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Hydronarratives: The Confluence of Water and Environmental Justice

The Ubiquitous Killer

What can you expect from plastics? This question was asked in an advertisement by Dow Plastics back in 1944, when plastics were seen as the future due to their “magical” qualities. The Second World War was drawing to a close at this time, and the world was eagerly anticipating the advancement of a rebuilt society. Homes, cars, and even clothes would be the great progeny of this wonderful material, and its ease of manufacture and low cost of production made it all but certain that plastic was the substance of the future. Eighty years have passed since this bold and rather arrogant claim, and one can see that plastics are actually a horror, not a miracle. As a result of the aggressive lobbying in the past, plastics have unfortunately become an integral part of our everyday lives. Upon examining the advertisement with what we know now, one can almost see it as a warning, but alas it is too late. The “glowing predictions” that we would be living in a “plastic world” have come true, but not in the idealized way that we would have thought. Microplastics have infiltrated our world and our bodies, however this pollution, while ubiquitous, is not distributed equally.

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