News from the Natural World: Countries who won’t change their way of life ask other countries to change theirs instead.
A new report has found that US and UK citizens are the world’s biggest sources of plastic waste. The US population may also be the third-largest producer of marine plastic pollution. In addition, both the US and the UK produce more plastic waste per person than any other major country. Previous work had suggested Asian countries dominated plastic pollution and placed the US in 20th place, but this did not account for US waste exports or illegal dumping within the country. “The US is 4% of the world’s population, yet it produces 17% of its plastic waste,” said Nick Mallos at the Ocean Conservancy. The size of the US contribution is likely to be the results of high income and consumption levels. Western humans just so happen to be the best consumers.
Plastic waste has polluted the whole planet. From the deepest oceans to Arctic snow and also Alpine soils, and is also known to harm wildlife. The concern is also growing about the number of microplastics people consume. With food and water, and by breathing them in. US plastic was being sent to some of the world’s poorest countries. Including Bangladesh, Laos, Ethiopia and Senegal, where labour is cheap as well as environmental regulation limited.
Countries Who Won’t Change their Way not Hypocrites
What it really comes to down to is that humans will have to change their way of life. But Western human countries like the US and UK have so far focused on forcing developing countries to change their way of life instead. This only exacerbates the problem as many rightfully ask the UK… “Have you forgotten about your Industrial Revolution?”. Western countries really need coordinated action to urgently reduce plastic consumption, increase reuse, waste collection and recycling. They need to persuade their humans to consume less and less every year. However, that really doesn’t bode well for business.