Add ‘Environment’ to Your New Year’s Resolution
By: S M Mamunur Rahman
Tags: New Year Resolution, The Environment, Environment, Pollution, Nature

Do you know who are the world’s worst plastic polluters of 2020?

A new year comes with new expectations. We want to forget the mistakes we have made in the past year. Of course, we regret it, but we want to be optimistic about the coming days.

We think what is done is done, and we expect to bring a brighter tomorrow where the mistakes will not be repeated. We want to plan everything for the new chapter of life. We call it New Year’s Resolution.

Our new year’s resolution includes the things we want to change for the benefit of ourselves. We write that down or keep them stamped in mind. It consists of a plan to enhance our personal growth, financial ability, relationship goals, or spiritual accomplishments. But do we ever think of adding ‘environment’ to our new year’s resolution? Do we really care for the environment in the first place? I hope not.

We are the self-proclaimed best animal of all, but sadly, we are too self-centric to think about the world around us. We want to colonize Mars, but we don’t even think twice to destroy what we already have and what is far more beautiful than a lifeless planet in space.

Yes, we talk about the environment and wildlife, but only when we get threatened by any disaster and when it becomes trendy. Otherwise, who cares?

But it’s our planet, and if we want to keep it livable, we must speak up and stand to protect the environment. Yes, it’s crucial. And if you are trying to make your new year’s resolution, I highly recommend you add ‘environment’ to your list.

Write a line like this — I will do my best to keep my surroundings pollution-free.

World’s Worst Plastic Polluters of 2020

In its annual audit, Break Free From Plastic found Coca-Cola as the world’s No 1 plastic polluter of 2020. Because its beverage bottles were the most frequently found discarded on beaches, rivers, parks, and other litter sites in 51 of 55 nations surveyed, says the Guardian.

The other top polluters are PepsiCo, Nestlé, Unilever, Modelez International, Mars, P&G, Phillip Morris International, Colgate-Palmolive, and Perfetti van Melle.

The most depressing fact is Break Free From Plastic says multinational corporations are pumping out tons of single-use plastics that harmful plastic production could double by 2030 and possibly triple by 2050.

It is to mention that Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé made ‘zero progress’ over the last years as they became the worst plastic polluters for the third year in a row.

Photo by Catherine Sheila from Pexels

Plastic Pollution Is Killing the Environment

Now we are drowning in plastics. From our smartphones to our kitchen appliances — plastics are everywhere. We cannot think of a modern society without plastics. It’s cheap, durable, and convenient. We hardly have any alternative to replace the cruel invasion of plastics entirely. It’s literally everywhere — in our water, in our food, in our body.

But plastic is not the main problem. The main problem is our approach to it. We have unnecessarily become plastics addicted, especially one-time plastics and it’s killing us.

An article on UNEnvironment says, around the world, one million plastic drinking bottles are purchased every minute, while up to 5 trillion single-use plastic bags are used worldwide every year. In total, half of all plastic produced is designed to be used only once — and then thrown away.

Plastic pollutions are very evident. We have done the impossible with plastics — we have polluted our oceans in such a way that the lives underwater are now in great danger. And if the current trends continue, experts predict that our oceans would contain more plastics than fish by 2050.

Today, we produce about 300 million tonnes of plastics waste every year. That’s nearly equivalent to the weight of the entire human population — UNEnvironment.

It’s time to think deeply and make changes. It’s time for us, human beings, to take deliberate actions to manage this environmental disaster. So, wake up and make little adjustments to play your part.