Plastic is probably the most visible and physical sign of pollution, and is an unmitigated risk in well identified parts of the world. Yet activists in Western Civilization ignore relevant data and love to engage in selfie moments that do not produce results apart from fascinating, self-back-patting stories that are shared within their friendly circles. The recent swimming exercise to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by Ben Lecomte was another attempt at shining a spotlight on the monumental problem of plastic pollution in our oceans.

Awareness-raising is another priority. Ben Lecomte says his face-to-face experience with the Pacific’s garbage has prompted him to reduce his consumption of plastic. He hopes that by revealing what’s going on “below the surface” he can “inspire people to stop using single-use plastic and to rethink the way we live.”

Having read the entire article, that generic appeal for plastic usage reduction is the typical all-encompassing directive that fails to identify the major source of the problem, and fails to solve the problem’s root cause.

Let’s state it upfront: It’s a cultural issue and Western Civilization is hardly the problem as it relates to plastic pollution in Earth’s oceans. The WEF—World Economic Forum—put forth this headline in 2018: “90% of plastic polluting our oceans comes from just 10 rivers.”

By analyzing the waste found in the rivers and surrounding landscape, researchers were able to estimate that just 10 river systems carry 90% of the plastic that ends up in the ocean. Eight of them are in Asia: the Yangtze; Indus; Yellow; Hai He; Ganges; Pearl; Amur; Mekong; and two in Africa – the Nile and the Niger.
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The rivers all had two things in common; a generally high population living in the surrounding region – sometimes into the hundreds of millions – and a less than ideal waste management process.

Yet the information shared by the WEF was nowhere to be found in the Lecomte story, with the editorial decision most likely driven by the social disease of the century: Political Correctness, which shields the inept.

For the record, blaming trash export from developed countries to the undeveloped world is a red herring, and there’s no claim that exported plastic waste finds its way to the oceans. Corruption and sheer incompetence by importers may be cause for concern, but we can always sing the popular song “All men are created equal…” which is ignored when it doesn’t fit the agenda.

And that brings us to the root cause of the problem as the map titled “Plastic waste produced and mismanaged” so clearly illustrates in red. Western Civilization’s mass consumption of plastic is definitely not the culprit, but rather the mismanagement of plastic waste by virtually everyone else, which is a cultural issue. Thus the logical penalty must be that a person in Seattle cannot use a plastic straw because someone in Indonesia dumped 10 pounds of plastic bottles into a river? Seriously?

Let’s stipulate that reducing plastic consumption is a great idea, but the people behind laws that ban plastic straws, such as California, want to be viewed as knights in shining armor that are saving our planet, when in fact they’re literally attacking a wildfire from 7,000 miles away with a thin, 3-foot garden hose. Then political celebrations take place with confetti and disposable champagne glasses, because it’s more about being trendy and cool than being right.

Western Civilization, the favorite playground for holier-than-thou activists of all stripes, can be easily browbeaten and finger-pointed to death, leading to an uncontrollable feeling of guilt. However, Lecomte should swim to China and accuse Asia and Africa of plastic pollution wrongdoing. Nah! Not only would that be very racist, bigoted and xenophobic—the convenient defense of all time—but brave activists fear having a chopstick or a spear stuck in their eye.

We can’t solve problems without honestly identifying the root cause, regardless of the emotional impact. Always look for the common denominator, and here’s the inconvenient dot for the big picture: It’s always about the people.

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