We Inherit The Sins of Our Fathers and Mothers

Jake was preparing to deliver his sales pitch to the UN. It was not what he thought he would ever do, but he did not have a choice. He had been driven to think the unthinkable, imagine the unimaginable, and deal with the unscrupulous, untenable movement of society, that had been based on false economy for over 100 years. He focused on his 3-minute presentation for Global Improvement Future Technologies, GIFT. They were being endorsed by the Forums on Sustainable Development, Climate Change and Human health.

Circumstances release a rare genius. Intelligent and trained individuals risk developing an idea, then accept unexpected consequences. Most experts agree that there is no stopping innovative thought. American scientists, originating in Europe, involved in the Manhattan project, argued that if they had the knowledge to develop the nuclear bomb, so did Germany, Japan and the Soviets. These same scientists worked to have nuclear bombs banned. The use of nuclear bombs resolved a problem in the short term but left a long-lasting mark.

Humans do not always foresee rational consequences. When birth control was developed, the benefits of planned parenthood and sexual freedom usurped centuries of religious and social traditions. The effects of urine, containing chemicals from birth control, causing estrogenic changes that lead to gender changes within fish, and affect human long-term fertility and reproductive cancers, was not imagined. Risk assessment was driven by the masses, who favoured the advantages of birth control, and did not consider the possibility of harmful low levels chemicals accumulating over time.

The sons and daughters of the future have always needed to pay for the sins of their fathers and mothers, who failed to consider unforeseen consequences, unexpected costs and sacrifices to future generations.

Using plastic to acquire short term profits at the expense of the future has jeopardized the stability of the exploding global population. In 1907, Leo Baekeland invented Bakelite, the first fully synthetic plastic, that contained no molecules found in nature. It was used as an electrical insulator and met the needs of the rapidly electrifying world.

During the World Wars, plastic Plexiglas was used for airplanes and nylon for parachutes, ropes and armour. Since the World Wars, marketing has created a new form of inequality based on the concept that faster, cheaper and more defines progress and wealth. This has spawned ironic challenges that mirror today’s dilemmas.

Plastics are an adaptable, cheap and affordable alternative to wood, steel, paper and glass. In the 1960’s, the movie, The Graduate, Mr. McGuire tells the hero Benjamin, “ There's a great future in plastics. Think about it. Will you think about it?”

Many truth-seeking youth consider that plastic is synonymous with false, bogus, synthetic, lifeless, and artificial. There have often been moral power struggles between youth who oppose the older generation, generalized as corrupt, greedy, warmongering materialists. However, legislating the use and manufacturing of plastics, which now wrap many things, even vegetables and fruits, including bananas, the perfectly wrapped fruit, has become imperative.

Plastic production has increased exponentially, from 2.3 million tons in 1950 to 448 million tons in 2015. During this time more than 7,800 million tons of plastics were produced, resulting in approximately 6,300 million tons of waste, mostly from single use plastics. The Pacific Trash Vortex, known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, has two vortices of debris collecting in the western and easter marine limits in the North Pacific Ocean.

Plastics degrade by ultraviolet radiation, microwaves, acidity and salinity into microplastics. Microplastics have physicochemical characteristic that allow them to become resistant to environmental degradation. They accumulate in large quantities in the terrestrial ecosystem, then eventually pollute oceans, rivers and lakes. As the toxins become ingested, they accumulate through the food chain endangering marine life and ecosystems and persist even after death.

People consume about 50,000 particles of microplastics every year. Low (picomolar to nanomolar) doses of microplastics have been detected in nearly every part of the human body, including blood, brain, lungs, testicles the placenta and breast milk.

Microplastics are associated with lung inflammation, lung cancer, childhood obesity, and reduced learning and memory. Plastics mimic and alter the hormones estrogen and testosterone in fetal and juvenile mammals, leading to reproductive issues and low sperm count. Yet plastics are still used.

GIFT is involved in the development of the Global Plastic Treaty, that will establish ways to reduce the increasing costs of plastic to the environment and health.

We are taking a multi-prong attack on plastics, first by encouraging social change through incentives to use groundbreaking technology that can let individuals, corporations and organizations find cost effective ways to deal with plastics.

GIFT is involved in lobbying for new global laws that will make companies responsible to provide replacement parts for appliances. Dishwasher hoses are backordered for over a year, encouraging dishwasher replacement. We are mandating companies guarantee replacement parts for 15 years. We are past the point of permitting built in obsolescence.

Furthermore, GIFT has developed a laser cutting and printing apparatus that can use recycled plastics to make custom designed commodities. Unlike gold, silver, nickel and paper, recycling plastic is more expensive than making new plastic. However, companies will no longer be allowed to use back orders as an excuse not to replace parts.

GIFT is also coordinating research into biodegradable alternatives to petroleum-based plastic, that include using seaweed, methane, mushrooms, milk. cornstarch and sugar and agricultural byproducts.

However, GIFT is working to stopping a disposable lifestyle by incentives to reduce purchases, rethink needs, and reuse what is not needed by redesigning products with reclaimed materials. GIFT remembers that every small change can have a big impact.

Finally, GIFT is addressing the long-term problems caused by existing plastic. Certified recycling centers will be monitored at the planning, execution, data reporting and Meta-Analyses stages. Analysis will be done on microbial enzymatic biodegradation of 34 different bacterial genera and 63 species that can decompose microplastic in various sediments, including wastewater, landfill deposits, sanitary landfills, sewage residues, and soil.

The potential for bioremediation through the biodegradation definitely holds unknown challenges that we must be willing to accept. We cannot anticipate the effects of plastic eating bacteria entering into the drinking water.

Microorganisms make up about 1 to 3 percent of the body's mass and play a vital role in human health. We may become hosts for the plastic consuming bacteria. The bacteria's inherent ability to break down long-chain fatty acids, could destroy resident microplastics in the body and have unknown effects.

GIFT will take all possible precautions to redeem the problems that plastics have cost to our world. We recognize there are risks, but also know that doing nothing guarantees dire consequences for the future.