Here's three things you should know

about plastic pollution:

Lately, plastic has been getting

a lot of attention.

'No more single-use plastic straws'

'Plastic straws'

'Plastic bags'

'Plastic'

'Plastic'

If you're like me

you've seen loads of animal videos

on social media

Like that poor sea turtle

with a straw stuck in its face?

'And because this kind of plastic

never dissolves...'

Oops, not that turtle.

A lot of people worry

about plastic's impact on sea creatures

as they should

but plastic is a problem

for more than just the oceans

Number one:

plastic pollutes at every stage of its life

When people think of plastic pollution

they tend to think of this

but it can also look like this

See, all the plastic in the ocean

it originally started out as oil and gas

From extraction to production

plastic is a problem

way before it enters our ocean

The fossil fuel industry

is producing plastic

in marginalized communities

like the small town of Manchester

near Houston in Texas

Here, ninety percent of the residents

live just a mile away

from the plastics factory

And get this:

the cancer risk in that community

is twenty-two percent higher

than the rest of the Houston area

So while our turtle friends are in danger

Let's keep in mind

how plastic hurts people too

Number two:

We make way too much plastic

With all that we know about plastic's impacts

you'd think we'd be making less plastic

Instead, the plastic industry

has a plot to increase production

by forty percent

over the next decade alone

That's a lot more to-go cups

straws and plastic packaging

we don't need

And don't even get me started

on these new Starbucks sippy cups

Number three:

recycling alone won't cut it.

Of all the plastic ever made

just nine percent has been recycled

So where did the other ninety one percent go?

It either ended up in our environment

in our landfills

burnt in an incinerator

or it got shipped off to counties

like China to deal with

Here's the thing:

China recently stopped accepting the world's trash

and other countries are now following suit

So what's the solution?

Maybe we need to stop

searching for countries to take our plastic

and just make less in the first place

So next time you're in a store

And you see something like this

or this

Ask them what they're doing

to break free from plastic

The turtles

and loads of other creatures

will thank you

Cheers

'Liked what you saw?

Then give it up for the turtles!'

So who's your favorite Ninja turtle?

Let us know in the comments below

Thanks for watching

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