YouTube, YouTube, 20 Dec. 2018, www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkIFQBDffeo.

7. Translated by ContentEngine LLC. Turn plastic into art to alert you to ocean pollution. CE Noticias FinancierasDec 12 , 2019. http://libproxy.lib.unc.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/wire-feeds/turn-plastic-into-art-alert-you-ocean-pollution/docview/2325746718/se-2?accountid=14244.