COSTALES, John Raymart A. Ms.

Apple Kaye Vera

BSME 2A Science, Technology, and Society

Activity 7: Biodiversity and the Healthy Society

Film Title: Plastic Pollution: How Humans Are Turning the World into Plastic

As a student, I have gained more knowledge about how the world has been transformed as
we depend ourselves more with plastics. The entire way of our life has changed by it as plastics
allowed innovation that improves existing products and create new ones that improve the quality
of life without thinking that it may have an environmental impact. Back then, I used plastics a lot
because they are convenient and cheaper than any other kind of food packaging. But I have now
realized that I was not fully aware of its disadvantage, especially in our environment. Thinking of it
makes me feel worried so maybe I should start on using materials that’s eco-friendly in order to
lessen the increasing amount of plastic waste.

Throughout this semester, science, technology, and research has helped me gain more
knowledge that can help me not just as a student but as an individual as well. Nowadays, one of the
most significant environmental problem is plastic pollution. Plastics are synthetic polymers which
means that they are lightweight, durable and can be molded into almost any shape. Basically,
plastics does not require manual works as they can be easily mass-produced which means they are
unlimited today. Through watching the video, I had learned that there are several types of plastic.
Each of them has different uses and produces different things. This means that plastics are
everywhere, and it takes 500 to 1000 years before we can break it down. But aside from knowing
it’s benefits, I should also know some of its disadvantages and how it deeply affects the environment.
I learned that there were 275 million metric tons (MT) of plastic produced in 192 coastal countries
way back in 2010 and 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons (MT) of that went into the ocean. I read in some
news and posts via social media that animals were in danger because they mistakenly or forcedly
ate plastics. According to the video, in 2015 already 90% of seabirds had eaten plastics and in 2018
a dead sperm whale washed up in Spain because he had eaten 32 kilos of plastic bags and etc. Those
plastics were not just floating and piling up along the seashore, it’s also consumed by different
creatures living in the ocean. This situation might lead to another problem about keeping those
wilds or endangered species from extinction. Next, we should also be more aware of micro plastics
as it can also harm humans because they are the results of floating waste from the ocean that is
constantly exposed to UV radiation. It can crumble into smaller pieces and eaten by fishes till we
can consume it also by eating them. Lastly, many countries developed at a remarkable pace in the
last few decades which results to transforming the lives of billions of people. But this change seems
so fast that the waste disposal infrastructure couldn’t keep up with collecting and recycling all the
waste came from those countries.

Each of us bring different insights while watching the video and it’s also interesting to
realized and point out messages that was not included in the said video. This topic had marked
different impressions on me as it conveys different message and learnings as I know about more
plastics and how it can deeply impact our environment. We can actually do our part in helping the
environment all over the world by lessening the plastic waste we produce daily. To minimize plastic
waste, we can try buying items without plastic packaging as we can always clean the items before
keeping them in a storage. We should also be responsible for the proper disposal of our trash and
must know the 3R’s. I’ve learned that this topic, plastic pollution, proves that the only constant in
the world is change so maybe we can turn the table around one day by transforming ourselves into
an individual who deeply cares about our environment. It makes me believe that this information
are some keys that’ll help me in order to do my daily tasks, study better, and become a future
engineer someday.

Kienapple, B., Kienapple, B., & Kienapple, B. (2020, April 22). Coronavirus's Impact on the
Environment [Infographic]. Retrieved May 19, 2020, from
https://venngage.com/blog/coronavirus-impact-on-environment-infographic/#2