Perspectives
Perspectives On the Links Between Plastic, Air Pollution and Public Health
Plastic and air pollution is an ongoing issue that is affecting the climate crisis and public health. There are many organizations and individuals involved with fighting air pollution and reducing plastic consumption. To gain more information and awareness on plastic, air pollution and the links it has between public health we interviewed two knowledgeable individuals.
Interview with Health Policy Director at Beyond Plastic
Jacqueline Mejia: I was able to contact, sit down and get a chance to speak with Ms. Megan Wolff, a health policy director, from Beyond Plastic. Ms. Wolff has a doctorate in public health, a masters in public health and an accounting interest in environmental health and climate change. She has also been part of Beyond plastic for three years. Beyond plastic is a nationwide project based in Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont1. This group works with environmental policy experts to advocate and build”effective movements to end plastic pollution1“. In addition, Beyond Plastic’s mission is to “end plastic pollution everywhere” and educate the media, policymakers, and the public on the plastic pollution crisis1.
Ms. Wolff is knowledgeable and passionate about environmental health, climate change and plastic pollution. For this reason, I decided to meet and interview her on plastic and public health. During the interview she discussed how harmful plastic and air pollution is for the environment and public health. She mentioned how “we live in an market economy where we have been taught that plastic is both incredibly convenient and absolutely necessary for almost everything we do”. Although this is true, “about half of the plastic that is under production is single-use plastic” which lasts anywhere between 5 minutes to a year. This is a concern because single-use plastic is not recyclable and as a result we are “drowning in this substance, that was made as a forever material”. “Plastic is popular and useful but it doesn’t break drown” Ms. Wolff states. This is inconvenient because plastic is “turning up in blood, breast milk, human organs and the entire food web”. Plastic also becomes air pollution when we burn it; which turns plastic pollution into air pollution. Additionally, plastic is made up of chemicals and fossil carbons, “both of which are killing us”. The petrochemical companies that are being built and creating plastic are impacting the environment and our health. This is due to “chemicals, toxins and particulate matter that are spewing out” from these companies which are increasing cancer, hormonal disruption, asthma, and respiratory illness” says Ms Wolff. One way we can prevent future companies from producing plastic, such as Formosa Plastic, is to create/build stricter regulations and ensure “permit requirements are rigid, and more carefully adhered to”. “You can’t build it, if you can’t permit it and you shouldn’t permit it because it’s highly toxic” states Ms. Wolff. In addition, during the interview she discusses how education plays a crucial role in spreading awareness and reducing the air/ pollution within the community. Education helps to “amplify the message, get it across, and use social awareness to build support against plastic/air pollution.
Interview with Volunteer Coordinator from Southern Massachusetts Beach Cleanup Group:
Kerin Caldwell: I interviewed a member of “Be The Solution to Pollution” for their knowledge and opinion on the climate crisis and plastic pollution caused by chemical companies. They spoke about how the climate crisis is an ongoing issue that is only getting worse because these factories “repeatedly get approved, despite the major public health and global effects it has”. During the. interview she mentions a process called “fracking” that she describes as “shooting water into the ground with toxic chemicals” that then get released into “the air, the soil, and the water in affluent neighborhoods.” The owners of the petrochemical companies, and the state government disregard the wellbeing of the people that live by those factories and that is not right.
References:
1.) Beyond Plastics