KIDS
Pollution’s effects are not only affecting humans, it’s also
THESE
DAYS
“Kids these days”
phrase being
used in the
wrong context,
when not
looking at the
bigger picture
I hate the phrase “kids these
days.” Saying “oh, kids these
days” undermines an entire
generation of thoughtful, in-
telligent and creative children.
Would it be okay if I walked
into a nursing home and said,
“Oh ew, the elderly these days”?
No, obviously it wouldn’t be
because that’s rude and encom-
passes a whole group of people
who could be very different
than the specific group that I
was examining in that particular
instance.
“Kids these days” are living
on a melting planet.
“Kids these days” live with
the threat of being shot at every
time they walk into school.
“Kids these days” are expe-
riencing the world like no other
generation has.
Maybe I’m biased. Yes, of
course every generation is dif-
ferent, and has faced different
challenges. But you can’t deny
it, there is something differ-
ent about growing up in a time
where the Earth is a ticking time
bomb and you are told every day
that you and your generation
are suddenly in charge of fixing
race relations, political polariza-
tion, a broken social security sys-
tem and also getting your math
homework done on time. Again,
yes, every generation has had
their problems to fix, but most
of those weren’t created by peo-
ple who are going to die before
they have to solve them.
When someone complains
about “those damn kids,” they
are talking about the first gen-
4 OPINION
Guest Opinion
Jalen Greene
eration post-Columbine. The
first generation with a black
president. The first generation
in which climate change could
become irreversible. Not only
that- these are the kids who have
created some of the most pow-
erful student-led movements in
history.
For example, The March
for Our Lives, School Strike for
Climate, the resurrection of the
Youth NAACP, and even aspects
of the well-known #MeToo
movement were sparked by
young girls (and boys) speaking
up about their stories. These
movements are not just things
that kids are doing so that politi-
Illustration by Nick Rice
Illustration by Nick Rice
cians and world leaders will look
down at and pat them on the
head. They are doing them for
the pure reason that they believe
that is what’s right.
These are kids who have
grown up on dystopian novels
and anti-government sentiment.
They all believe that in some way
that they are the Katniss or the
Harry of their generation. You
cannot raise a group of young
people on rebellion-themed lit-
erature and expect them to stand
down when they see something
that threatens what they believe
in.
Personally, I have sat in class-
rooms with students my age
from upwards of ten different
countries and talked about the
issues we see in the world. While
those issues may differ from per-
son to person, one thing is obvi-
ous: the kids talking about them
believe they have the power to
make change. Their statements
are not “I wish I could… ” but
rather “I have plans to… ” I
believe that this idealism, this
hardheadedness is what will, for
lack of better phrasing, “save the
world.”
IT’S BETTER IF IT’S BIODEGRADABLE
changing the animal population
Pollution is a major issue
in the world today. In every
country, in every ocean, there
are numerous heaps of gar-
bage dumped into landfills that
quickly migrate into the multiple
bodies of water. Animals misin-
terpret the waste as food, think-
ing it will replenish their starv-
ing stomachs, while in reality the
“food” is slowly killing them.
Creatures who travel to the sur-
face of the water or near shores
get trapped in the mountains of
trash and can not escape. The
United Nations focus group
on Marine Pollution estimates
that about 80 percent of marine
pollution comes from landfills,
while “60 to 95 percent of the
waste being plastics debris”
Therefore, this proves that all
the plastic bags, straws, and wa-
ter bottles are gradually destroy-
ing our planet along with the
homes of multiple, unique spe-
cies. If one of the most press-
ing problems is plastic, then why
not try to decrease the amount
of this material produced, or at
least change the material used to
make plastic?
More recently, according to
the Ellen MacArthur Founda-
tion, a handful of companies
are starting to transition to
compostable or biodegradable
plastic like Ecover, Pepsico and
L’Oréal. When more and more
corporations begin to follow in
these footsteps, pollution in the
oceans, on land, and in the air
will decrease to make our envi-
ronment healthier.
Sadly the numerous amount
of plastic produced today
doesn’t decompose, and is left
circling the globe harming the
Opinion
Addy Wachter
worlds animals as it goes.
Along with taking a long
time to break down, plastic con-
tributes to air pollution. Toxic
materials like benzene and vinyl
hydrochloride help create the
product but also cause cancer
and once emitted into the atmo-
sphere, pollute the air and soil.
In order to make the material
soft and easily pliable, another
chemical called phthalate is add-
ed. The World Count writes that
plastic“is known to affect our
fertility, disrupt our endocrine
glands, birth defects and other
health problems” .
Cost is a crucial concern
for some businesses that do
not have a lot of money. The
company cycleWood Solutions
estimates that their new prod-
uct called the Xylobag, made
of compostable plastic, will
“cost roughly 1.5 cents per unit
compared with 1.2 cents for
traditional plastic bags”. Over
time, this will add up. However,
we would spend less money on
cleanup programs and produc-
tion because there would be very
little waste to cleanup and the
energy used to create the prod-
ucts would decrease, evening out
May 23, 2019, www.bucsblade.com
the price.
According to Connectus
Funds, corporations would “no
longer need to go through the
processes of finding, accessing,
and transporting hydrocarbons
to create plastic items using this
technology”, meaning fewer fos-
sil fuels would be burned, work-
ers would consume less from the
air, and the amount of contami-
nants being released would go
down.
When an object is biodegrad-
able, it decomposes naturally
and becomes a part of the earth.
On the other hand, compostable
items are capable of decompos-
ing by undergoing a different
process called microbial fermen-
tation. These items are “derived
generally from renewable raw
materials… not hazardous in
production and decompose back
into carbon dioxide, water, bio-
mass, etc.” says World Centric.
Studies have shown that it takes
about three to six months for
both decomposition processes
to finish. That may seem like
forever but compared to perpet-
ual piles of plastic sitting there
for thousands of years, wouldn’t
you rather have it gone after
those few, short months?
Flipping a switch from tra-
ditional plastic to biodegradable
and compostable plastic is unre-
alistic. Although, if society tried
to make that gradual change
over time, this planet would not
continue to lose precious, living
creatures or clear, blue waters.
Instead, the number of deadly
mounds of waste would drop,
our lungs would fill with fresh,
clean air, and animals would
have safe homes to live in.
Illustration by Sophia Jaeger