If you are seeking to raise awareness about plastic pollution but cannot find the right words, here are some plastic pollution quotes that you can use to get your message across.
In recent years, there has been a growing movement to raise awareness about the earth’s plastic problem. Many scientists, environmentalists, eco-warriors, and concerned citizens continue to speak up about plastic pollution. Through their words, they encourage us to make changes in our lives and to ultimately live plastic-free.
There is no better time than now, to change the way we live. I hope these plastic pollution quotes encourage you to live more sustainably and to say no to plastic when possible.
Plastic Pollution Quotes
Plastic pollution is one the biggest environmental threats we are facing today. It has infiltrated our lives and we’ve become so dependent on it that we ignore the negative effects it has on us.
These plastic pollution quotes by these remarkable individuals raise several interesting points that we should all ponder on.
- “If we pollute the air, water, and soil that keep us alive and well, and destroy the biodiversity that allows natural systems to function, no amount of money will save us.”– Dr. David Suzuki
2. “There is no such thing as ‘away’. When we throw anything away, it must go somewhere.” – Annie Leonard, creator of film documentary The Story of Stuff
3. “It cannot be right to manufacture billions of objects that are used for a matter of minutes, and then are with us for centuries.”– Roz Savage
4. “Water and air, the two essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.”– Jacques-Yves Cousteau
5. “I only feel angry when I see waste. When I see people throwing away things we could use.”– Saint Mother Teresa
Single-Use Plastic Quotes
Used only once before they are thrown away, single-use plastics or disposable plastics are arguably one of the worst inventions of man. While it is convenient to have and use, we produce millions of single-use plastic every year, most of which we cannot even recycle. Many single-use plastics ever made, like plastic bags, straws, cups, water bottles, and most food packaging, still exist today.
Philippe Cousteau, Jr. couldn’t have phrased it any better when he said, it was one of the stupidest ideas in the world. It requires so much resources to make, used only once, then discarded. I hope these single-use plastic quotes encourage you to avoid disposables and single-use plastic when you can.
6. “One of my big pet peeves is single-use plastic bags. I think it’s one of the stupidest ideas in the world.”– Philippe Cousteau, Jr.
7. “We make so many things that don’t require the longevity that plastic has – we don’t need a straw that we will use to sip one drink that will stay in the environment forever.”– Heidi Taylor, founder of marine environment charity Tangaroa Blue Foundation
8. “For all the environmental troubles single-use shopping bags cause, the much greater impacts are in what they contain. Reducing the human footprint means addressing fundamentally unsustainable habits of food consumption, such as expecting strawberries in the depths of winter or buying of seafood that are being fished to the brink of extinction.”– Susan Freinkel, author of Plastic: A Toxic Love Story
9. “Forget bottled water; tap water is just as good! Pour it into a reusable water bottle, and always have fresh water on the go without wasting plastic.”– Ashlan Gorse Cousteau
10. “Of all the waste we generate, plastic bags are perhaps the greatest symbol of our throwaway society. They are used, then forgotten, and they leave a terrible legacy. – Zac Goldsmith
11. “If we have any hope of finding ways for seven billion people to live well on the planet with finite resources, we have to learn to use our resources efficiently. Plastic bags are neither efficient nor environmentally friendly.”– Dr. David Suzuki
Quotes About Plastic Pollution in the Ocean
Our oceans are facing huge plastic problems. And if the oceans are in trouble then so are we. What we throw away comes back to us one way or another. The ocean is our source of life and we are slowly choking it with plastic.
Here are some ocean plastic facts you can ponder on:
- over 10 million tonnes of trash is dumped into our oceans annually
- more than 1 million marine animals are killed each year because of plastic
- humans eat 40 pounds of plastic in their lifetime
These are just some of the disturbing things that are happening in our oceans today. If these bother you, here are more quotes about plastic in the ocean that might help you raise awareness about our current plastic pollution plight.
12. “When plastics do break down, they don’t biodegrade; rather, they break into increasingly smaller pieces, many of which end up in the oceans as microplastics that harm aquatic life and birds.”– Dr. David Suzuki
13. “Industrial pollution and the discarding of plastic waste must be tackled for the sake of all life in the ocean.”– Sir David Attenborough, conservationist and author of A Life on Our Planet
14. “We are being choked to death by the amount of plastic that we throw away. It’s killing our oceans. It’s entering into our bodies in the fish we eat.”– Kevin Bacon, actor
15. “Pollution from oil and gas development, toxic runoff, and miles and miles of plastic trash foul the waters and threaten marine life.”– Frances Beinecke, author of The World We Create: A Message of Hope for a Planet in Peril
16. “You wouldn’t think you could kill an ocean, would you? But we’ll do it one day. That’s how negligent we are.”– Ian Rankin, author of several crime novels
17. “Not only are plastics polluting our oceans and waterways and killing marine life – it’s in all of us and we can’t escape consuming plastics.”– Marco Lambertini, WWF International Director General
18. If man doesn’t learn to treat the oceans and the rain forest with respect, man will become extinct.”– Peter Benchley, author of Jaws
19. “I often struggle to find words that will communicate the vastness of the Pacific Ocean to people who have never been to sea. Yet as I gazed from the deck at the surface of what ought to have been a pristine ocean, I was confronted, as far as the eye could see, with the sight of plastic.”– Captain Charles Moore, author of Plastic Ocean
20. “All the king’s horses and all the king’s men will never gather up all the plastic and put the ocean back together again.”– Captain Charles Moore
Plastic Waste Quotes
Here are more plastic waste quotes you can contemplate. Don’t forget to share these plastic pollution quotes with other people to raise awareness and to start conversations.
20. “Waste isn’t waste until we waste it.”– Will.I.Am, musician
21. “Plastic will be the main ingredient of all our grandchildren’s recipes.”–Anthony T. Hincks
22. “Waste is a design flaw.” – Kate Krebs
23. “Only we humans make waste that nature can’t digest.”– Captain Charles Moore
24. “Pollution is a necessary result of the inability of man to reform and transform waste.”– Patti Smith
25. “Plastic is the most destructive weapon than a nuclear bomb or an atom bomb, its impact shall remain for centuries on the future generation.”– Sir P.S. Jagadeesh Kumar
Say No To Plastic Quotes
We created the plastic pollution problem and therefore it is our responsibility to fix it. Now more than ever we need to take action and fight our addiction to plastic.
To quote the famous film, Gladiator, “What We Do In Life, Echoes In Eternity.” Plastic pollution is a perfect example of this quote. The plastic we created decades ago, still hunts us today. Slowly killing our planet today and might lead to our demise in the future.
However, it is not too late, for what humans do today can also change our future. If we make the right choices, the better choices, I am hopeful that we can win this fight against plastic.
Saying no to plastic everyday can change the course of our history. Change begins with yourself, so here are some inspirational quotes to encourage you to take action against plastic pollution
26. “You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”– Jane Goodall, conservationist and author of In the Shadow of Man
27. “Outright bans on plastic bags may not be the best solution, but education and incentives to get people to stop using them are necessary.”– Dr. David Suzuki
28. “I think, on a personal level, everybody, when you go through the checkout line after you get your groceries and they say, ‘Paper or plastic?’ We should be saying, ‘Neither one.’ We should have our own cloth bags.”–Woody Harrelson
29. “The most environmentally friendly product is the one you didn’t buy.”– Joshua Becker, author of The Minimalist Home
30. “The strongest governments on earth cannot clean up pollution by themselves. They must rely on each ordinary person, like you and me, on our choices, and on our will.”– Chai Jin
31. “If we want to move towards a low-polluting, sustainable society, we need to get consumers to think about their purchases.”– Dr. David Suzuki
32. “The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.”– Robert Swan, explorer
33. “The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.”– Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist
34. “We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.”– Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States
35. “Modern society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its lifestyle.”– Pope John Paul II
I hope these plastic pollution quotes inspire you to take action. Share these in your social media post to create more awareness and start conversations.
Here are some ideas on what you can do:
- Share this article on plastic pollution quotes on Facebook!
- Use these ocean pollution quotes on your ocean or scuba diving Instagram account
- Tweet quotes about plastic in the ocean and get your followers to start living plastic-free
- Pin your favorite plastic waste quotes on Pinterest.
If you’re looking for more captions for your ocean photos on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter, you can check out my posts on:
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What is your favorite among these famous quotes on plastic pollution? What other ocean pollution quotes should be added to this list? Leave a comment below!
