EDITOR’S LETTER
LUCA MEI
“
IT MATTERS WHAT WE SAY, AND WHAT WE DO! After enjoying something of a reprieve over recent months on account of its role in the production of the medical devices, personal protective equipment, sterile packaging and disposable items that have been crucial in saving lives in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, recent environmental awareness days have seen plastic back “in the dock”, once again accused of being the world’s public enemy number 1! TV news channels, newspapers and online news sources are once again pointing the finger at plastic, portraying it as the enemy of the environment that inexorably ends up in the world’s seas and oceans, and beyond. But, alluding to an expression used by the Italian film director Nanni Moretti in his movie “Red Wood Pigeon” (Palombella rossa), if words matter, then so do actions, perhaps even more so. This is particularly true in an era in which written and visual communication has assumed the power of a veritable weapon of “mass destruction” as opposed to “mass instruction”. And we might go even further, and say that it has become a weapon of “mass distraction” from the real causes of the problems. The tendency to mystify misleading information, nowadays encouraged by its practically uncontrolled circulation on the many media platforms to which we all now have access, can determine the rise or fall of absolutely anyone, or anything. And even though it doesn’t take much to see that reality is different from how it is painted, this becomes impossible to do unless one is willing to make the effort. Plastic, as some have already pointed out, is not a living thing with the power to move about and choose where to accumulate. In truth, the blame for turning it into a pollutant, thus overshadowing its qualities and the many advantages it provides (which, in many cases, allow us to live our lives the way we do) lies solely with people! It is people, through their behaviours - uncivilised, indifferent and uncaring - that are the real polluting agents. Similarly, it is people who, despite celebrating the Earth Day, try to disown such behaviours and to absolve themselves, through inappropriate, ineffective and often misinformed communication. It really wouldn’t take much. Instead of simply stating that plastic ends up in the seas and oceans of the world, all that needs to be made clear is that it ends up everywhere because we, with impunity, allow all this to happen. So, headline writers, take note!
10
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MACPLAS INTERNATIONAL MAY 2021