Plastic pollution is impacting the rights of the future generation.
With global oil prices plummeting, petrochemical industries are looking for alternative ways to continue raking in profits. There is now more plastics being made than ever before, the problem is that most of this plastic is single-use and therefore cannot be put into circular economy and once its usefulness ends, sometimes in minutes, it is tossed away into the environment or landfills.
The biggest challenge with this kind of plastic is that it does not naturally biodegrade but breaks down into much smaller plastics which can easily float in the air we breathe, get into our water systems or the food we eat, like fish. Studies from Endocrine Society and the IPEN (International Pollutants Elimination Network) have established that fumes from burning plastic in landfills can potentially be carcinogenic and can cause a myriad of respiratory diseases. The study further states that sperm qualities of men exposed to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can be impaired.
Almost every country now recognizes the right to have a clean and healthy environment protected for current and future generations and without this right being protected the rights of future generations will be greatly undermined. We must therefore continue reminding our governments to draft policies that will protect the environment.
We all are trustees of the natural resources and have an obligation to protect them through responsible production and consumption.
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