The Climate Column Patrick Dunne

v: The Climate Column

A blue pill for the planet

Patrick Dunne

Plastic. Perhaps the most successful man-made material of all, and perhaps the most iconic product of the climate and ecological crisis. Plastic is everywhere: from individually wrapped fruit, to pacemakers; from the Pacific Ocean, to human placentas. In many ways it is a tremendous success story of human innovation, a versatile and incredibly useful— and cheap —substance. Plastic has created innumerable diversions for our entertainment, contributed to the flood of disposable clothing, and protected produce in our vast global food networks. We don't seem to be able to do without it.

But plastic is made from fossil fuels and is increasingly a product of fracking. It has been found in microparticle form in every part of the earth, every food chain, organism and habitat. It can choke, poison and corrupt. Plastic, as well as its by-products and production processes, has been linked to all manner of human health and ecological crises, from litter on beaches to cancers, infertility and illness.

Anyone who has attempted to identify, clean and separate their own household plastic knows how difficult it can be to dispose of. Imagine that multiplied by seven billion people and you can see the challenge we face. Huge amounts of plastic are shipped to China, Malaysia and elsewhere, as we in the UK and other industrialised countries offload our waste to less economically and politically powerful parts of the world, often using this practice to mask our emissions. But even as we send it away, we can’t get away from it. Even our gardens are full of plastics: from pots, trays and labels to packaging for plants, seeds and compost. If you have used compost made from recycled garden waste, or dug over an urban allotment, then you will know how much plastic is now in the soil. It is in everything, everywhere.

Attitudes to plastic are changing. It litters almost every beach, forest and mountain on earth, and as a result is the target of every litterpicking and beach-cleaning environmental action group. Campaigns against single-use plastics are popular and easy to communicate to an increasingly aware public. Plastic-free shops and products are springing up to offer meaningful alternatives to this poisonous (literally) and toxic (politically) product. So, will we see less plastic soon, perhaps?

Perhaps not.

The fossil fuel industry has no plans to put itself out of business. Nor do governments appear to have serious plans to address demand for plastic products or the consumption of disposable items (which themselves depend on plastic-choked supply systems). As oil companies look to a future with less demand for petrol, they are keen to identify markets where they can still sell their products, and plastics is a market they are investing in. Heavily.

Fracking has made plastic production cheaper, and international supply chains, Western farming models, fast fashion and disposable consumerism are driving demand. Plastic is central to so-called ‘aspirational’ lifestyles, and companies are planning for increased demand in the coming decades. (Yet still they promote their Net Zero plans? More on this in future columns...)

Who, then, will be responsible for ending plastics? Who is going to dismantle the most powerful industry and lobbying force on earth? It is not going to be the communities on the Niger Delta, or Parkersburg, West Virginia, but the politicians, CEOs and industry leaders in London, Washington and Beijing. Let’s remember that the vast majority of these powerful individuals are men. What could force such men to take action to both reduce plastic and profits?

Pink News ran a story this month with the headline ‘Human penises are shrinking because of polution’, stating: 'It all comes down to phthalates, a chemical used in manufacturing plastics.' Is this shrinkage the threat that will prompt some action at last? After all, it is often said that, if men menstruated or experienced childbirth, there would have been medical, technological and social interventions generations ago to ease births and to manage period pain and endometriosis, and that our entire society from work to care would look radically different. The blue pill was developed for male sexual dysfunction at huge research and development cost, while female-centred medicine continues to lag behind. The pollution and plastic crises have been ignored despite threatening the entire living biosphere— perhaps a threat to global manhood will at last generate a global response. A blue pill for the planet would be an unexpectedly welcome outcome of toxic (or plastic) masculinity.

Of course, changing economic priorities, raising voices from the global south and prioritising the natural world over consumerism would be better than an ego-driven tech/pharma fix to really address the plastic problem, but perhaps this new angle will provide some stimulation to action.