Plastic Pollution

When It All Feels So Hopeless

What can any one person do?

Photo by Franki Chamaki on Unsplash

All of us have a “carbon footprint.” While our actions as individuals are important, refining our choices as consumers is only a small part of addressing global problems.

I am not a fan of the “blame game.” Criticizing someone’s behavior rarely leads to positive change. Better to try to understand the root causes of a problem, than to criticize others for their actions as individuals.

The intent of this article is to educate, not promote shame and feelings of hopelessness.

We’ve all seen the photos of the islands of plastic floating around our oceans. We have seen the mountains of plastic debris in the Global South; the result of the plastic recycling lies we have been told. We can try not to purchase items in plastic containers, we can carry our own reusable water bottles, we can organize trash clean-ups — all these things are helpful — but as long as the corporations that are our biggest polluters keep producing plastic, our well-intentioned individual choices will not solve our plastic pollution problems.

#breakfreefromplastic is an organization that offers actual solutions. I learned of this organization through my interest in The Story of Stuff, a community-minded, solutions-focused, and…