Inconvenient Dream, 2023

•

I N C O N V E N I E N T
D R E A M

plastic

/ˈplastɪk/

noun

a synthetic material made from a wide range of organic polymers such as polyethylene, PVC, nylon, etc., that can be moulded into shape while soft, and then set into a rigid or slightly elastic form.

adjective

made of plastic.

not genuine; artificial or unnatural.

Similar: artificial

Opposite: genuine

We produce 400 million tonnes of plastic waste every year. That’s 400,000,000,000 kilograms of plastic—equivalent to the weight of the human population.

These plastics break into fragments, which disintegrate into microplastics, then into nanoplastics which are invisible to the naked eye. However, these particles never fully decompose, and they spread literally everywhere. Microplastics are now be found in polar ice in the Antarctic and in the deepest ocean floors. We ingest them on a daily basis; there’s no escaping them.

75% of human breastmilk is now laced with microplastics as is 80% of human blood. Microplastics have also been found in the placentas of unborn babies. Although research is still in its infancy, the ingestion of microplastics has been linked to endocrine disruption, weight gain, insulin resistance, decreased reproductive health, and cancer in adults, and developmental disorders in embryos.

This is the plastic reality we have created from the dream of convenience.