With the recent increase of political tension in the United States, the issues of environmental preservation and conservation has been increasingly prevalent in the mainstream media as a result. The conversation on “global warming” and “fossil fuels” occur frequently in these discussions, but one topic that causes a great deal of harm to the environment is often neglected but critical: plastic bags. Plastic bags are a global hazard to animals, as well as the environment as a whole.
It is estimated that 100,000 aquatic animals die each year as a direct result of plastic shopping bags. Not only do plastic bags cause direct harm to animals, they also indirectly harm the ecosystem at large via a toxin called dioxin. Dioxin is a main toxin found in plastic bags which functions as an endocrine disruptor. When fish consume these bags it pollutes their bodies, which are then fed upon by larger animals such as polar bears. This causes large quantities of manmade pollutants to reach areas such as the arctic where these substances are harming an already frail ecosystem (Plastic Bags and Climate Change, n.d.). It is possible for the harmful effects of these toxic fish to be passed up the food chain to humans. A field test done in Europe found similar hazardous results caused by plastic bags and found that 40% of these bags were only single use (Green et al, 2015, pg 5380). Annually, roughly 12 million barrels of oil are used to make the plastic bags used by Americans. This wasteful use of precious fossil fuels contributes heavily to the increasing CO2 build-up in the atmosphere (Plastic Bags and Climate Change, n.d.).
There is a very simple solution to quickly slow the level of global pollution caused by plastic bags. The answer is to get people to start using reusable bags as an alternative to plastic. These bags are inexpensive, less likely to rip, and much more environmentally friendly. If the United States alone were to use even half of the plastic bags annually that they do right now, that would cut CO2 emissions down immensely.
I am proposing that new laws and policies be put into place that regulate the maximum number of plastic bags allowed to be used in the United States, as well as offer reusable bags as a feasible alternative. It is not plausible to think that plastic bags will completely cease causing environmental damage, but if world leaders and citizens work together, we can limit the damage caused to a fraction of what it is today.