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Climate change has been an ongoing debate for quite a while now, and to be honest, I’m not sure why. I don’t know why it’s a normal thing now to debate with science and factual statistics, but I guess that’s our reality. As frustrating as it is, we still have to continue to push for justice and change.
If you’re not sure about the nitty-gritty of how waste and pollution are affecting the planet, then keep reading, this post is for you. I’m sure you already know that there is SO much waste being produced every year, and we can easily see it every day.
And obviously, thats taken a toll on the environment.
But just how serious is it?
Landfills and Ocean Pollution
Well, according to National Geographic, the world makes at least 3.5 million tons of plastic and other solid waste a day. This is 10 times the amount it was a century ago.
In the U.S. alone, 250 million tons of trash is produced a year, which is 4.4 pounds of trash a day. That’s more than any other country in the world. The average American produces roughly 1,500 pounds of trash every year.
If you notice your trash is filling up fairly quickly, look to see what you’re actually throwing out and if it can be composted or recycled. About 75 to 80 percent of trash in every household is organic matter and can be composted.
Related: How is the EPA Helping Communities of Color During the Climate Crisis?
Organic matter that ends up in landfills doesn’t turn into compost because there isn’t enough air circulating through the landfill for it to break down. You can read more about composting and how to do it here.
On top of so much waste going into landfills, approximately 8 million pieces of plastic find their way into the ocean per day. There may now be around 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic floating in the ocean. 😔
This is so sad because it is affecting so many animals. Fish are either eating these pieces of plastic or getting stuck in it and dying.
It doesn’t only affect marine animals. After some birds give birth, they leave their babies and fly around the ocean looking for food. After a certain amount of time, they come back to their young ones and feed them by basically giving up what’s in their stomach to the baby bird.
Unfortunately, many birds accidentally digest many of these plastics and microplastics. So when they come back to feed their baby, they feed them plastic. Many of them don’t even make it back because it couldn’t find real sources of food or for eating too much plastic.
This is the sad reality that we have to face. We need to learn about this so that we can do better.
This is another great resource to look at about ocean pollution.
Related: How To Recycle: A Step-By-Step Guide
A Little off-topic note:
I was reading another article by National Geographic about a man named Rob Greenfield. He spent a whole year only eating food he could grow or find in nature.
He said something that I thought was really interesting:
“What I’m doing is extreme; it’s designed to wake people up,” says Greenfield. “The U.S. has 5 percent of the world’s population and uses 25 percent of the world’s resources. While traveling through Bolivia and Peru, I talked to people where quinoa used to be their main source of food. The prices went up 15 times and, now, what they used to live off of, they can’t even afford to eat because of Westerners like us wanting to eat quinoa.”
This was really interesting to me because I’ve never thought about it like this. I always try to be mindful of what I eat and where my food comes from(and I encourage others to do the same) but I hadn’t realized the impact that what we eat has on other people in different parts of the world.
I do intend to do more research into this and I’ll make another blog post about that too. 🧐
Air Pollution
Waste isn’t our only problem: It is estimated that air pollution kills about seven million people worldwide every year, according to the World Health Organization.
The top three contributors to air pollution are:
- Fossil fuels
- Animal agriculture
- Waste from landfills
Because of these large contributors to air pollution, the ozone layer is depleting. The ozone layer is crucial for the survival of ecosystems.
An imbalance of gases in the atmosphere, more specifically, too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, along with other gases that trap heat, is the cause of global warming. These gases stay in the atmosphere for decades and even centuries, continuing to heat up the world.
What Can You Do?
A few good ways you can help reduce your impact are:
- Bike or walk when you can
- Carpool
- Eat less meat – if this is hard for you, you can try participating in things like Meatless Mondays. Encourage some friends to do this with you and make it a group thing!! You can also check out plant-based meat alternatives.
- Recycle when possible
- Learn to compost or find a composting site near you
- And, of course, reduce & reuse!
I hope this helped you learn about the kind of impact we each have and what we can do to live a more sustainable and loving life! 💚
Try to educate as many people as you can, we should all get involved and make this a conversation. Not for us, but for the survival of the planet and its species.
Stay safe,
Farah 🌱
