How you can make a positive environmental impact by lessening your dependence on plastics

By Mariah Waters, ‘18, Guest Writer

Most people may not know that the average American produces around 185 pounds of plastic every single year, according to EcoWatch.

When you start putting calculations into play you will find that America creates more trash and plastic waste than we know what to do with. Though it can be concluded that our country is not the only one to blame, simply because trash and plastic waste is everywhere, I believe that the mindset every individual should have is “It starts with me”.

You may ask yourself, “where do I even start?” Here are a few items that I use in my day-to-day life: A reusable water bottle to eliminate the usage of plastic water bottles, reusable shopping bags to replace ones from the grocery store, metal straws, and my ToGoWare which is a small bamboo utensil set that can be clipped onto any bag (silverware from your home works just as well).

There are so many other ways to prevent litter and plastic from filling our oceans and streets. All it takes is research and applying simple changes to your everyday life. If plastic waste decreased the loss of marine life would be significantly restored.

Some may not think that things like this won’t make a difference, but I genuinely believe that it will. The students at Texas A&M University at Galveston should especially consider this because we live by the ocean, which all life depends on.

According to EcoWatch,“Eighty percent of pollution enters the ocean from the land.” Things like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch are a testament to the mounds of garbage that are constantly disregarded.

Marine life die every single day because of the waste we produce, I definitely think it’s worth it to try and make a difference, even if it’s a small one.