In an article published on November 13, 2018, in The Guardian, reporter Stephen Buranyi discusses the history of plastics and possible reasons for a sudden spike in public and regulatory attention manifesting as ‘plastic backlash.’ He further offers his thoughts on whether it will “make a difference.”
Pointing just to “how interconnected” the various environmental problems are, ranging from plastic pollution to climate change, Buranyi proposes “to recognize that plastic isn’t just an isolated problem that we can banish from our lives, but simply the most visible product of our past half-century of rampant consumption.” However, “in the much larger battle over climate change, the plastic backlash could end up being a small but energizing victory, a model for future action.” He concludes by quoting Richard Thompson who is “the oceanographer who coined the term microplastic”: “At no time in the past 30 years have we had a convergence like this . . . There’s a real chance to get this thing right.”
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Stephen Buranyi (November 13, 2018). “The plastic backlash: what’s behind our sudden rage – and will it make a difference?” The Guardian
