Plastic may takes centuries to break down. Public installation artist Eric Corriel made this video to imagine the long life of a plastic bottle.
Check out the website here.
Corriel’s video project claims a plastic bottle will take 450 years to break down into microplastics (petroleum-based plastic – the material of most single-use bottles – doesn’t ever biodegrade). Scientists don’t yet know how long it will take for plastic items to degrade, but around 500 years is a popular estimate.
Throughout the degradation process, the artist adds imagined but likely events from the moment a plastic bottle is thrown away in 2022:
- In 2043, ‘water wars‘ begin. (Conflicts related to water are already happening.)
- In 2070, Californian farmers move to Alaska. (Climate change is already affecting Californian agriculture.)
- By 2123, 40% of the global population has been displaced by the climate crisis. (People are already being displaced by water and food shortages and climate-related conflicts.)
- In 2188, ‘fire moat‘ is voted phrase of the century.
- In 2215, the last polar bear dies ‘and humanity can’t believe itself’. At this point, the bottle is 42% disintegrated.
- In 2262, Water War III is underway.
- By 2287, the wealthiest 1% have moved to Mars to escape the climate crisis on Earth.
- By 2356, Bangladesh is entirely underwater. The bottle is 74% disintegrated.
- In 2400, a child asks ‘What was wildlife?‘
- In 2424, Hurricane Omega ‘obliterates’ Florida, Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina.
- It’s 2456, super storms ravage the planet and the last human leaves Earth.
- In 2472, the bottle finally fully disintegrates into microplastics.
Read more…
Sources
BBC, How water shortages are brewing wars
CalCAN California Climate & Agriculture Network, California farmers and ranchers are on the front lines of climate change
Message in a Bottle
The World Bank, Where Climate Change Is Reality: Supporting Africa’s Sahel Pastoralists to Secure a Resilient Future
