Earth Children Global
Education. Conservation. Transformation.

The problem with plastic...

The island of Bali is very beautiful and the sophisticated waterway system for irrigating the rice fields throughout Bali has long been studied. The rural lifestyle of the Balinese in the past included throwing away organic packaging materials wherever, because the packaging of yesteryear was made of organic materials. This worked fine until the introduction of plastics, brought to the island by Westerners.

The Balinese have not been concerned about the discard of plastics throughout the island until recently, as the mindset of the Balinese did not include the heavy use of plastics in the old days. What worked for hundreds of years now does not work. It has now become a huge problem in the waterways. Also there is a second major problem in the burning of plastics throughout the island. It is common practice throughout the island to burn plastic materials in many of the villages. The burning of plastic materials releases toxins detrimental to the air quality of Bali and is quite prevalent.
Now we have a situation in which there is well more than 60 tears worth of plastic discard throughout the island. It is creating all kinds of health issues that the Balinese must now address.

The Balinese are not alone in this tragic unfoldment. The whole world shares this problem - it is just a little more apparent in Bali than Western countries. We got here through the improper use and disposal of plastic throughout Bali and throughout the world.

Plastic waste is a massive problem in marine and other aquatic environments, as aquatic life can be threatened through entanglement, suffocation, and ingestion. Plastic rubbish discarded into waterways can travel huge distances, with not only local but global consequences. In the ocean environment plastic waste is devastating, resulting in the deaths of turtles, whales, seals and at least 100,000 birds every year.
When an animal dies from ingesting or entanglement in plastic waste its body either decomposes or is consumed by other wildlife. The plastic is then released back into the ecosystem where it can result in more deaths.

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