Want to try something interesting?
Let’s go through your daily routine and see how many plastic products you rely on.
- That alarm that wakes you up? Made of plastic.
- Your toothbrush, the toothpaste container, and the mouthwash container are all made of plastic.
- Your coffee maker (and K-cup, should you use one)
- Plastic bags to bring lunch to work
- A water bottle to throw in with that lunch
The list is growing… and we haven’t even left the house yet!
Plastics are convenient — we’re well aware of that. Since they were invented in 1907, human beings have found more and more uses for this durable product.
When it was invented in 1907, the craze was that it was fully synthetic and contained no molecules found in nature. For years, inventors were trying to find a way to mimic shellac, which is a natural electric insulator.
“We’re being choked to death by the amount of plastic that we throw away. It’s killing our oceans. It’s entering into our bodies in the fish we eat.”
– Kevin Bacon, actor
What was found several decades later is that the plastics, although convenient for the lives of humans, were detrimental to the environment. And this was starting to become known as early as the 1960s, when Rachel Carlson’s book, Silent Spring, was released and noted the dangers of plastics.
Decades later, we now have serious concerns about how plastics affect our planet. And, worse, these dangers have the possibility of having serious implications during our lifetime.
Sadly, this isn’t an issue we can slowly move to eliminate from our lives. It’s serious, and must be resolved quickly.
The image below from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows just how severe the threat is, and how much plastic is around us in our everyday life.
Want to be a part of the change? Every dollar donated to us goes towards research and action. Our oceans cannot wait.