Empty PET plastic bottles sit waiting to be recycled.
We Can’t Ignore Plastic’s Climate Footprint Any Longer
As we create policies and incentives to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, we have a plastic-shaped hole in our vision.
It’s summer again in the Northern Hemisphere and with it comes the seasonal dread that grows worse each year. Dread of weather so severe it might make us sick or even kill us, in addition to seriously hampering life as we’ve known it. The planet logged a new hottest day on record this July 4, and as scores of residents in the Northeast and Midwest are finding out, wildfire smoke is another climate change-related factor to contend with, and sometimes the two things happen all at once. Extreme heat isn’t just uncomfortable and dangerous, it’s also extremely expensive for societies as heat-related illnesses climb with the mercury bulb.
This all comes at us as we are trying to collectively get a grip on what we’ve wrought and bring our global emissions down. Yet as we create policies and incentives to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, we have a plastic-shaped hole in our vision. The enormous cost to our climate from petrochemical plastics production is beginning to turn heads, but the conversation is still nascent at a time when we should be leaps and bounds ahead in reigning in this sector’s enormous emissions.
We run the risk of working at cross-purposes by spending copious time and money making greenhouse gas reductions in some sectors, while ignoring the fact that the oil and gas industry is ramping up the production of petrochemical plastics.
In North America the making of PET plastics results in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to running two million cars for a year.
The entirety of plastic pollution includes the toxic air and water pollution at sites of extraction and manufacture, the risk of exposure by toxic chemicals from the end product, the climate pollution of the manufacturing process, and plastic waste. Take for example the seemingly benign plastic beverage bottle made of a type of plastic called PET. In North America the making of PET plastics results in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to running two million cars for a year. And that’s just one type of plastic, the sixth largest by production volume. Once we add it all up and take into account the explosive growth projected for the plastics sector, it becomes clear that plastic is undermining our climate ambitions.
The severe impacts from climate change are and will be felt by all, yet those impacts are not evenly spread. Unjust systems in place ensure that communities who are already burdened with insecurity will bear the brunt of the climate crisis. In a cruel irony, this includes the communities most affected by plastic manufacturing pollution, the majority of them Black and low-income communities, most of them in the Southeast and Gulf Coast.
While multinational fast moving consumer goods corporations are busy sponsoring beach clean ups, touting the recycled content of their plastic packaging, and setting climate plans to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, many of them are missing their own targets as their plastics use balloons. Plastic is a carbon bomb and we risk crashing our civilization if we fail to see it for what it is. Petrochemical plastic production must be cut 75% by 2050 in order to keep global warming below 1.5℃. Those reductions should start with the most unnecessary plastics, much of which were not on the market until recently. If we could live without all this needless plastic in the recent past, we can do it now.
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. US voters have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. Our Fall Campaign is underway, and we need your help. To power our newsroom through the rest of the year, we need to raise $125,000 by midnight on October 31. So if you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
It’s summer again in the Northern Hemisphere and with it comes the seasonal dread that grows worse each year. Dread of weather so severe it might make us sick or even kill us, in addition to seriously hampering life as we’ve known it. The planet logged a new hottest day on record this July 4, and as scores of residents in the Northeast and Midwest are finding out, wildfire smoke is another climate change-related factor to contend with, and sometimes the two things happen all at once. Extreme heat isn’t just uncomfortable and dangerous, it’s also extremely expensive for societies as heat-related illnesses climb with the mercury bulb.
This all comes at us as we are trying to collectively get a grip on what we’ve wrought and bring our global emissions down. Yet as we create policies and incentives to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, we have a plastic-shaped hole in our vision. The enormous cost to our climate from petrochemical plastics production is beginning to turn heads, but the conversation is still nascent at a time when we should be leaps and bounds ahead in reigning in this sector’s enormous emissions.
We run the risk of working at cross-purposes by spending copious time and money making greenhouse gas reductions in some sectors, while ignoring the fact that the oil and gas industry is ramping up the production of petrochemical plastics.
In North America the making of PET plastics results in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to running two million cars for a year.
The entirety of plastic pollution includes the toxic air and water pollution at sites of extraction and manufacture, the risk of exposure by toxic chemicals from the end product, the climate pollution of the manufacturing process, and plastic waste. Take for example the seemingly benign plastic beverage bottle made of a type of plastic called PET. In North America the making of PET plastics results in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to running two million cars for a year. And that’s just one type of plastic, the sixth largest by production volume. Once we add it all up and take into account the explosive growth projected for the plastics sector, it becomes clear that plastic is undermining our climate ambitions.
The severe impacts from climate change are and will be felt by all, yet those impacts are not evenly spread. Unjust systems in place ensure that communities who are already burdened with insecurity will bear the brunt of the climate crisis. In a cruel irony, this includes the communities most affected by plastic manufacturing pollution, the majority of them Black and low-income communities, most of them in the Southeast and Gulf Coast.
While multinational fast moving consumer goods corporations are busy sponsoring beach clean ups, touting the recycled content of their plastic packaging, and setting climate plans to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, many of them are missing their own targets as their plastics use balloons. Plastic is a carbon bomb and we risk crashing our civilization if we fail to see it for what it is. Petrochemical plastic production must be cut 75% by 2050 in order to keep global warming below 1.5℃. Those reductions should start with the most unnecessary plastics, much of which were not on the market until recently. If we could live without all this needless plastic in the recent past, we can do it now.
- The US Shouldn’t Stand in the Way of an Ambitious Global Plastics Treaty ›
- Global Plastic Pollution Is a 'Deadly Ticking Clock': Report ›
- Without 'Radical Action,' Warns OECD, Global Plastic Pollution Likely to Triple by 2060 ›
- New Report Reveals How Plastic Polluters Have Avoided Regulation Worldwide for Decades ›
- How to make COP26 a success? Talk about plastics | openDemocracy ›
- We Need a Global Treaty More Powerful Than the Plastics Industry ›
- Opinion | When Coca-Cola Fails at its Sustainability Goals, That’s Everyone’s Problem | Common Dreams ›
It’s summer again in the Northern Hemisphere and with it comes the seasonal dread that grows worse each year. Dread of weather so severe it might make us sick or even kill us, in addition to seriously hampering life as we’ve known it. The planet logged a new hottest day on record this July 4, and as scores of residents in the Northeast and Midwest are finding out, wildfire smoke is another climate change-related factor to contend with, and sometimes the two things happen all at once. Extreme heat isn’t just uncomfortable and dangerous, it’s also extremely expensive for societies as heat-related illnesses climb with the mercury bulb.
This all comes at us as we are trying to collectively get a grip on what we’ve wrought and bring our global emissions down. Yet as we create policies and incentives to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, we have a plastic-shaped hole in our vision. The enormous cost to our climate from petrochemical plastics production is beginning to turn heads, but the conversation is still nascent at a time when we should be leaps and bounds ahead in reigning in this sector’s enormous emissions.
We run the risk of working at cross-purposes by spending copious time and money making greenhouse gas reductions in some sectors, while ignoring the fact that the oil and gas industry is ramping up the production of petrochemical plastics.
In North America the making of PET plastics results in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to running two million cars for a year.
The entirety of plastic pollution includes the toxic air and water pollution at sites of extraction and manufacture, the risk of exposure by toxic chemicals from the end product, the climate pollution of the manufacturing process, and plastic waste. Take for example the seemingly benign plastic beverage bottle made of a type of plastic called PET. In North America the making of PET plastics results in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to running two million cars for a year. And that’s just one type of plastic, the sixth largest by production volume. Once we add it all up and take into account the explosive growth projected for the plastics sector, it becomes clear that plastic is undermining our climate ambitions.
The severe impacts from climate change are and will be felt by all, yet those impacts are not evenly spread. Unjust systems in place ensure that communities who are already burdened with insecurity will bear the brunt of the climate crisis. In a cruel irony, this includes the communities most affected by plastic manufacturing pollution, the majority of them Black and low-income communities, most of them in the Southeast and Gulf Coast.
While multinational fast moving consumer goods corporations are busy sponsoring beach clean ups, touting the recycled content of their plastic packaging, and setting climate plans to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, many of them are missing their own targets as their plastics use balloons. Plastic is a carbon bomb and we risk crashing our civilization if we fail to see it for what it is. Petrochemical plastic production must be cut 75% by 2050 in order to keep global warming below 1.5℃. Those reductions should start with the most unnecessary plastics, much of which were not on the market until recently. If we could live without all this needless plastic in the recent past, we can do it now.
- The US Shouldn’t Stand in the Way of an Ambitious Global Plastics Treaty ›
- Global Plastic Pollution Is a 'Deadly Ticking Clock': Report ›
- Without 'Radical Action,' Warns OECD, Global Plastic Pollution Likely to Triple by 2060 ›
- New Report Reveals How Plastic Polluters Have Avoided Regulation Worldwide for Decades ›
- How to make COP26 a success? Talk about plastics | openDemocracy ›
- We Need a Global Treaty More Powerful Than the Plastics Industry ›
- Opinion | When Coca-Cola Fails at its Sustainability Goals, That’s Everyone’s Problem | Common Dreams ›