Climate Literacy and Plastic Pollution

What Is Climate Literacy? 

Climate literacy is understanding how our actions affect the climate, how the climate impacts us and the steps we can take to address climate change (NAAEE). Many of us are familiar with climate change and its impacts on humans, the environment and the health of our planet, but what does plastic pollution have to do with climate change and climate literacy? 

Plastic Pollution and Climate Change 

Plastic is made from petrochemicals, aka fossil fuels, which account for 80% of global greenhouse gas emissions (IEA, 2023). The entire lifecycle of plastics, from creation to incineration, releases millions of tons of GHGs into the atmosphere, which is a challenge to keeping earth’s temperature rise below 1.5C. In 2019, the lifecycle of plastic contributed 850 million metric tons of GHGs into our atmosphere and is projected to double by 2050 (CIEL, 2019). That means that by 2050, plastic production will leave us only 13% of the remaining carbon budget (Geneva Environmental Network, 2024).  

Image taken from the Center for International Environmental Law (link).

Microplastics: Small Pieces, Big Problem 

In the environment, plastic does not degrade. It breaks down into microplastics which are small pieces of plastic measuring 5mm or smaller. Microplastics leech harmful chemicals into lakes, rivers, and oceans and are often mistaken for food and ingested by fish, birds and mammals, which can lead to starvation. They also impact the ocean’s carbon sink by interrupting phytoplankton photosynthesis, one of the most significant ways carbon gets removed from our atmosphere and released as oxygen (Yoshitaki et al., 2023).  

When We Know Better, We Do Better 

With the knowledge of how plastic pollution and microplastics impact our warming climate, we become more climate literate. With our newfound understanding, we can become climate-conscious in our daily lives through simple and long-term actions. Here are some actions we can all take:

1. Education: Knowledge is power! Educating friends, family, students or colleagues about plastic pollution climate impacts is a great way to be a change catalyst. 
2. Behaviour: Change starts with each of us. While we might not be able to tackle global plastic pollution individually, our actions matter. Reducing single-use plastic consumption, switching to reusable packaging, or opting for natural fibre clothing are simple ways to start changing our behaviours to be climate-conscious.  
3. Increase Data: One of the most effective ways to tackle plastic pollution is to provide more data. The more we know about global plastic pollution, the more actions we can take to address sources and solutions. Microplastic data also unveils clues to how plastic pollution enters our environment. Ocean Diagnostics created Community Science and Educational Toolkits to provide students, researchers, community scientists and the public with ways to help stop plastic pollution at the source. By collecting data in your local community, you can help to tackle local solutions and fill in global data gaps. 

Understanding how our actions impact the climate and knowing the steps we can take to reduce them is the pillar of climate literacy, and plastic pollution is something we can all work to stop. Learn more about plastic pollution and microplastics here or start a project in your community.