Image Credit – National Geography
Look around yourself and see where you are living! It used to be a world full of greenery and water, but now it is just a plastic world.
On a daily basis, the consumerism and the number of plastic products are increasing, which had led to this destruction. Yes, we have reached a position where we can declare it as destruction. We have destroyed our land as well as our oceans. Each passing day enormous land-based and marine-based inhabitants are fading out. Every other day we are getting the news that a young whale had died with 88 pounds plastic in its stomach or a pregnant whale was found dead with 50 pounds of plastic on the stomach. These figures are alarming and threatening.
Most of the plastic products are made for single use, so once they are used, they are tossed in the trash. Have you ever thought what happens to that plastic once they are in the trash? It doesn’t simply disappear into the thin air. It exists in the environment in some manner or form and keeps on increasing the challenge for our planet.
There is a very famous picture taken by National Geography, where we can see a white block is floating on water. It is very commonly mistaken as a picture of an iceberg. But that is actually a plastic bag that is floating on water. Though this may seem the danger is no more as it is not an iceberg, just a plastic. But the danger starts here. An iceberg is a natural element which may or may not create a problem for someone, but a plastic denotes demolition of the entire world. Plastic is engulfing our world, making it a plastic world.
Till date, you must be aware of 7 types of pollution- air, water, soil, thermal, radioactive, noise and light. But there comes the 8th type of pollution, that is plastic pollution. This plastic pollution now tops the list of pollution types. It is hampering the ocean and wildlife health the maximum. It has been noticed that 80 percent of ocean plastics are land-based and the rest 20 percent are marine-based. The usage of plastics is much more in the developed countries, but they are also proactive in terms of a waste management system. But what are we doing in India? Though India says no plastic pollution, are we Indians saying no to it?
Someday or the other, if police ban plastics in certain area, we get irritated due to the uneasiness to carry food or other necessary items. But in turn, we should be happy and supportive of these positive actions. The clause lies on both sides. The shopkeepers should also come up with better alternative options than plastics to offer the customers. Then only, slowly and steadily the revolution is going to come. Always remember, any revolution starts from the grassroots level and for plastic pollution, the base is the thought process of the common man.
