The meeting between me and the boys from Mínyma gave birth to some important reflections on one of the problems afflicting our planet. Even before our meeting, these reflections, which I will briefly explore in this article, were born in their thoughts and in their choice to send a message of rupture, between a way of thinking and acting and a way of making fashion.
I am the one of numbers and statistical data. I've always thought that a numerical and statistical reference, to understand the extent of something, was easier to interpret and more impactful for those who knew nothing about that subject.
The question arises: "What am I even talking about?" The issue addressed is one of the hottest of the moment and among the most important problems of our millennium. Something that everyone, sooner or later, will have to deal with. Something that, if we evaluate the problem no further than the length of our nose, doesn't worry us, but which, if analyzed and deepened, takes on worrying and, to say the least, dramatic contours. Oh yes, let's talk about plastic!
Plastic is a material made up of various polymers. It was a great discovery that since 1861 has literally begun to "invade" our way of acting, living and thinking. World War II was served by sprints, providing an acceleration in terms of achievements, investments, projects, patents, research and development of prototypes without precedent. Plastic has revolutionized many of the industries we know, from medical to automotive. It has saved people's lives by making helmets, incubators and water purification equipment. However, plastic is also the material that in the widespread "disposable" culture has invaded the planet, revealing its own dark side, with which everyone we are doing the accounts. Think of a bag or food container and how many decades it can remain intact on the planet. Think immediately after how many seconds it takes to get rid of it. It's scary isn't it?
Since 1950, plastic has gone from 2.3 million tons to 448 million in 2015. A figure that is expected to double by 2050. Mind-boggling numbers, even more so if you think that half of the plastic produced was made in the last 15 years alone. Every year about 8 million tons end up in the oceans from coastal nations, creating real floating islands that endanger the life of entire ecosystems. From the moment the plastic that reaches the sea from the mainland is captured by the ocean current, it is transported far and wide across our planet. In the Pitcairn Islands, which are located between Chile and New Zealand, in an uninhabited atoll of Henderson Island, floating expanses of plastic materials from the USA, Russia, China, etc. were found.
If all this, which our eyes can see, scares you, know that there is a whole infinitesimal world, invisible to the eye, which is called microplastic. These are particles less than half a cm in diameter, derived from the degradation of plastic in the sea by sunlight, waves and wind, which have been found everywhere on the planet, from Mount Everest to the Mariana Trench. Microplastics gradually degrade over time, decomposing into plastic microfibres. These compounds have been found in city water systems and in the air we all breathe.
It is therefore superfluous to explain how all this undermines the survival and health of wildlife - you can imagine for yourself if you have a modicum of sensitivity. All of this puts the very health of human beings at risk and we don't seem to care. Something will have to change sooner or later.
However, I am a researcher for work, and it is therefore my goal to be able to make you aware of some research of the modern era, which some foreign research centers (including Yale University) have been carrying out for some years, with interesting scientific publications in numerous journals.
Specifically, the ongoing studies speak of a mushroom called "Pestalotiopsis", whose microspore produces a special enzyme capable of degrading plastic. This activity seems to be the favorite for this organism, to the point of being able to carry it out even in conditions of absence of oxygen (a condition that we often find on the bottom of landfills). Think what an epochal discovery this could be. Think how it could change the fate of our planet earth. The world of scientific research goes in search of solutions with myriads of question marks in the hope that obsessive/compulsive experimentation will lead to the desired answer. Work in progress.
Our age needs positive feelings, positive energies. Rules are nothing without feelings. Therefore, what I would like to do with this article is to let you "breathe" for a moment, giving you and me, despite the alarming overview given above, some food for thought in search of a totally different model for managing our habits. A behavior that takes place with respect not only for ourselves, but also for everything around us. From all this, the idea of the guys from “Mínyma” was born, to launch the DISRUPTION line – (BREAK) – with a way of acting and thinking, because as they say: “There is No planet B!”
And maybe sometimes we should remember that.
STEFANO SECCI
