Since the 1950s, our use of plastics in the United States and around the world has increased tremendously. We have manufactured almost half of the plastics ever created since the year 2000. Studies have shown that we produce about 300 million tons of plastic each year globally and that greenhouse gas emissions in this sector are anticipated to rise (an increase we cannot afford according to a new UN report). Additionally, we know that plastics have become the largest source of marine debris in the oceans, threatening ecosystems and wildlife, and ultimately raising questions about the safety of seafood consumption for human health.

Of all the plastics currently produced, 40 percent are used for packaging which means that they are only used once before being thrown away. 20 percent of plastics are recycled globally; however, in the United States, only 9 percent of plastics used are recycled. As we can see, while recycling is essential, we must go to the source of the problem to solve it: consumption and the emergence of a “throwaway culture”.

As the news has recently reported, our recycling system is broken. To fix the system, we must reduce our levels of consumption. This is a central theme in Pope Francis’ prophetic call in Laudato Si’. The phrase “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” aligns with Pope Francis’ mandate, and the order of the phrase is important. Our first goal is always to reduce our level of consumption before reusing what we must consume. Recycling, while it is an essential piece of the puzzle to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, is not enough and should only be used as a last resort.

As students of Jesuit institutions, we recognize that we are likely the recipients of cultural and economic privilege and power and that, as a result, we have a special responsibility to act on this matter. The context of this call to reduce consumption also comes with the recognition that there are individuals and groups in the U.S. (and in countless places around the world) living with the undue burden of environmental injustice. As Pope Francis states:

The human environment and the natural environment deteriorate together; we cannot adequately combat environmental degradation unless we attend to causes related to human and social degradation. In fact, the deterioration of the environment and of society affects the most vulnerable people on the planet. . . we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. (Laudato Si’ 48-49).

In the U.S. context, some communities do not always have equitable access to resources such as clean water, as we saw in Flint, Michigan. This is not a call for communities that do not have safe access to water or other resources to stop using items such as bottled water but rather for any person who uses a disproportionate amount of unnecessary resources (consider iced-coffee cups, sports drinks, pop bottles, plastic plates and cups, etc.) and who has access to alternatives to use them, while also advocating to end environmental injustice and racism that leads to the inequitable distribution of resources.