🎵 Life in plastic ✨
✨ it's fantastic 🎵
"This is the dream of the future. Versatile. Durable. Practical.Cheap."
The quote above was taken from the beginning of "Why Plastic? The Recycling Myth". In the beginning plastic was advertised as a wondrous substance capable of many things. It was extremely useful for its light weight and versatility (could be formed into diverse shapes). What's more, it could last for ages.
I envision the future where the plastic dream is achieved. This is not to say that everything we see and touch are made of plastic; in this future we use plastic as something that benefits humanity and makes people's lives easier. The plastic we do use should not release endocrine disruptors easily.
The reason why we shouldn't completely ban plastic is because they can be tremendously useful.
In 1959, Mattel used soft vinyl (a form of plastic) to make the very first Barbie doll. -->
I had a few Barbie dolls (4-5), and they made up a considerable portion of my childhood. I'm sure this is the same for many of you who are reading this post. I'm thankful that my dolls are plastic because they will not rot like wood or rust like iron. They will probably still be the same by the time I die. Thanks to plastic, my childhood memory is forever sealed and intact in my Barbie dolls.
Plastic should not be viewed as a purely evil substance. While plastic pose risks of releasing endocrine disruptors, I believe we can achieve a balance by using improved plastics and limiting our consumption.
We should use plastic in a way that maximizes their advantage - durability. Right now, we have too much of excessive plastic in packaging and utensils, which we should discard. But plastic products like Barbie dolls which are meant to last for a long time - they're okay.
Let's hold on to our Barbie doll plastic and blacklist the single-use plastic.
(๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧
It was interesting to see how plastic was advertised back then compared to now! You're right, plastic is very durable and it would be better to focus on using it to create products that we want to last forever and not for single-use products.
Thanks for presenting a different view! Plastic can definitely be useful, we just need to be careful with how much we produce, and avoid single-use plastic production.