Plastic waste

The crisis piece I’ll write 10 years from now

We're building an enormous plastics problem.

You may remember that in 2018 some prominent scientists gave us a 12 year deadline to fix climate change.


I'm more certain of this bit of environmental punditry than I've been about anything in my life: In the year 2030, American policymakers will have finally caught up to the notion that climate change is every bit the existential crisis that many of us already know it to be.

But I fear a decade on we'll still be nowhere close to caught up to the notion that we're building an enormous plastics crisis.

Sharp reporters, including our own Kristina Marusic, are on to the oil and gas industry's efforts to prolong its own life. Massive projects aiming to turn fracked gas into plastics are on the books for Western Pennsylvania and Louisiana's "Cancer Alley" Chemical Corridor.

Shell Chemical's $6 billion plastic pellets plant in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, will guarantee jobs for decades in the hard-hit region. It will also guarantee a whopping increase in carbon emissions and a lifeline for the oil and gas industry, while providing a primary source of plastic.

In St. James Parish, Louisiana, local activists continue a pitched battle against a $9.4 billion Formosa Plastics plant along the Mississippi. Both promise to extend the lives of oil, gas, and plastic, despite compelling environmental arguments that all three should be fading out.

What else will we still be exhuming ourselves from in 10 years?

  • The failure of recycling: One of the biggest end-markets for recycled paper has been newsprint. The Pew Research Center estimates that daily newspaper circulation has halved since the 1980's, and if, unlike me, you still pick one up every day, you know the paper is less than half its former size. For years, plastics recyclers have relied on shipping plastic waste to operations in Africa and Asia (particularly China). Now, plastics designated for recycling bins often ends up in the landfill or municipal incinerator. Recycling has long served to assuage many Americans' guilt that driving an SUV six miles one-way to the recycling center will guarantee them a seat in eco-heaven at the feet of St. Francis of Assissi and Rachel Carson.
  • The durability of denial: Facts and logic are often poor weapons against denial. Don't expect climate deniers, COVID-19 deniers, or anti-vaxxers, to ever completely go away. Just look at how heavily the Republicans leaned on Socialist "Red Scare" ad themes from 60 years ago, or racist ads that smacked of the 1988 Willie Horton ads that helped sink Michael Dukakis.
  • Mitigating circumstance: The fever has finally broken on Donald Trump. I'm predicting that his 2024 comeback attempt draws less support than his losing 2020 run, for which he still has not conceded. His choice of the ever-popular and effervescent then-103 year-old Betty White as his 2024 running mate won't likely help. Just kidding, of course she would help.

Peter Dykstra is our weekend editor and columnist and can be reached at pdykstra@ehn.org or @pdykstra.

His views do not necessarily represent those of Environmental Health News, The Daily Climate or publisher, Environmental Health Sciences.

Banner photo credit: Sabrina Raaf/flickr

Senator Whitehouse & climate change

Senator Whitehouse puts climate change on budget committee’s agenda

For more than a decade, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse gave daily warnings about the mounting threat of climate change. Now he has a powerful new perch.

Could giving youth a voice in politics help fix climate change?

‘Look at the mess we’re in — they’ll inherit this,’ says NDP MP Gord Johns.
Orphaned & inactive oil wells
Joseph Gage/Flickr/Commercial use & mods allowed

Orphaned oil wells are one problem; inactive wells are potentially much bigger

Crews plugged 100 orphaned oil wells last week, but even that rapid pace isn't enough to keep up with the problem in Louisiana.
seed diversity climate farming food
Photo by Anil Sharma on Unsplash

How seed diversity can help protect our food as the world warms

A new documentary explores the dangers that climate change poses to agriculture — and the seed savers who are working to make food systems more resilient.
charlottesville climate energy efficiency
Image by JamesDeMers from Pixabay

Community grants help Virginia small businesses trim energy costs – without the red tape

Charlottesville-based Community Climate Collaborative’s latest grant program is helping minority-owned small businesses pay for energy efficient appliances and lighting.

Jimmy Carter legacy on energy efficiency, environment, and climate

Carter was “the first president to pass a law on energy efficiency standards that had teeth,” says Jay Hakes, a former administrator of the Energy Information Administration and former director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library.

‘Half-baked, half-hearted’: critics deride UK’s long-awaited climate strategy

The UK’s new energy plan unveiled on Thursday is a missed opportunity full of “half-baked, half-hearted” policies that do not go far enough to power Britain’s climate goals, according to green business groups and academics.

From our Newsroom
Partha Dasgupta economics of nature

An economist's 'answer to everything.' Hint: It takes nature

Economist Partha Dasgupta takes issue with our failure to account for the cost of Earth's destruction

oil and gas wells pollution

What happens if the largest owner of oil and gas wells in the US goes bankrupt?

Diversified Energy’s liabilities exceed its assets, according to a new report, sparking concerns about whether taxpayers will wind up paying to plug its 70,000 wells.

Paul Ehrlich

Paul Ehrlich: A journey through science and politics

In his new book, the famous scientist reflects on an unparalleled career on our fascinating, ever-changing planet.

oil and gas california environmental justice

Will California’s new oil and gas laws protect people from toxic pollution?

California will soon have the largest oil drilling setbacks in the U.S. Experts say other states can learn from this move.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.