We are constantly being lectured about how we need to cut down on our use of plastics so we can save the oceans.
It's like lecturing everyone who shows up at a meeting on time about how horrible it is to be late all the time.
To all my friends who use plastics, let me quote Robin Williams from Good Will Hunting: "It's not your fault."
From the Trono Globe and Mail:
[I]n the developed world, most of the waste is properly disposed of, thanks to waste management systems few of us think about or even notice. North America is the source of just 0.9 per cent of the world’s “mismanaged” plastic, meaning plastic that could wind up in the ocean. Almost all our junk ends up in landfills (or incinerators). There are many good reasons to rue this but the state of the oceans isn’t one.
So where does the plastic that is choking the oceans come from? Mostly, the developing world. ...
By far the worst sources of plastic pollution are rivers whose basins are heavily populated with poor people who lack access to proper waste disposal. A recent study estimated 90 per cent of all river-borne plastic pollution comes from just 10 rivers: eight in Asia, two in Africa. ...
But a reasonable person wouldn’t fault developing countries for lacking a capacity that we in the wealthy world only developed relatively recently and at an expense they can’t afford. A reasonable person would say we’re rich, they’re not, so let’s fund them to develop the waste disposal systems needed to make their lives better and clean up the oceans we all share. (Of course, China is now wealthy enough to develop its own waste disposal, and happily for the world the government has started to aggressively tackle the problem.)
Less charitably, the critical role of the developing world is being ignored because no one in this country stands to gain – in votes, eyeballs, or donations – by talking about waste disposal in the developing world.
Whatever the explanation, it is a weird sort of narcissism to look at a global problem and assume it is all about us. If we are to make a difference, we must get over ourselves.