Can Reducing Plastic Help The Climate?

Written By Teacher: Meighan Hooper

Meighan has been an arts educator and instructional designer since 2007. Originally from Ontario, Canada, she began teaching internationally in the Middle East and Asia in 2013. Meighan has designed programs of study based on a variety of curriculum including Canadian, American standards-based, Primary Years Program (IB), and British National curriculum.

Ask your students: What happens to all the plastic we use every day? This question can spark curiosity and lead to meaningful discussions about plastic pollution's role in climate change. For elementary students, try the "Plastics: Multiplication Activity" to use math skills to explore the environmental impact of plastic waste. Younger students can also engage with the "Plastics: Persuasive Writing Activity" to craft solutions while building critical thinking skills. Older students can dive into the "Plastic Calculator" to analyze their yearly plastic consumption and consider ways to reduce it.

Written By: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative

The MIT Climate Change Engagement Program, a part of MIT Climate HQ, provides the public with nonpartisan, easy-to-understand, and scientifically-grounded information on climate change and its solutions.

Over a century after the first fully synthetic plastic debuted, plastic waste is a major problem. Eight to 12 million tons of it enter global oceans annually, where it kills marine life, piles into enormous garbage patches, and crumbles into microplastics that resurface in drinking water. “We have plastic in our stomachs,” says Christopher Noble, who is the MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative’s Director of Corporate Engagement and leads their Plastics and Environment Program. “And so does everybody else in the world.”

Plastic also contributes to climate change: plastics are environmentally costly to make and dispose of, they emit greenhouse gases as they decompose, and some evidence shows that the tiniest bits damage zooplankton—critters that are critical in the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon.