Have you ever used those small, skinny plastic bags at the grocery store to bag your produce? What about to bag all of your groceries? What do you do with them after? Throw them away? Reuse them?
The average family often uses the classic small sandwich bags to pack their kids’ lunches, and almost every grocery or convenience store uses the larger plastic bags for customers who do not bring their own reusable bag to store their groceries. This everyday use of plastic bags creates an enormous strain on our ecosystem that is slowly eating away at the Earth.
How are plastic bags affecting our wildlife and marine life?
Plastic bags contaminate our land and waters, and harm our wildlife and marine life. Our lands are sabotaged when “[plastic bags] break down into tiny toxic particles that contaminate the soil and waterways and enter the food chain when animals accidentally ingest them,” Author Sharon Jacobsen explains. Another point Jacobsen adds is the effect that plastic has on our marine animals saying, “plastic clogs [sea creatures’] intestines and leads to slow starvation. Others become entangled in plastic bags and drown.” These lightweight products are landing in our waters and stay afloat at sea level, causing many hungry sea creatures to mistake microplastics for food. So not only is marine life harmed, but wildlife is also affected.
Birds mistake plastic as food because it looks like food, smells like food, and is easily accessible from the surface of the water. The small pieces of plastic that float on the surface of the ocean, also known as microplastics, are mistaken for prey, and the birds feast on them unknowing of all the toxins plastic contains. Several services offer beach cleanups to help with this problem, yet it is never enough. Our own destruction and use of plastic is killing off our poor, unique wildlife and marine life.
How is the production of these bags harmful to our environment?
The natural gas used to produce plastic bags releases toxins that are terrible for the environment and severely affect the ozone layers of our atmosphere.
While natural gas does emit less carbon dioxide than other fossil fuels, it is mainly composed of methane, which is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Natural gas is a non-renewable fossil fuel that we are using faster than it can be created, causing it to be unsustainable in the long run. As if the use of natural gas could be any worse, it also needs more processing in order for it to be usable. Author and environmentalist Rinkesh states that, “the process of refining it creates several byproducts that harm our environment.” Furthermore, Rinkesh accounts for more of the many cons that come with the use of natural gas. Rinkesh describes natural gas as “very flammable and potentially explosive, making leaks problematic. It is also dangerously toxic to inhale and completely odorless in its natural state."
One of the most major impacts natural gas carries is the destruction it could do to our ozone layers. If the atmosphere contains too much of these gases, it will hold onto too much heat at night instead of releasing into outer space, making each day hotter and hotter. This is what people know as climate change and global warming. “Scientists now estimate that the heat-trapping potential of methane is much greater than previously understood” (“Natural Gas”). The abuse that natural gas applies to our environment exceeds the level of stress our Earth can handle.
Plastic bags are degradable, right? Wrong!
Most people think plastic bags are degradable simply because they recycle them, but the truth is that they never completely degrade. The term degrade specifically means to break down or deteriorate chemically. According to The Environmental Magazine, “the most common type of plastic shopping bag is made of polyethylene, a petroleum-derived polymer that microorganisms don’t recognize as food and as such cannot technically ‘biodegrade’” (“Plastic Grocery”). Even though polyethylene cannot biodegrade, it breaks down when exposed to UV radiation from the sun. When exposed to sunlight, its polymer chains become weak, turning it into microscopic synthetic granules. Scientists fear those granules’ buildup in marine and land environments, invading every step of the food chain. In summary, the chemicals causing plastic bags to never break down hurt our environment and its surroundings. If polyethylene’s use is continued, our Earth will see catastrophic results that will be unsolvable.
When one considers environmental risks, destruction of our ozone, and deaths of our wildlife and marine life, it is clear that removing plastic bags is the right move. With our precious polar ice caps melting and Earth’s global warming at strength, now more than ever is a time in need where we need a solution, the easiest one being reducing our use of plastic bags. We only get one Earth, and plastic bags are assisting to destroy it. Remember, there is no Planet B.
Works Cited
“How Many Birds Die from Plastic Pollution?” WWF, 9 Oct. 2018, www.wwf.org.au/news/blogs/how-many-birds-die-from-plastic-pollution#gs.ywln87.
Jacobsen, Sharon. “Plastic Bag Pollution.” LA County, dpw.lacounty.gov/epd/PlasticBags/Articles/Googobits_07-21-05.pdf. Accessed 9 March 2020.
“Natural Gas.” Greenpeace USA, www.greenpeace.org/usa/global-warming/issues/natural-gas/.
“Plastic Grocery Bags: How Long Until They Decompose?” Business Ethics, 14 Nov. 2017, business-ethics.com/2010/09/17/4918-plastic-grocery-bags-how-long-until-they-decompose/.
Rinkesh. “Renewable and Non-Renewable Resources.” Conserve Energy Future, 25 Dec. 2016, www.conserve-energy-future.com/renewable-and-nonrenewable-resources.php.
“The Greenhouse Effect.” NASA, NASA, 2 Mar. 2017, spaceplace.nasa.gov/greenhouse/en/.
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