Carlie Pracht
Lantern Staff
Plastic bags, straws and silverware are a significant convenience in the moment, but they are ultimately an inconvenience in the long run.
While these plastic items make our lives much simpler right now, they have a negative lasting impact on the environment and the world we will live in.
Single use plastic pollutes the earth in ways we do not always see, so we don’t often think about it. Especially living in Kansas, we do not usually think about how the plastic we use could end up in the ocean and harm the wildlife. Sometimes we do not care that it might harm the wildlife, but the wildlife is a vital part of the ecosystem.
According to greenerideal.com, plastic can make its way into the soil and release harmful toxins. This is another harmful side effect that we can’t see but is negatively impacting us and our future every day.
Driving down the street in El Dorado, or any town, I see trash and single use plastic littering the sidewalks and the grass. It seems harmless to the naked eye, but even this small litter in our town can have harmful effects on the environment.
This is the perfect opportunity for us to stop and pick up the trash that we see on the side of the road because in the end, this small act can bring significant changes. Picking up the trash can be the first of many habits that can kick start a more ecofriendly lifestyle.
Limiting our use of single use plastic can bring significant changes as well.
There have been a lot of movements recently to eliminate the use of plastic straws, while this is a good thing, it is not enough.
According to National Geographic, “Eight million tons of plastic flow into the ocean every year, and straws comprise just 0.025 percent of that.”
We need to eliminate more single use plastic items and focus our energy into plastic that has a larger and more harmful impact on the environment.
Plastic items are convenient, and it is hard to ween them out of our everyday lives, but if we slowly start replacing our belongings with more sustainable materials, investing in reusable water bottles and other items, we will have a much cleaner and safer world to live in.
