The worst environmental problem: Can we solve it?

Written by Lorraine Bolao & Javiera Carrillo

From our perspective, one of the worst environmental problem nowadays is plastic pollution, which
affects not only human beings, but also flora and fauna and the environment. Plastic production
and consumption is an issue that has been growing steadily over the years. Moreover, in daily life,
people tend to use disposable products, such as plastic containers, diapers, Ziploc bags, water
bottles, among others. The majority of the products mentioned before are not designed to degrade
rapidly, which results in an accumulation that increases pollution around the world.

To begin with, people need to know that plastic can be a very useful and economic material.
Nonetheless, the components which are used to create plastic are extremely dangerous for our
environment, due to the fact that plastic is meant to be durable; hence, it is easier for industries to
use this material. Unfortunately, all the elements and processes used to create plastic products are
not ecology friendly.

Another sad problem that people can detect is the pollution in the ocean, because all the plastic
residues end there. In fact, it is estimated that 5 trillion plastic particles weighing almost 3 hundred
tons are floating in oceans, but just 1% of these residues can be reduced. Furthermore, all those
particles can be eaten by animals, and as a result they get intoxicated. In addition, some of them
unfortunately become entangled and stuck in rubbish.

Consequently, it seems that this problem is difficult to solve completely, but we can do something
about it by reducing the amount of plastic we use. One of the ways in which people can help the
environment is starting to use biodegradable bags every time they go shopping. They can also
stop drinking plastic bottled water, instead people can drink water from glass bottles in order to use
them more than once.

To conclude, plastic pollution is an issue which is affecting the whole world and we need to do
something about it. We can start educating people about the problems and consequences related
to the use of plastic in daily life activities.