No more plastic, Start small!
No more plastic, Start small!
Plastic is a material that’s commonly used in various products. It can be found in mostly anything these days. It’s flexibility and cheap cost is the main reason why plastic is the most used material for products packaging. As you can see, plastic waste ends up in our streets and oceans. Many of us might not know that there are many types of plastic chemicals that are toxic. Moreover, they attract and magnify toxic chemicals onto their surfaces which worsen the situation. This causes the plastic particles to enter the aquatic environment and harm aquatic life, damaging the ecosystem and in some cases it causes damage to humans such as cancer because of our daily consumption of sea animals.
Due to the amount of plastic pollution that’s currently floating around our seas and oceans, it has become a global issue. According to a study conducted in 2015, 90% of seabirds in the world ingest plastic waste. This study shows that the amount of plastic in sea animals bodies is increasing significantly. In 2050, the amount of plastic waste in the oceans will reach the level of all fish on the planet. Realizing this urgent issue we must change our habit of consuming single use plastic and opt for a more sustainable and environmentally safe lifestyle. The key in saving our earth is in the palm of our hands.
I believe that many of us are concerned about the plastic waste problem and want to reduce their plastic consumption behaviour. However, we can still find that lots of people feel overwhelmed with the things to do in order to reduce their plastic consumption. The overwhelming feelings and beliefs will cause people to ignore the fact that plastic is heavily damaging our marine life and wont take the small steps to a sustainable lifestyle. This common scenario that occurs in our society encourages me to take tiny steps to change my behaviour and persuade others to minimize their plastic consumption as little as possible.
At the age of 16, I was reading multiple greenpeace articles for my highschool assignment. From the article that I had read, I was shocked by the data and the prediction of what plastic waste will bring to the future if we don’t do anything about it. I suddenly feel that I had a huge responsibility to create a change in my life to save the environment from plastic waste, especially the ocean because I was so in love with surfing and had the urge to become a professional surfer one day. After I’ve done the assignment, I kept on thinking about what I can do to create a change and save the environment. At that time, my most concern was about my family which still ignores the plastic waste problem and is still far away from a sustainable lifestyle. Furthermore, I believe that change comes first within the nearest community I engage the most with, which is my family. Since then, my first priority is to educate and persuade my family members to opt for a sustainable lifestyle which is free of single used plastic.
The very next day I’ve decided to gather information and ways to minimize single plastic consumption in my house. It appeared to me that there are lots of Instagram users that create and share creative content about their own journey in pursuing a sustainable lifestyle. I really think that the content is very helpful as they use creative and engaging content to spread awareness about sustainable lifestyle. The special element about this content is it demonstrates the small steps people could take in participating to save the environment, everyone can do it.
After i’ve done my research to convince my family to change their lifestyle, here are several tips and action that my family took to minimize single-use plastic consumption:
- Reusing plastic bag from the supermarket
- Using a reusable water bottle rather than plastic bottle
- Using a cloth bag for groceries shopping
- Using a reusable face mask
- Using a reusable fabric material
- Bringing and using a stainless straw
- Avoid pre-packed food (Cook)
- Filter our own water rather than purchasing plastic bottled water
- Recycle
- Purchased secondhand products
Although you might think that this effort is not enough to save our environment, however start small, then you will soon see the impact of every action you have taken in the future. Furthermore, as time flies i was very consistent to raise awareness about plastic pollution until these days. I really believe that as people are aware of the consequences plastic waste brings, they will start to change their habits, and people will get involved.
I list some of action that you can take to make a difference:
- Share sustainable content at your social media
- Start taking small steps in changing your habits
- Donate and involved with your local charities and environment organization
Personally, I really enjoy persuading and realizing people the damage plastic waste brought to our environment. It’s our earth, we are the main actors to save them. It’s great to see my family and friends influenced by my actions and words, they are now more conscious of how much they produce plastic waste in their daily life, and will try to minimize it. It all starts with a simple small step to change the world and soon we can create a better environment for us to live in.