You think the Girl World is rough? Wait until you realize what the Plastic World is like.

1.) Everyone has to deal with the Plastic World

Janis is right.  Almost everyone has plastic in their hair.  

This comes from the typical shampoos and conditioners that you use. If you don’t want your hair to be made of plastic any more, look at the ingredients! The two most common plastics used in beauty products are called polypropylene and polyethylene. If you want to be 100% sure, download this app that allows you to scan any product and will tell you if this product contains plastic:

http://get.beatthemicrobead.org/

2.) Karen’s excuse is actually legit

Although the research is very up-and-coming, there have been suggestions that ingesting plastics could be connected to human health issues.  So far, plastics have been found to negatively impact marine organisms such as oysters, fish, and marine mammals. Some of the problems include slower growth rates, digestion complications, poorer fertility rates, and DEATH.  

3.) Plastic is a Mean Girl

The plastic pollution you produce, not only affects you, but also affects the entire globe.  Since the ocean currents are constantly flowing, your trash can travel vast distances.  For example, when Regina George eats a Kälteen Bar and does not dispose of it properly, it enters the Atlantic Ocean and begins to breakdown into MICROPLASTICS.  A salmon then eats some of these microplastics and gets caught by an African fisherman.  Next thing you know, Cady Heron is eating that salmon, and Regina’s trash, in her happy hometown in Africa. Further proving that Regina George and plastic are life ruiners.

4.) So, how many of you have ingested microplastics?

That’s what we thought.
This is due to something called biomagnification, which is the buildup of toxins in an organism as a result of eating lots of other organisms in which the toxins are more widely distributed.  This means that at the beginning of the food web, organisms like phytoplankton only have a couple of microplastics in their stomachs, but once we look at our digestive system, that number is multiplied by the amount of organisms it has taken to feed you.

5.) Welcome to the Burn Book, Beaches

6.) Just tell plastic,

 

Mission Statement: To raise awareness in the College of Charleston community about how our actions affect the oceans and how to reduce our impact on a local level.

-Isabelle Sui and Elena Mpougas, Sustainability Interns & Project Leads: 71% Project