无处不在的塑料 Plastic, plastic everywhere

It is the weekend. I order a pizza from a well-known food company. The pizza arrives in a box that is inside a plastic bag. It contains more plastic articles: gloves, forks and knives.

周末，我从一家知名的食品店订了一份披萨。披萨送到我手里时，包装盒外面套着一个塑料袋，盒子里的塑料制品更多，有塑料手套，还有塑料刀叉。

It is a weekday. I visit a well-known bakery and pick what I like and head to the cash counter. The staff member there places each food item, however small, in a separate plastic bag.

工作日，我去了一家有名的面包店，挑选了我爱吃的东西，然后去了收银台。收银员把每一件食物，不管多小，都放在一个单独的塑料袋里。 

I am online. I buy things on a well-known e-commerce site. The objects are quickly delivered to my doorstep, each wrapped in plastic or a similar material.   

在线上，我在一家著名的电子商务网站订购东西。物品很快就送到了门口，每件东西都用塑料或类似的材料包裹着。

This is Beijing — and there is a lot of plastic in my life.    

这就是北京，塑料在生活中随处可见。

I should tell the pizza chain to send me just the box. I should shop at the bakery with a multiuse bag, always. I should do more to cut down on plastic consumption.

我应该告诉披萨连锁店直接用盒子盛披萨给我。我应该去面包店买食品时，都带上一个多功能布袋。我应该尽可能地减少塑料消费。

Being aware of plastic pollution isn't enough. We need to act.   

仅仅意识到塑料污染是不够的。我们还需要付诸行动。

Students in many schools around the world are learning about the importance of sustainable development from early childhood these days. They are being told to "reduce, reuse and recycle" plastic, for instance. The children know, as we did before them, that water and paper should be used wisely because we need more rivers and trees, not less.

全世界许多学校的学生现在从幼儿时期就开始了解可持续发展的重要性。比如，他们被告知要“减少使用、再利用和回收塑料”。孩子们知道要像我们之前做的那样，节约用水和纸张，因为我们需要更多的河流和树木，而不是相反。

But the younger inheritors of the Earth are going beyond basics. Some have even emerged as community leaders in the climate campaign.  

地球上的年轻一代正在超越前辈。有些人甚至成了改善气候的社会组织的领袖。

Adults, who have yet to wake up to the ecological realities of our time, need to pay attention to such efforts.

而尚未意识到我们这个时代生态现状的成年人，则需要投入更多的关注。

A dead whale recently washed up on a shore in the Philippines. Its stomach was stuffed with 40 kilograms of plastic.  Experts told media the young beaked male whale had died due to starvation and dehydration. Ingested plastic blocks food from traveling to the intestine from the stomach in marine creatures. They are also unable to absorb water from food in the seas.

最近，一头死鲸被冲上菲律宾的海滩。它的胃里塞满了40公斤的塑料。专家告诉媒体，这头雄性的突吻鲸死于饥饿和脱水。海洋生物一旦摄入塑料，就会阻止食物从胃进入肠道，也无法从海洋食物中吸收水分。

This pollution crisis is deepening globally, and dolphins, whales, birds and fish are increasingly found dead with plastic in their stomachs.

全球范围的污染危机日益加剧，在越来越多死去的海豚、鲸鱼、鸟类和鱼类的胃中，都发现了塑料。

Plastic is a synthetic or semi-synthetic material that can contort without largely breaking. The first fully synthetic plastic was invented in the United States in 1907. The biggest environmental concern with plastic is its slow decomposition rate (could take thousands of years) and in most cases it is not biodegradable. Let's say, some plastics never die.

塑料是一种合成或半合成材料，可以弯曲而不容易断裂。美国首先于1907年发明了完全合成塑料。塑料对环境的最大问题是其缓慢的分解速度（可能需要数千年），而且在绝大多数情况下，塑料是无法生物降解的。套用句俗话，有些塑料是不朽的。

But the material is cheap, relatively easy to manufacture and lightweight, which is why plastic production has boomed over the past century. A UN agency in its "state of plastics" report in 2018 estimated the trend will continue as global production skyrockets in the next 10 to 15 years.

价格低廉，制造简便，重量又轻，这就是塑料生产在过去一个世纪蓬勃发展的原因。联合国一家机构在2018年发布的《塑料现状》报告中估计，全球塑料产量会在未来10到15年内飙升，且这一趋势将持续下去。

"About 13 million tons of plastics leak into our oceans every year, harming biodiversity, economies and, potentially, our own health," the report warned.  

报告警告说：“每年约有1300万吨塑料排入我们的海洋，正在对生物多样性和经济发展造成损害，还可能损害我们自己的健康。”

It urged governments to regulate and businesses to innovate (such as find alternative materials) in order to fight plastic pollution. The total economic damage to the world's marine ecosystem caused by plastic amounts to at least $13 billion a year, the report added.

报告敦促政府实施监管、企业加强创新（如寻找替代材料），以应对塑料污染。报告还指出，塑料对全球海洋生态系统造成的经济损失，每年至少高达130亿美元。

In consumer-driven societies, the worst bane in this context is single-use plastic, with most common forms being cigarette butts, drinking bottles, bottle caps, food wrappers, grocery bags, lids, straws and stirrers, takeout containers and so on.

在消费驱动的社会，一次性塑料的危害最大，最常见的是烟头、饮料瓶、瓶盖、食品包装纸、盖子、吸管和搅拌管、外卖饭盒等等。

The worldwide production of plastic was 322 million tons in 2015. The majority of synthetic fibers are manufactured in Asia, according to the World Economic Forum.

2015年的全球塑料产量为3.22亿吨。根据世界经济论坛（World Economic Forum）提供的数据，大部分合成纤维产自亚洲。

China, some other developing countries and the US are among those that need better management of plastic waste. A lot is ending up in the waters.

中国，以及其他一些发展中国家以及美国，都需要更好地治理塑料垃圾。许多塑料垃圾最终都排进了江河湖海。