Viewpoint – Ocean Plastic Pollution: a convenient but distracting truth?

Richard Stafford and Peter JS Dr Jones

No fu5dp, MarXiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: Ocean plastic is a contemporary focal point of concern for the marine environment. However, we argue there are bigger issues to address, including climate change and overfishing. Plastic has become a focus in the media and public domains partly through the draw of simple lifestyle changes, such as reusable water bottles, and partly through the potential to provide ‘quick fix’ technological solutions to plastic pollution, such as large scale marine clean-up operations and new ‘biodegradable’ plastic substitutes. As such, ocean plastic can provide a convenient truth that distracts us from the need for more radical changes to our behavioural, political and economic systems, addressing which will help address larger marine environmental issues, as well as the cause of plastic pollution, i.e. over-consumption.

Date: 2019-02-21
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:marxiv:fu5dp

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/fu5dp

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