by Nomad
This sculpture on a beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil was composed entirely out of discarded water bottles.
This Botafogo beach installation was illuminated at night and was created as part of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, held in 2012.
Americans drink more bottled water than any other nation, purchasing an impressive 29 billion bottles every year. That's according to an article in National Gerographic. Not only that, making all the plastic for those bottles uses 17 million barrels of crude oil annually. That is equivalent to the fuel needed to keep 1 million vehicles on the road for 12 months.
On top of that, according to The Water Project, bottles used to package water take over 1,000 years to bio-degrade. That's a hell of a long time for something that has only a one time use. Imagine that the plastic water bottle you threw away yesterday will outlive you about ten centuries.
Plastic waste is now at such a volume that vast eddies of current-bound plastic trash now spin endlessly in the world's major oceans. It is subsequently ingested by sea life, killing birds, fish and aquatic mammals
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If incinerated, the waste bottle produces toxic fumes. Additionally, the chemicals released from burning bottles contributes to the breakdown of the Earth’s ozone layer..It is estimated that over 80% of all single-use water bottles used in the U.S. simply become "litter."
In fact, very few bottles ever end up being recycled. U.S. landfills are overflowing with 2 million tons of discarded water bottles alone.
Our convenience comes at quite a cost to the environment.
Our convenience comes at quite a cost to the environment.
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