That's going to end up in the ocean you know

The thing about plastic is that it doesn't biodegrade. 
It becomes brittle. Breaks up into thousands of pieces.
But it stays around. Even when we throw it out because it has lost its.

It doesn't just disappear even though you can not see it

Plastic consumption and production is only increasing. Hundred of millions of tons of plastic are being used every year.

Water bottles, cheap packaging, dollar toys.

Plastic is cheap

To buy.

But the toll it has taken on the environment is a debt that cries for relief.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, (pictured above) is twice the size of Texas.


Oh how differently our reaction would be if it affected humans in the same way it did animals



Or if it affected us as much as it affects them

But there's something horribly biting about reality when those who cause the problems are rarely the ones to suffer it's effects 

We don't have to see the large scale effects of our wasteful environmental exploitation. We don't see ecosystems and communities ruined by our trash. We pay people to remove the dirty surplus of our consumerism.

What we do see, everyday, is small pieces of plastic on the ground.

We see bottles littering the sophomore parking lot, cups in the streets, plastic bags blowing around the mountains.

What we do see, is recycling bins devastatingly empty.

Plastic is cheap, but it does not go away. 
BUT IT IS TOXIC 

We have one planet. And plastic has only been around for little over 100 years.

It's not just plastic though. It's natural gas. Forests. Minerals.
It's what we take from our planet that we can't give back.

We turn our back to so much of the harms that come from our luxurious and plush lifestyle. 90% of consumer goods made in sweatshops. Oppressive factory farms. Undocumented and underpaid immigrants picking our vegetables. Consumerism leaves a footprint everywhere it steps.

But plastic, at least, can be recycled. Easily. All it takes is is to bend down, pick up the water bottle on the ground, and toss it in the nearest recycling bin.