Journalist Lucy Siegle has spent the past 10 years investigating the impact plastic has on our lives. In this extract from her new book, Turning The Tide On Plastic, she shares the collective burden that it places on us all.
![My Plastic Life](https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/8175/294129/5b65b00b301c8/My-Plastic-Life.jpg)
“EVERYWHERE WE HAVE LOOKED, WE HAVE NOW FOUND PLASTIC,” Professor Richard Thompson told me on my visit to his International Marine Litter Research Unit laboratory at Plymouth University in the UK. It’s a statement that continues to haunt me. Microplastics have been found on beaches from the Atlantic to Antarctica. They’ve even been found in the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the world’s oceans.
Over the past 20 years we have truly been plumbing new depths, in the form of submersibles and remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, that crawl along the deepest trenches of the ocean and record what’s going on in this incredible universe 11,000 metres below. This has changed our thinking. We now know that the Abyssal and Hadal zones of the world’s oceans are not the cold, dead zones that they were once imagined to be, but biodiverse ecosystems, home to coral and hosts of living organisms. At this depth, life is slow: it takes a lot of time for plants and animals to grow and replenish. Contaminants in the form of plastic pollution cry disaster for this delicate ecosystem.
Over the past few years, I’ve been on what can only be described as an epic plastic adventure. I wanted to discover the extent of plastic’s grip on our home lives, but also on commerce and in culture, and to understand its environmental impact and the implications for future generations. I’ve interviewed plastics apologists, deniers, enthusiasts and lovers. Among them, plastic is often referred to as the “skin of commerce” – the implication being that whatever the downsides, we can’t get by without it.
Denne historien er fra August 2018-utgaven av ELLE Australia.
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Denne historien er fra August 2018-utgaven av ELLE Australia.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
![Books: Shelf-Care](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8175/457486/5edde6b524e5e/crp_BOOKSshelf-CARE.jpg)
Books: Shelf-Care
Find a little respite in this season’s most exciting new reads
Men's Rites
Deciding to go through a gender transition isn’t easy for anyone. But the hardest person for journalist Daniel Mallory ortberg to convince was himself
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Kick Start
In these uncertain times, louis vuitton’s artistic director nicolas ghesquière is looking to the past to help make sense of the future
Music: Everything Is Illuminated
Phoebe Bridgers is a musician who revels in the darkness, albeit having earned her place in the spotlight
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SUPER NATURE ESCAPISM WILDERNESS BREATHING INFRESH AIR BATHING IN SUNSHINE
IN THE SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY AND NEW HORIZONS, MODEL GEORGIA FOWLER HEADS FOR THE GREAT OUTDOORS
THE big CLEANSE
WE’VE PURGED OUR KITCHEN CABINETS OF SUGAR AND CULLED THE CLOTHES THAT DON’T SPARK JOY, BUT WE MAY HAVE ARRIVED AT THE MOST BENEFICIAL (AND EASIEST) CLEANSE OF ALL
TALKING to strangers
SINCE THE EARLY 1900S, AN AGONY AUNT HAS BEEN A WILLING EAR. BUT AT A TIME OF DMS AND ASKME-ANYTHINGS, SEEKING ADVICE FROM SOMEONE YOU DON’T KNOW HAS BECOME RISKY BUSINESS
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singled OUT
WE’VE ENTERED AN ERA OF MYRIAD RELATIONSHIP STATUSES – COUPLED, FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS, OPEN, POLYGAMOUS, THREE-DIGITALDATES-IN-BUT UNSURE-WHERE-THIS-IS-GOING. But is flying solo the last taboo?
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GYPSY CREEK
INTERIOR DESIGNER LOUELLA BOÌTELGILL TAKES US INSIDE HER QUIRKY BYRON BAY HINTERLAND CREATION, WHICH OVERFLOWS WITH A BEACHY, HAPPY VIBE
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DRIVE: DESIGN in motion
HOW THE HOTTEST INTERIOR TRENDS COULD DEFINE WHAT YOUR NEXT CAR LOOKS LIKE