Plastics and the environment

Just a few days ago, while scrolling through Facebook, i chanced upon a video that caught my attention. You could just watch a few seconds of the video and you'd get the gist of it. [Personally i couldn't watch the entire 8 minute video as it was too cruel and gruesome to watch.]

This video left me speechless - and it also serves as a wake up call to not only me but to the others who have watched this. Plastic pollution is unnecessary and harmful to the environment such as marine creatures, which  also leads to my topic for today: How plastic can actually influence climate change.

Firstly, the reason why plastics is such a popular material today is due to the characteristics that it possesses. Cheap, easy to produce and versatile, plastics also do not allow water to pass through it.
Plastics are very prevalent in our lives today. Think of grocery shopping, our cups, our disposable utensils, our food packaging etcetera. However, few have thought of the implications of plastic usage,  and more specifically how it would affect the environment negatively. 

"An estimated 12 million barrels of oil are used to manufacture the 30 million plastic bags that Americans use each year." Plastic bags are mostly made up of polyethylene, a byproduct of petroleum and natural gas.  Moreover, when decomposition of plastics take place, greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide are emitted into the atmosphere, 
Hence, there are various sources of harmful emissions to the environment from the production of plastics; the manufacture of it, the transportation of the goods (oil/gas/plastics) from one place to another as well as the gas emitted when it is decomposing.  This would ultimately lead to excessive (hence unwanted) greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, which results in climate change and over-heating of Earth.

Of course, plastics lead to much more environmental problems that go beyond climate change which i won't be covering in this post. 

I hope that gradually, people will start seeing the importance of cutting down our usage on plastics.
A good policy that i think can be implemented in Singapore is to charge consumers whenever they need to get a plastic bag from business owners. This would increase people's incentive to bring their own reusable bags when they go shopping.

An example of a country which has implemented this policy is Hong Kong, and based on my experience with my friends and family members who were there with me, this policy actually reduces people's willingness to get a plastic bags as they do not want to spend extra on it. In economics terms, marginal benefit of obtaining a plastic is less than the marginal cost. Hence, consumers will think twice before obtaining a plastic bag from business owners and is likely to cut down plastic usage. For Singaporeans who take plastic bags for granted (since there has not been any obvious policies or implementations that discourage Singaporeans from excessive usage of plastic bags), it would actually act as a wake-up call for the public and prompt them to care for the environment through money incentives.

But before any campaign or policy is implemented to reduce plastic usage, i think that all of us can play a part by reminding ourselves to bring our reusable bags during grocery shopping, or we could just place small objects in our own bags. Workers doing cashiering roles should also prompt consumers by asking if they need a plastic bag instead of assuming they do. I once worked at an F&B shop selling maki rolls, and i realised that by asking my customers instead of assuming they need plastic bags, it actually helps to reduce plastic usage significantly.

Every effort essentially counts, and i hope globally, people would start treating plastic usage seriously and not take them for granted.

Till then!!

References:

1 Bag at a Time, 'Plastic Bags And Climate Change - 1 Bag At A Time'. 2015. Web.  http://1bagatatime.com/planet/environmental-impact/climate-change/

'Climate Change: Who Thought Plastic Bags? – Master Of Arts Program In Climate And Society'. Climatesociety.ei.columbia.edu.  August 29, 2013. Web.
http://climatesociety.ei.columbia.edu/2013/08/29/climate-change-who-thought-plastic-bags/

Human Behaviour

We have been warned: "Average global temperatures are expected to increase by 2°F to 11.5°F by 2100." 
The ultimate increase in temperature by 2100 would then depend on us, on whether we choose to fight against climate change or be apathetic towards it. I recently chanced upon an article named ' Your brain on climate change: why the threat produces apathy, not action', which gave me insight on why humans tend to neglect, or rather turn away from one of the largest issues we face today; climate change. Below is an extract from the article which i found interesting: 

For one thing, human brains aren’t wired to respond easily to large, slow-moving threats.

“Our brain is essentially a get-out-of-the-way machine,” Daniel Gilbert, a professor of psychology at Harvard best known for his research into happiness, told audiences at Harvard Thinks Big 2010. “That’s why we can duck a baseball in milliseconds.”

While we have come to dominate the planet because of such traits, he said, threats that develop over decades rather than seconds circumvent the brain’s alarm system. “Many environmentalists say climate change is happening too fast. No, it’s happening too slowly. It’s not happening nearly quickly enough to get our attention.”

That may seem to be true. Though aware of climate change, people seem to assume that it is none of their business, as if the future generations are responsible for our problems. This is something which i find very troubling and i wish i could change.
Even with constant reminders around to alert us that the world is dying in our hands, we still see instances where people forget (or do they?) to switch off their electrical appliances. In 1st world countries, many are enjoying the comforts of private transport even though governments and environmental groups strongly encourage public transport to be taken instead. The emergence of a throw-away society also deeply troubles me, seeing how everyone is strongly influenced by consumerism. 

Personally, staying in one of the halls in NUS, i'm glad that there are stickers and small posters around the hall reminding us to bathe within a span of 5 minutes, or prompting us to switch off our lights and fans when they're not in use.

Yet, these reminders don't seem to be enough to instil environmentally-friendly mindsets in people. I still see my hall mates unwilling to turn off their lights and fans even when they're not in use, while others take long showers in the bathroom, unconcerned about the repercussions of their actions.

How do we cut down on energy wastage, especially for people who are used to the idea of comfort and luxury? Why have we failed to change people's behaviour, even with so many environmental campaigns and posters? How do i, and how do we start making a change? 

On a happier note, i'll be regularly updating this blog with my personal opinions/interesting articles or pictures that i chance upon. Thank you for reading! 


References:
NRC (2010). Advancing the Science of Climate Change .  National Research Council. The National Academies Press, Washington, DC, USA.


Greg Harman (10/11/2014) Your brain on climate change: why the threat produces apathy, not action .  The Guardian

Welcome to my blog ^_^

Hi, My name is Mu Rong and I'm currently a student of NUS studying the course of environmental studies. Throughout this semester, i would be regularly updating this blog with some opinions of mine, articles and videos on a topic which i have chosen - climate change.
This topic is one that has constant intrigued me and i thought that it'd be fun if i could make use of this platform for me to discuss more about my findings and thoughts regarding climate change.

Cheers!