Planet vs. Plastics unites students, parents, businesses, governments, churches, unions, individuals, and NGOs in an unwavering commitment to call for the end of plastics for the sake of human and planetary health, demanding a 60% reduction in the production of plastics by 2040 and an ultimate goal of building a plastic-free future for generations to come. To achieve a 60% reduction by 2040, EARTHDAY.ORG’s goals are: (1) promoting widespread public awareness of the damage done by plastic to human, animal, and all biodiversity’s health and demanding more research be conducted on its health implications, including the release of any and all information regarding its effects to the public; (2) rapidly phasing out all single use plastics by 2030 and achieving this phase out commitment in the United Nations Treaty on Plastic Pollution in 2024; (3) demanding policies ending the scourge of fast fashion and the vast amount of plastic it produces and uses; and (4) investing in innovative technologies and materials to build a plastic-free world.“The Planet vs. Plastics campaign is a call to arms, a demand that we act now to end the scourge of plastics and safeguard the health of every living being upon our planet.”  KATHLEEN ROGERSPresident“The word environment means what surrounds you. In the case of plastics we have become the product itself – it flows through our blood stream, adheres to our internal organs, and carries with it heavy metals known to cause cancer and disease. Now this once-thought amazing and useful product has become something else, and our health and that of all other living creatures hangs in the balance,” said Kathleen Rogers, President of EARTHDAY.ORG. “The Planet vs. Plastics campaign is a call to arms, a demand that we act now to end the scourge of plastics and safeguard the health of every living being upon our planet.”   Plastics extend beyond an imminent environmental issue; they present a grave threat to human health as alarming as climate change. As plastics break down into microplastics, they release toxic chemicals into our food and water sources and circulate through the air we breathe. Plastic production now has grown to more than 380 million tons per year. More plastic has been produced in the last ten years than in the entire 20th century, and the industry plans to grow explosively for the indefinite future.“All this plastic was produced by a petrochemical industry with an abysmal record of toxic emissions, spills, and explosions,” said Denis Hayes, Chair Emeritus of EARTHDAY.ORG. “Plastics are produced in polluting facilities that somehow seem to always be located in the poorest neighborhoods. Some plastics are lethal when combusted; other plastics transmit hormone-disrupting chemicals; and all plastics can starve birds and suffocate sea life. At every stage of their life cycles, from the oil well to the town dump, plastics are a dangerous blight.”More than 500 billion plastic bags—one million bags per minute—were produced worldwide last year. Many plastic bags have a working life of a few minutes, followed by an afterlife of centuries. Even after plastics disintegrate, they remain as microplastics, minute particles permeating every niche of life on the planet. 100 billion plastic beverage containers were sold last year in the United States. That’s more than 300 bottles per inhabitant. A few of them will be converted into park benches; none of them will be made into new plastic bottles and 95% of all plastics in the US won’t be recycled at all. Even the 5% of plastics being recycled are “downcycling” to inferior products or shipped to poorer countries for “recycling”, leaving the demand for virgin plastic undiminished.  People seldom think of water when they think of plastics. But making a plastic water bottle requires six times as much water as the bottle itself contains.EARTHDAY.ORG demands the International Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC) mandate the end of production of single-use plastic by 2030 in the Global Plastics Treaty. Moreover, it demands the treaty be implemented using the precautionary principle and the polluter pays doctrine. “All this plastic was produced by a petrochemical industry with an abysmal record of toxic emissions, spills, and explosions.”DENIS HAYESChair EmeritusThe fast fashion industry annually produces over 100 billion garments. Overproduction and overconsumption have transformed the industry, leading to the disposability of fashion. People now buy 60% more clothing than 15 years ago, but each item is kept for only half as long. Approximately 85% of garments end up in landfills or incinerators, with only 1% being recycled. Nearly 70% of clothing is made from crude oil, resulting in the release of dangerous microfibers when washed and continued contribution to long-term pollution in landfills. Social injustice and fashion are directly intertwined, with exploitative working conditions, low wages, and widespread child labor. For far too long, the industry has relied on a fractured supply chain and an almost total lack of governmental regulation.

consequences of plastics in/on the environment

As the secretary of your school’s environment club create a speech titled ‘ Plastic Planet’ where you encourage teens to take action to solve the world’s plastic problem Approximately 350 words

Plastic pollution is a consistent problem in the world's oceans. We can do our part to help by ___________ down the use of plastic bags and bottles, straws, and avoiding items with plastic packaging.

Read the text about Plastic and The Environment and fill in the summary below with NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS.Plastic and The EnvironmentPlastic is a material we use every day. The first plastics were made more than 100 years ago from parts of plants. Plastics are now made from oil, coal and natural gas. We are using up these things so fast that the Earth's supplies may run out. Because of this, scientists are investigating new ideas for making plastics from plants such as sweet potato, bamboo and flax.Things made from plastic can be useful for people but bad for the planet. Some plastics can last for a long time without wearing out, and can be difficult to get rid of when they are not needed. They can remain in rubbish dumps called landfill sites for hundreds of years. Landfills can be smelly, ugly, and harmful to our planet.Recycling is a good way to get rid of unwanted plastics. Recycled waste materials can be used again to make new products. This can be difficult as different types of plastic need to be recycled in different ways. Some kinds of plastics can be melted down and used to make new things such as bags and bottles. Others can be made into fibres (strands of material) for clothing.Another way to protect the environment is to use canvas bags for shopping rather than plastic ones. A lot of plastic objects can also be reused. Plastic bottles can be refilled many times, rather than throwing them away once they are empty. Unwanted plastic goods such as CDs and toys can be sold or given away to charity shops.Summary:We use plastic every day in life. People can find (1) plastic products but bad for the planet. Because of this, scientists are finding new ways of making plastics from (2) like sweet potato, bamboo or flax. Different types of plastic need to be (3) in different ways. Some kinds of bags and bottles can be remade from (4) plastics. Besides, instead of using plastic bags, (5) for shopping can be a better choice. Plus, people can sell or give away to charity shops unwanted plastic goods such as CDs and toys.

The world population is living, working, vacationing, increasingly conglomerating along the coasts, and standing on the front row of the greatest, most unprecedented, plastic waste tide ever faced. Washed out on our coasts in obvious and clearly visible form, the plastic pollution spectacle blatantly unveiling on our beaches is only the prelude of the greater story that unfolded further away in the world’s oceans, yet mostly originating from where we stand: the land. For more than 50 years, global production and consumption of plastics have continued to rise. An estimated 299 million tons of plastics were produced in 2013, representing a 4 percent increase over 2012, and confirming an upward trend over the past years. In 2008, our global plastic consumption worldwide has been estimated at 260 million tons, and, according to a 2012 report by Global Industry Analysts, plastic consumption is to reach 297.5 million tons by the end of 2015. Plastic is versatile, lightweight, flexible, moisture resistant, strong, and relatively inexpensive. Those are the attractive qualities that lead us, around the world, to such a voracious appetite and over-consumption of plastic goods. However, durable and very slow to degrade, plastic materials that are used in the production of so many products all, ultimately, become waste with staying power. Our tremendous attraction to plastic, coupled with an undeniable behavioural propensity of increasingly over-consuming, discarding, littering and thus polluting, has become a combination of lethal nature. A simple walk on any beach, anywhere, and the plastic waste spectacle is present. All over the world, the statistics are ever growing, staggeringly. Tons of plastic debris (which by definition are waste that can vary in size from large containers, fishing nets to microscopic plastic pellets or even particles) is discarded every year, everywhere, polluting lands, rivers, coasts, beaches, and oceans. Published in the journal Science in February 2015, a study conducted by a scientific working group at UC Santa Barbara’s National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), quantified the input of plastic waste from land into the ocean. The results: every year, 8 million metric tons of plastic end up in our oceans. It’s equivalent to five grocery bags filled with plastic for every foot of coastline in the world. In 2025, the annual input is estimated to be about twice greater, or 10 bags full of plastic per foot of coastline. So the cumulative input for 2025 would be nearly 20 times the 8 million metric tons estimate – 100 bags of plastic per foot of coastline in the world!Q.17 :-As per the passage, which of the following statements are true? Most of the plastic present in the ocean today has originated from the land and plastic pollution is present on almost every beach.Most of the plastic present in the ocean today has originated from the land. In recent years, the production of plastics has declined and plastic pollution is present on almost every beach.Plastic is cheaply available and that lead to the overconsumption and it  does not degrade easily thus it ended up being a pollutant. Most of the plastic present in the ocean today has originated from the land.In recent years, the production of plastics has declined. PreviousNext