Earth Today | Attention please
Ending plastic pollution said key to solving other planetary woes
Published:Thursday | April 18, 2024 | 12:07 AM
WITH ANOTHER observance of International Mother Earth Day now only days away, attention is being called to the need to end plastic pollution as an important and necessary part of the solution to the challenges of catastrophic climate change and nature loss.
Through a resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2009, April 22 was proclaimed as International Mother Earth Day, providing the opportunity for the recognition and celebration of the planet as a common home for people and which requires their protection.
Local stakeholders have said options to solve plastic pollution and other problems abound, but that it is necessary to exercise personal responsibility, scale up partnerships, and ensure commitment to follow through.
“We have individual responsibility … . Each of us need to minimise our use of plastic products,” said Eleanor Jones, head of Environmental Solutions Limited (ESL).
She emphasised the importance of proper disposal.
“When you ban Styrofoam, for example, other kinds of plastics come in that are not biodegradable. We have, therefore, to focus on how we dispose of our waste. If you continue to have poor waste disposal, we will continue to have problems,” Jones explained.
And then there is collaboration.
“I had the pleasure yesterday of listening to a presentation from Recycling Partners of Jamaica, who were addressing the Environment and Climate Change Committee of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica. It was very encouraging, because they are making very good progress. More of us need to partner with them so that we take plastics out of the waste stream,” the ESL boss noted.
Ultimately, Jones maintained, “we cannot continue to clean up after the fact; we have to prevent the waste from getting there in the first place”; and the same approach must be taken to halt nature loss and address climate change.
Indi Mclymont Lafayette, herself a sustainable development professional, said also important is seeing the linkages with the prevailing challenges and to prioritise being proactive.
“Mother Earth is showing us certain things … .We have to be more resilient and less reactive in terms of planning and how we deal with these things. We also have to give attention to how things are linked. If our gullies are filled with plastics, it is going to cause flooding,” said Mclymont Lafayette, who heads Change Communications Limited.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has itself flagged the need to see the connections. Data out of the UN entity is that plastic pollution has “a devastating effect” on a variety of wildlife, with marine litter alone reportedly harming “more than 800 species, while more than 90 per cent of all birds and fish are believed to have plastic particles in their stomachs, which cause starvation”.
Plastic production, it is revealed, also fuels climate change as it is counted among the most energy-intensive manufacturing processes in the world.
“In 2019, plastic reportedly generated 1.8 billion metric tonnes of greenhouse has emissions, 3.4 per cent of the global total. Ninety per cent of the emissions come from plastic production and the conversion of fossil fuels,” the UNEP has shared via its website.
As for public health, toxic chemical additives used in plastics and microplastics, the UNEP reports, can enter the body through inhalation and absorption via the skin, and accumulate in organs.
“Scientists,” it said, “have established links between exposure from chemical additives that leech from plastics with obesity, diabetes, infertility, poor bran health and even cancer.”
“The healthier our ecosystems are, the healthier the planet – and its people. Restoring our damaged ecosystems will help to end poverty, combat climate change and prevent mass extinction. But we will only succeed if everyone plays a part,”shared UNEP from its webpage on International Mother Earth Day.
“For this International Mother Earth Day, let’s remind ourselves – more than ever – that we need a shift to a more sustainable economy that works for both people and the planet. Let’s promote harmony with nature and the Earth,” it encouraged.