Micro Plastic Pollution: Reframing The Problem

Pollution is insidious. Pollution and littering is bad. We all of us know it. But there is an even bigger problem that must be addressed and that problem is personal responsibility. I think as a society we think, “I don’t intentionally litter or use plastic bags. So I am not responsible for this problem.” That’s the wrong attitude.We live in a giant ecosystem. Yes, you may use plastic bags and products responsibly and not intentionally litter, but you do throw them away. As trash gets put out in bins or hauled away some of that plastic trash flies free. And it collects in the outdoors. Left unchecked it festers along roads and fence lines. UV radiation from the sun is not discriminate. It oxidizes everything. When plastic waste that you did’t intentionally litter, but now has blown free, is oxidized by the sun it breaks down into tiny bits. That is how nature works. Everything decays.This explains why we find high concentrations of micro plastics high up in the Pyrenees Mountains. We are all both the problem and the solution. Minimize your use of plastic. Don’t lull yourself into thinking micro-plastic pollution isn’t your fault or your problem. It’s everyone’s fault and everyone’s problem. Let’s do something about this! Reframe the problem; When you see plastics flying free, grab it put it back into the trash. Don’t think of it as trash, think of it as a weed in the garden of humanity. Pull the weeds and it will get better.