Daily Times

An intertwined habitat of approximately 8.7 million species of animals is the planet we collectively call home. In an intricate fashion, each species is dependent on the other for meeting survival needs; some connected directly while the rest not-so-overtly prominent in their connection. This dependence has seen a new façade with over-exploitation of the Earth’s resources by the smartest species that is; humans.

Over the last few centuries, the human population has boomed out of proportion, leading to an exponential rise in the demand of daily commodities. This, in turn, has pushed governments and suppliers to devise industries that meet these demands and in a swift capitalist comportment, make a hefty profit while doing so. More often than not, these interventions have half-baked estimations for their long term impact on the ecosystem which can only be ascertained over time. As unfortunate as it may be, our lack of foresight is dwarfed only by our inability to reverse the damage caused by our actions.

During the early 19th Century, when the Industrial Revolution was still in its infancy, industrial chemistry started blooming with the likes of Sir Charles Goodyear discovering processes like vulcanisation to harden rubber and Sir Alexander Parkes introducing the first man-made plastic. It was only after World War I that the plastic industry expanded far and beyond than what anyone had contemplated. Increasing demand for cheap, easy to make and yet adequately rigid materials propelled the engineering of new forms of plastic. From transparent to opaque, coloured to plain, flexible to rigid; the intuitive production lines encompassed every need of life. Not long after, the repercussions of this lighting pace were being scrutinised by geologists and environmentalists.

Fast forward to today, the facts are overwhelming. To put things into perspective, according to one estimate, New Yorkers alone use 23 billion plastic bags per year – more than enough, when tied together, it can reach out to the moon and back, 13 times.

Single-use straws, another culprit in causing environmental damage, are amongst the top 10 items found on beach cleanups – more than 12 billion straws are used and thrown away annually, almost never recycled. According to a report by the United Nations, 80 percent of all pollution in the oceans originates from land and over 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in oceans each year. This waste annually costs the lives of one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals and causes $8 billion in damage to marine ecosystems.

Heading back in time, the initial concern, surprisingly, was not the non-biodegradability we have become familiar with today. Rather, it was the carbon-footprint left by mushrooming factory units that caught attention. In another revelation, when this plastic was incinerated, the release of several poisonous and otherwise harmful gases was noted. With the discovery of the devastating impact of greenhouse gases, a movement was started to curb the production and minimize the dire effects. In the midst of doing this on-going movement, another reality started surfacing; plastic was here to stay. After anchoring its multi-use properties in every nook and house, little did the general population know what they were heading towards.

Depending on the constituent materials, the degradation of plastic varies widely. According to one estimate by The Marine Conservancy, a foam plastic cup will take 50 years to completely disseminate, a plastic beverage holder will take 400 years, a disposable nappy will take 450 years, and fishing line will take 600 years. Undeniably, this spans beyond the average life of humans by multiple folds. The advent of increasing dependence on plastics has given rise to accumulation of these environmentally-unfriendly materials in landfills and oceanic spans.

In 2018, a survey by the Global Oceanic Environmental Survey Foundation unveiled a shocking prediction; the ecosystem in seas and oceans may collapse in the next 25 years. As astounding as it may sound, that’s the bare reality we need to realise. In less than three decades, the compensational capacity of marine bodies will give away to the overhauled unloading of plastic waste in the sea. The deterioration of underwater life will reach a point of no return and the de-escalation of vast spans of water will spiral out of control. The end, a complete wipe-out of oceanic, and by extension all the other interdependent species on land, seems inevitable. Perhaps, we, humans, are inching towards another great extinction.

Scary as it sounds; it’s reassuring in a certain manner that all is not lost. The plea of non-degradable materials has stirred many movements within national parliaments and globally. Over the last few decades, many nations and states have risen to the occasion and introduced laws that limit, or at least discourage, the use of plastic. The United Kingdom Plastics Pact aims to make 100 percent of the plastic reusable and biodegradable by 2025, amongst other agendas. Other nations have taken a more stern stand on curbing single-use plastics; the standard set by Kenya, where as of August 2017 anyone found using, producing or selling a plastic bag will be subjected to $38,000 in fine and up to four years in jail.

Crossing the political geography of nations, many multinational food-chains have taken upon themselves to reduce and ultimately stop, single-use plastic within their premises. Giants such as Starbucks and McDonald’s have publicly come forward and voluntarily agreed to discourage plastic straws in all operating units worldwide. Running collaterally in the consumer market, the multifarious hotel chain Hyatt Hotels Cooperation announced in June 2018 via press release it would stop providing single-use straws and drink picks around the world. Not far behind, supermarket mammoths Coles and Woolworths, hailing from Australia have announced they will phase out single-use plastic bags from all their retail outlets. Similar strategies have been chalked by Ikea, marking 2020 the year it will completely remove plastic straws, plates, cups, freezer bags, bin bags, and plastic-coated paper plates and cups from its stores and restaurants.

Not-for-profit organisations such as the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) have been working tirelessly for decades in protecting habitats from iatrogenic injury by the hands of humans. They have advocated the need to stop all forms of pollution in order to rescue the shrinking wildlife population. In the past, they have used all forms of media; print, electronic and social, to put forth the threats that loom us. Recently, they have partnered with Netflix and produced a documentary titled ‘Our Planet’ showcasing what is at stake. Following its footsteps, 4Ocean have recruited a huge task force working round the clock in cleaning up shores, coastlines and oceans. Spread out between paid labours and volunteers, 4Ocean has multiple operating lines through which it makes an impact. Their motto, ‘one pound at a time’ is cemented by selling bracelets made from 100 percent recycled plastic, earnings from which help pull a pound of plastics from the ocean.

The teaching paradigm has also shifted in many educational institutes. Environmental concern is on a rise and students are actively taught ways in which to minimise plastic waste. Beach clean-up drives are arranged to instil a sense of responsibility amongst primary and secondary school students, whereas universities have started offering formal tutoring in the field of sustainability.

Recently all use of plastic bags has been banned in Hunza, Gilgit Baltistan. The use of plastic has been made an offense by the district administration. Since Hunza is known for its beautiful tourist sites, the environmental management had to take a leap and the administration of Hunza introduced paper and cloth bags in replacement for plastic in order to preserve the beauty of their environment. The government of Sindh has also tried to enforce the ban of plastic use in Sindh more than twice but weren’t successful, the effort was still effective in reducing plastic waste to some extent although the population doesn’t take the matter as seriously. Similarly a couple of months ago plastic bags were banned from Malir Cantonment, a town in Karachi also known as the army cantonment. The army enforced a ban on plastic bags and was successful in the effort under the military influence, people now use 100 percent reusable and bio-degradable bags in replacement of plastic.

Jumping on the bandwagon, many Pakistanis have taken upon themselves to use whatever influence they have and educate people regarding the harms of single-use plastics.

Online blogs such as The Less-Waste Way share the life of ordinary people, trying to minimise the use of plastic by adding small changes to their lifestyle.

Even with all these efforts, the battle is still not half-won; there is still a long way to go! A global task force has to be assembled and every form of non-degradable plastic waste needs to be stopped rolling out on conveyors. The concern needs to be pushed further up amid their priorities of parliaments and policies need to be devised that gives momentum to control all forms of single-use plastics.

Most importantly, we need to minimize the excessive consumption promoted through capitalism, every single product we consume comes from nature and we are exploiting it to the extent that our world is standing under a death sentence. There is a price to pay for our so-called “comfortable life” that comes from the over-extraction of natural resources leading to the environmental crisis we are now in. in the result of this overconsumption, we in return produce excessive trash as well which further pollutes the air, water, and land that are habitats to an estimate of 8.7 million species, all under threat due to the Anthropocene.

Refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and rot; the five R’s of saving the planet deserves to be everyone’s precedence.

The writer can be contacted via email at ranim.peracha2468@gmail.com