Day 5: How Happy Is Our World This Environment Day?

The Internet was taken by storm as I woke up on 5 June. It was quite surprising and satisfying to see that so many people took out the time to share and post on how they feel about the environment and the planet we are living on. While there were a variety of subjects that were being discussed, it is safe to say that the major concern for everyone was plastic.

A canal in Mumbai.
A river in Dhaka.
#WorldEnvironmentDay pic.twitter.com/TuDoEH3W2v

¡ª ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) June 5, 2018

From Twitter to Facebook, from Instagram to TV channels, everyone came forward and talked about how they have cut or are planning to cut on plastic. I read everyone's statement and watched them talk about something I feel strongly about while I was having my breakfast on my steel plate using steel utensils.

It's day five of my campaign and I have already kicked out most of the plastic in sight. Anyhow, upon reading a lot of literature, I realised that it is not the plastic that meets the eye, but the plastic that's right there under our noses that we fail to address.

A Small Step to Beat Plastic Pollution: On #WorldEnvironmentDay, Indian Railways has started using fully biodegradable packages in 4 Shatabadi and 4 Rajadhani trains from Delhi, contributing towards a greener planet. pic.twitter.com/ILcwHN1wgK

¡ª Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) June 5, 2018

Did you know that our laundry detergent has a high content of plastic that never really disintegrate? Well, it flows from one place to another eventually landing in the ocean and ends up killing our marine life? Well, here's what I learnt.

Next time you go to a restaurant, please refuse plastic glasses. Use Kulhad , give up plastic. Environment bhi set, taste bhi set.#WorldEnvironmentDay pic.twitter.com/6p72c6jDAi

¡ª Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) June 5, 2018

A study revealed some of the deadliest forms of plastic that are killing marine life. The data has been obtained after conducting a survey by 274 experts around the world who dug deep and pulled 30 years of information on plastic trash, which was later collected by the Ocean Conservancy¡¯s International Coastal Cleanup program.

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Furthermore, a detailed study has highlighted plastic contents in elements who would have never imagined to be there in the first place. Did you know of plastic contents in your chewing gum, clothing, coffee cups, tea bags, cans and tetra packs? Did you know that these are some of the worst kinds that are hard to decompose and even harder to get rid of in every sense of the word?

Well, I was shocked and surprised that most of these brands, some of them being A-listers in their respective fields do not even bother to mention the said information on the bags, let alone take any action against it. The problem that I am beginning to understand is so vast and immense that I am failing to understand as to where to begin.

happy to hear it¡¯s #WorldEnvironmentDay! the truth is that we can all do better by practicing small changes over time. some easy and SUPER effective things you can do to help: pic.twitter.com/4LIwiKtjp3

¡ª lindsey (@LindseyHughes) June 5, 2018

In my opinion, organizations and government need to ban plastic, subsidize and discount products that serve as a better alternative. For starters, things that come in a sachet and tiny plastic bags must be sold in glass bottles - those who return x amount of used plastic bags/ sachets must be offered discounts and those who can carry their own glass bottles or bring back the old ones must be offered subsidised rates.

It's definitely a lot of work for a very long period of time, but to be honest, if not now, then when? If we don't begin to change now, by 2050 there will be more plastic than fishes in the ocean and life won't be the same for us anymore.