Planet Earth or Planet Plastic?

In this critical decade of garbage overload and with global efforts to curtail the use of oil and gas for transportation and energy, the need for education in environmental impact studies is critical. The future is looking bleak as the outlook for a reversal to climate change is projected to be in 12 years or bust. This presentation is science based and supported by facts. The US is the world’s largest producer of plastics. What to do with plastics, postproduction, is one of the questions to address in this quest. How to curtail the dependence on plastics is another, yet with more energy efficient sources of transportation, fossil fuel companies are betting big on plastics. Production of petrochemicals are rapidly set to increase.

​This project to educate came about through our research, new government legislation on waste management, and our goal to bring awareness to future leaders and opportunities to make change while focusing on alternatives to plastics. A ban on single use plastics in emerging in developing countries, parts of the European Union, and in regional parts of the US as well. We are undertaking this project to provide a service to young people today who have challenges and responsibilities we never dreamed of, and we want to empower them and help them become better equipped to face the future with knowledge and a toolkit that they can unpack to make change – real change – before it is too late.
The ABCs of Recycling
​There are plenty of facts out there on why recycling is important. The world population is growing, not shrinking, and currently, each human being adds significant waste to the planet over his or her lifetime. It’s not enough to change the way we act but the way we think to return the world what we have taken from it. A survey shows that approximately 3.5 billion to 7 billion trees are cut down every year worldwide to use the land as a landfill. In New York alone, people produce enough trash in one day to fill the entire Empire State building. The frustrating thing is, in most developed countries, it’s not that difficult to make a difference. And what a difference we can make. If everyone repurposed their copy of a single edition of The New York Times, we could save 75,000 trees.
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Not only are natural resources limited, but recycling efforts can significantly reduce additional waste that will not only harm the planet today but for future generations as well. The natural resources on our planet earth are limited so we must make the most to conserve, recycle and reuse whenever possible.
Recycling things involves using a product, in part or as a whole, in the production of similar or same products again. In regular production, the use of raw materials is sourced directly from natural resources. For example, fresh pulp from cut down trees is used to create first-generation paper. Recycled paper can be used in producing new paper without vastly compromising the quality of the final product. The same applies to most other materials like metal, glass and plastics.
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