Every year since I was a freshman, there has been a presentation or debate on plastic, basically on the topic of taxing plastic and banning its use.
I scanned the classroom and found that two-thirds of the people were using metal cups and the rest were using plastic water cups or mineral water bottles, and I was part of the rest.
I was bored with the topic because it had been too long since a new topic about 'plastic' had come up and people were just talking about 'we need to keep putting taxes on plastic! That way no one will buy it! ' 'We need to ban plastic altogether! Ban it at the source! '....... It's so boring.
I have this strange idea that we are all being guided by some organization or force or doctrine that leads us to argue about plastic, and there must be a deeper reason behind it, or maybe I'm daydreaming because the topic is so boring that I'm starting to develop conspiracy theories.
I hope that plastic can reduce the harm it causes in the coming time, I don't expect all the plastic in the world to disappear one day, that's not realistic yet, I want the harm of plastic to gradually decrease until we can find the perfect replacement for plastic.
I can understand your frustrations with the arguement about plastics and how its bad and we should ban it altogether because the discussion is there but the problem is still so prevalent. I do also agree that sometimes there is so much emphasis on plastics straws and how consumers need to buy reusable straws instead etc that it feels like "some organization" is leading us to argue about plastics. I think consumers always talking about buying resuseable waterbottles or resuable straws draws the attention to what an individual can do (private action) and not what companies and the goverment can do.
I like how you acknowledge that eliminately plastic as a whole is unrealistic, but rather gradually reducing its harm is a more plausible solution.
I agree! We have been learning about the consequences of plastic for our whole lives, yet I do not see much change happening. All I can do is stand my ground and do what I can do to use less.