April 22, 2024 will mark the 54th Earth Day celebrated in the United States. The theme for Earth Day 2024 is “Planet vs. Plastics.” The theme was announced by Earthday.org, the global organizer of Earth Day, in July 2023: “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.” Seeing as humans are producing more than 380 million tons of plastic each year, this may seem like a tall order; however, Earthday.org has established four goals to achieve this reduction.
The first goal is to promote “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.” This focus on educating the public about the negative effects of plastic on not only the environment, but the health of living things will ensure that people all over the world will be aware of the crisis we are facing. Plastics that are used in many items we encounter in our daily lives break down into microplastics. These microplastics can release toxic chemicals into our sources of food and water. Some plastics have been shown to release hormone disrupting chemicals. Plastics pose a threat to sea-life too. They can suffocate and harm animals.
Earthday.org’s second goal is “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.” The negotiations involved in creating the UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution began in November 2022 and has an ambition of being completed in November/December of 2024. According to Courtney Lindwall for the Natural Resources Defense Council, single-use plastics are goods that are made primarily from fossil fuel-based chemicals and are meant to be disposed of right after use. The phase out of single-use plastics is quite an undertaking but is not impossible. Many states in the US and other countries across the world have already put bans on plastic grocery bags, single-use straws, and utensils.
For the third goal, Earthday.org is “demanding policies ending the scourge of fast fashion and the vast amount of plastic it produces and uses.” Fifteen years ago, people bought 60% less clothing than they do now, and each item is kept for only half as long today. Earthday.org says that 85% of garments end up in landfills or incinerators with only 1% being recycled. Clothing produces half a million tons of microplastics per year. These plastic microfibers end up in the ocean because of the washing of materials like polyester, nylon, and acrylic.
The final goal that Earthday.org established is to invest in “innovative technologies and materials to build a plastic-free world.” Some innovative technologies that strive to combat the plastic crisis include a floating system called the “Interceptor” launched by The Ocean Cleanup that removes and helps keep plastics out of rivers; technology called the Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor (“Cat-HTR”) that involves a process in which plastics are converted back into the chemicals from which they were made using supercritical steam; and bioplastics such as PHA (Polyhydroxyalkanoates) that are made from renewable resources like plants, sugars, and starches.
Kathleen Rogers, the president of Earthday.org describes the “Planet vs. Plastics” theme as being “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.” A call to arms is what our dying Earth needs now more than ever. Do not let this year’s Earth Day pass without stopping to think about the threats that our planet is facing and consider taking action.
Sources:
- plasticoceans.org
- ellenmacarthurfoundation.org
- nrdc.org
- earthday.org
- greenpeace.org
- initiativesrivers.org
- forbes.com
- pollutionsolutions-online.org
