ABOUT

RESEARCH

Plastic is a non biodegradable material that is used everyday. Made from petroleum and other materials, plastic does not occur naturally. With water and sunlight, plastic will break down into microplastics, pieces of plastic smaller than five millimeters. Microplastics are everywhere, in the ocean, in the air, in the water you drink, and even in you! Microplatics pollute the ocean and disrupt the food chain as microorganisms injest these plastics and bigger animals eat those microorganisms. Injesting plastic can give an animal a false feeling of being full and can make birds or fish starve to death. In fact, if plastic is produced at the same rate by 2050 plastic in the ocean will outweigh all of the fish!

Plastic can also cause health problems such as reproductive issues, hormone blocking, cancer, and maybe even death. That is why researching and limiting plastic is very crucial.

BIOPLASTICS

One proposed solution to traditional plastics are bioplastics. Bioplastics would use natural materials to create a biodegradable plastic. In fact, there is a growing market for bioplastic. Bioplastics seem like a great solution, but in reality many formulas for this supposed solution emit more emissions than traditional plastics.

SO, NOW WHAT

This is where I come in. My goal is to investigate bioplastics and determine if these 'solutions' are better or worse than tradtional plastics. My goal is to also limit plastic production. Limiting plastic production could be as simple as initiating regulations for single use plastic production.

SO, NOW WHAT

BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY!

You can try to limit the amount you consume: think before you buy. With millions of items accessible by our fingertips, it is so easy to impulsively purchase unnecessary items because of the tempting "SALE" tag. Try to understand that the latest kitchen gadget or pair of jeans are not going to make your life better, they just want your money. These are all marketing gimmicks trying to suck every penny out of the market. Instead, you can thrift clothing from online brands like "ThredUp" or you can make use with what you have. Learning skills such as how to separate an egg yolk is much more sustainable than buying an egg separator. Limiting consumption is extremely important because most of these items contain plastic packaging.

QUIT!

Traditional cigarettes have microplascis in the butt. Quitting smoking can limit the amount of microplastics in the ocean. Look into more sustainable cigarettes or refillable vape pens, or better yet, try to quit.

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