PLASTIC vs. PLANET

Published 17 April 2021

Plastic vs. Planet

With my photography, I like to show not only the beauty of nature and wildlife worth protecting, but also show problems such as the plastic flood, deforestation of the rain forests, the air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels, especially coal, and much more, in the hope to sensitize the mindset of one or the other to this unique ecosystem and to remind us that we humans are destroying it bit by bit.


On many things in the world, we as individuals have not much influence, but what we have strong influence is our consumption. So we could reduce our plastic consumption without any major restrictions. How easy and uncomplicated I'll show you below.


A beach on the west coast of Costa Rica that is flooded with plastic for miles.
A cow grazing among countless plastic on a beach in Indonesia.
A mangrove forest on the west coast of Costa Rica that is flooded with plastic.
Lily Cabezas, an environmentalist from Costa Rica, posts in a fir tree made of plastic water falsies on the sandy bottom after a beach clean up by Operation Richcoast.
Lily Cabezas, an environmentalist from Costa Rica, standing on a giant tire on a beach in Costa Rica.
Lily Cabezas, an environmentalist from Costa Rica, who posts on a beach on the west coast of Costa Rica with dolls she found there in the sand.
Lily Cabezas, an environmentalist from Costa Rica who found a doll's head in the sand on a beach on the west coast of Costa Rica.
A beach on the west coast of Costa Rica that is flooded for miles with plastic and remnants of the textile industry.
A piece of plastic at Cocos Island in Costa Rica, over 250 metres deep in the Pacific Ocean.

Plastic, in itself a great invention that makes our lives easier in many ways, but every day thousands of people and animals suffer from so-called single use plastic.


Have you ever wondered where all the plastic that we use every day goes?

By 2015, we produced 6.9 billion tonnes of plastic waste, of which about 9% was recycled, 12% burned and 79% landfilled or dumped in the environment (source: National Geographic Germany). Even in the deep sea, the plastic has arrived meanwhile. Every day thousands of people and animals suffer from this flood of plastic and it is up to each one of us to change that!


You can do something!

The easiest way to do without plastic is to use the water directly from the tap for drinking! This is possible without hesitation in many countries of the world today, especially in Europe! This saves you on the day about three 1 liter bottles and that per person! That´s almost 1100 plastic bottles a year! There are many different suppliers of reusable water bottles, the link to Amazon to my reusable water bottle is HERE.


Another real alternative to plastic are cloth bags. They are not only sturdier, they are also cheaper when used continuously, as most discounters and supermarkets only have plastic bags for sale.

Also you can become active yourself. For example, I helped in Costa Rica with a beach clean up organized by Operation Rich Coast. It's great, you meet new nice people and you can change the world within a few hours.


But of course you do not have to travel to Costa Rica, I am sure there are similar actions in your area, you just have to look around and take the courage.


In addition, you can easily do without many other disposable food packaging, such as dairy products. These are offered in plastic packaging or in glasses, but we mostly use plastic packaging, but why? Because we are lazy, quite simply, of course it is more work to bring the glass bottle back to the supermarket, but the planet and many people and animals would thank us!



You want to do more, but do not know how?

There are countless possibilities, on the one hand you can support a nature conservation organization in which you donate, there are many different ones. My three favorites I regularly support are SeaLegacy, Pacific Wild and the WWF. All three do a fantastic job trying to make the world a little bit better every day.


I hope I could help you with my tips and inspire you to change the world with small changes in your daily life.


You do not want to make these small changes in your daily life alone? Then share them with your family and friends.



FEEDBACK

 
 
 
The privacy policy applies.
 
 


If you would like to give me some feedback on this article, if you are interested in another topic that you would like me to write about, or if you have any criticism, please send me an email using the contact form left or at the bottom of the page.