Have you ever wondered how much plastic you consume on average? On average, the world produces 3.5 million tons of plastic every day. There are many negative impacts plastic can have on our environment. This growing number of plastic consumption directly contributes to climate change, habitat loss, pollution and many more issues.
Plastic is ubiquitous, meaning that it can be found in any climate. Yet, not only is plastic found around the world, plastic can take up to 1,000 years to decompose. For example, In 1992 a cargo ship in the north pacifc ocean, had lost 28,000 rubber duckies into the ocean. To this day, there are still hundreds of rubber duckies that can be found in the ocean or washed up onto a beach shore.
To target this problem, many activists are trying to raise awareness to the crisis. For example, Robin Frohardt is an artist and director who created a public art installation called “The paper Bag Store.” She created this installation to showcase the over-usage of single use plastic in our everyday lives. It is located in New York’s Times Square and will be open for free to the public until November 7, 2020.
“The Plastic Bag Store is a visually rich, tactile and humorous experience that hopefully encourages a different way of thinking about the foreverness of plastic,” Frohardt says.
Inside this art installation, there are countless shelves filled with hand sculpted renditions of everyday items from the grocery store cereal boxes, cake, cigarette boxes, fresh produce, etc. They may all look realistic, but they are all made out of the single-use plastic that has been thrown out by people.
Robin Frohardt uses humour and satire in her art piece to criticize society for disregarding the impact that single-use plastic has on the environment. Humor allows her to approach the problem in an indirect way to avoid overwhelming viewers. She criticizes the growing culture of convenience and how the younger generations are becoming immersed in this idea. She wants us to change our view of our environment to see our growing relationship with plastic and the damage it has created in the world.