We Must Act Now Before This Crisis Destroys Our Whole Planet!
We Must Eliminate The Choice To Use Plastics, Period!
One of the main forms of environmental crisis that is currently ravaging our world is severe plastic pollution.
There is simply too much plastic waste being generated in our societies, thus resulting in serious, long-term degradation to our environment as a whole.
At this point in time, I strongly feel that the only way to effectively prevent further environmental damage as well as reverse such an impact is to actually stop producing plastic entirely.
Specifically, I’m referring to plastic bags, given their extremely high level of usage in our societies.
In This Particular Case, A More Heavy-Handed Approach Is Warranted
Essentially, our governments must conduct widespread campaigns to permanently stop the production and usage of plastic bags in our society.
The main target groups for this particular zero-plastic policy would be the small and medium businesses as well as average consumers.
Why People Prefer Using Plastic Bags Over Reusable Bags
It’s fair to say that in general, plastic bags are still frequently used by average citizens in many countries around the world.
This is especially the case for shopping purposes as they are free and easy to use. Most, if not all of us, use them because they are indeed very much convenient for our daily needs.
However, the same cannot be said for reusable bags that are made out of environmentally-friendly material and are recyclable.
The unfortunate fact is that the majority of people tend to use plastic bags because reusable bags:
- are cumbersome as they have to be carried along each time we want to go shopping.
- need to be cleaned after being used a few times, depending on the type of products being bought.
Hence, most of us prefer plastic bags over reusable bags simply because the former is way more convenient and easy to use.
It makes our daily errands much easier and hence, we passively continue using them without thinking of their damaging effects on our environment.
The Huge Problems With Plastic Bags In Our World
1. They Take A LONG Time To Disappear
However, as we are aware, plastic bags possess a highly damaging characteristic:
They don’t decay easily and its decaying process takes an extremely long time!
2. Massive Amounts Of Rubbish, The Majority Of It Being Plastic In Nature
Since plastic bag usage is quite widespread, a lot of rubbish contains plastic bags as well as things made from plastic.
As a result, most of the plastic waste thrown at rubbish landfills remains at those sites for decades.
3. Poor Cleanliness Status Of Our Living Environments
Besides that, the cleanliness of cities, towns as well as housing areas throughout our countries are also affected due to the high quantity of such plastic waste.
4. The Serious Degradation Of Our Aquatic Environments!
Adding to that, our water bodies and marine life are badly affected as well due to the irresponsible dumping of plastic waste into drains and rivers.
Strong Measures Must Be Taken Immediately To Eradicate Plastic Pollution
Given the dire situation as a result of this plastic waste, it’s high time our leaders act responsibly for once and take action towards creating a cleaner, more sustainable future for all of us.
Essentially, our governments must take several strong measures as soon as possible, such as:
- Terminate The Production Of Plastic Bags!
The production and supply of plastic bags should be stopped in stages and replaced with environment-friendly bags.
In the meantime, a charge towards the existing provision of plastic bags by businesses and their usage by consumers should be implemented.
This move will help deter people from using plastic bags in order to avoid paying extra.
2. If It’s Packaged In Plastic, You Must Pay More
All eateries and restaurants should also apply a certain charge for providing plastic bags to customers for packing back their food and drinks.
At the same time, an initiative making it compulsory for all restaurants in our respective countries to use environment-friendly food packets should be implemented firmly but in stages.
People in general should also be strongly urged to bring their own food and drink containers from their houses whenever they wish to pack back food from restaurants.
3. We Must Shop In A More Sustainable Manner
Widespread public campaigns urging society to stop using plastic bags for daily shopping should be conducted through all forms of media.
Similar to the point above, people should be strongly urged to bring their own reusable bags whenever they go shopping.
Such messages and advice need to be drilled into the consciousness of the average citizens so that at least a portion of our population starts changing their minds as well as their habits.
It’s high time that people in general realize just how damaging plastic bags are to our entire planet and start switching to using reusable bags!
The Path Forward Is Clear. There’s Really Only One Choice
In the end, when it comes to plastic pollution, it can’t be denied that it is one of the major crises plaguing our world and society in general.
The simple fact is that as long as the option of using plastic bags is available to us, we will inadvertently utilize them for our daily needs. We’re already so used to it and it’s such a deeply ingrained practice in our daily lives.
But if this status quo remains unchanged without any truly drastic interventions, then the crisis of plastic pollution will most definitely worsen.
This in turn will result in much more dire consequences for us as a society as well as the environment than what we’re currently experiencing. At this point, such a trajectory is indeed inevitable.
Therefore, there really is no other choice other than to completely stop the production of plastic items, in particular, plastic bags.
Our leaders must take serious steps such as the above immediately before this crisis destroys our planet!
What are your thoughts and opinions about this particular crisis? Do let me know in the comments.
Thanks for reading!
Copyright Raveen Jeyakumar, 2024. All rights reserved.
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