When’USS Enterprise appeared on our screens more than half a century ago, science fiction works were full of characters in search of new spatial horizons, their authors enjoying imagining what the future could look like. look like.
Having played one of these space protagonists for almost 30 years in Star TrekI have a message to convey to leaders around the world: imagine a future without plastic.
If Captain James Kirk visited Earth today, he would probably call it the plastic planet. From the highest mountains to the deepest ocean trenches, to the air we breathe and the blood that flows through our bodies, this eternal substance has proven to be the ultimate winner in the race through time and space. ‘space. Plastic waste and microplastics in the oceans can now be seen from space.
The amount of plastic produced worldwide has increased from around 15 million tonnes to more than 300 million tonnes over the past fifty years. In terms of animals, we have produced the equivalent of 80 million plastic blue whales since the 1950s.
What started out as an astonishing invention has turned into a global crisis. The amount of plastic produced worldwide has increased from around 15 million tonnes to more than 300 million tonnes over the past fifty years. In terms of animals, we have produced the equivalent of 80 million plastic blue whales since the 1950s. How many spaceships could we fill with all that plastic?
I wish I could say this is all science fiction, but it’s not.
Reality speaks for itself. Of all the plastic produced each year in Canada and elsewhere in the world, only about 9% is recycled. The rest ends up in our landfills, our incinerators, our waterways, our parks and inside our bodies, strangling animals as they pass by. Marginalized communities, including Indigenous communities in Canada, face disproportionate health impacts from plastic pollution, often due to proximity to petrochemical facilities where plastic is manufactured.
As the transition to clean energy threatens the oil and gas industry’s profits, it is turning to plastic production as its lifeline. After all, 99% of plastics are made from fossil fuels. The oil-plastic pipeline is real and flowing. In fact, if the industry has its way, plastic production could triple by 2050.
But we have an exceptional opportunity to put an end to this and focus on solutions that match the crisis. Solutions such as reducing plastic production to keep oil and gas in the ground and keep global warming below 1.5°C, especially since plastic pollutes at every stage of its cycle. life. Solutions like abandoning the myth of recycling and establishing accessible and more viable reuse systems that leave no one behind. Solutions that center, affirm and defend the rights of indigenous communities and pave the way for a just, plastic-free future.
This is what will be at stake during the meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4) in Ottawa, namely the meeting where a global plastics treaty will be negotiated. This is the fourth session in a series of five, and time is running out. In a few weeks, governments will have to defend solutions based on science and justice: the treaty must reduce plastic production and end single-use plastics to solve this global crisis.
It starts with Canada. As host country, our federal government has the responsibility and opportunity to reinvigorate the negotiations and set ambitious goals. And he is well placed to do so. He has already given his support to greater protection of the sea and the land, to climate commitments and to the objective of zero waste by 2030. He must now deploy this commitment on a global scale and rally other countries to achieve a strong treaty that will help achieve these goals.
Like the resolute captain I played, Canada and other countries must stay the course, even if they face powerful opposition. And they must be guided by the strong majority of people concerned about the environmental impact of plastic pollution and in favor of urgent and bold action to put an end to it.
CIN-4 will be an opportunity for governments to choose their side. Will they side with industry or communities? Will people and the planet prevail over plastic? More than 48,000 people in Canada and 2.2 million people around the world have already made their choice. And you know as much as I do what Captain James Kirk would choose.