Indeed. As a silver lining though, more and more I see people engaging in conversations that take a closer look at how we live our lives, from what we consume, to why we consume things, to how we consume them, and what all of that means for the societies we live in and the world as a greater whole. It seems like there really is a growing awareness on how our behavior impacts the world and a genuine desire to set things right.
Plastics are the biggest problem imo. The Ocean Cleanup (Hubski won't allow me to provide a link because I'm a new user) will help once it works through its kinks. The problem right now is how to stop plastics from entering the ocean to begin with and most of it is coming from major rivers in India & China. To be honest, the whole thing is a nightmare and when coupled with climate change it sometimes becomes overwhelming to think about what will become of the Earth for my grandchildren.
Like climate change and the loss of wild habitat, the issue of plastics is something that keeps me worrying. I don't think it's an insurmountable problem though. The first crucial step is to simply use less plastics. The less plastics we use, the less waste we have to figure out what to do with. The less waste we have to deal with, the less we have to worry about the unintended consequences of trying to clean up our mess and the less we have to worry about finding ourselves in situations that are overwhelmingly difficult for us to tackle. I have a lot of hope though, that through a concerted effort and creative solutions, we'll be able to tackle plastic pollution. In fact, we may find help from unexpected sources and the tiniest of friends. Ideally speaking though, the first step in undoing a disaster is to curb the behavior that created the disaster in the first place.
When I say "we," I mean all of us. Everyday citizens and consumers, governments, corporations, all of us. We all have a responsibility to take care of the world and each other. That said, I mostly agree with that line of thought. If governments and corporations have the biggest impact on things, then they should share the biggest burden in making sure things are done right. One of the really big struggles everyday people face when it comes to doing the right thing, is that often there aren't a lot of good options that make it easy for us to do the right thing. The other problem is, is that even when we can do then right things, our efforts are often overshadowed and negated by the behaviors of larger players. My little project of a pollinator garden that I'm hoping to make, for example, isn't gonna make much difference if corporate farms keep using pesticides that kill bees and butterflies. That said though, it's important for each and everyone of us to try and be as mindful as possible in how we live our lives. First and foremost, because we each are responsible for our actions as individuals. Just as importantly though, our individual actions and mindsets are drops in the ocean of a collective mindset, and we can't expect society to have a positive, responsible mindset if we don't have it ourselves as individuals first, and we can't expect society to change without being active participants in that change.