The Plastic Bag

One million plastic bags are being consumed within one minute, 60,000 plastic bags are being consumed every 5 seconds and 500 billion bags are being used within one year (Bag It). In modern times, society has conformed to the plastic bag relying on it to get them through the day. This toxic item has become more of a fashion trend than a carefully consumed object. Not only is this item affecting the human race but the aquatic life as well. Material culture refers to the objects or belongings of a group of people (Openstax, 53). The plastic bag draws a major concern to the community however; it is one that is continuously ignored. Humans use plastic bags on a daily basis to buy items like clothes, food and household decor, just to name a few.

In other parts of the world, people rely on each other’s company to entertain them and not focus so much on buying extravagant objects. In doing so, we not only enforce a healthier lifestyle for us but for our marine life as well. Many countries that use do not /ban plastic are less likely to abuse the environment. When people are done with the bag, many throw it in the trash can, throw it out of the window or just throw it in the streets. When these actions are made, the wind may blow them into the trees, bushes, and even water sources including lakes, ponds, rivers and oceans. According to the movie Bag It, there was over 5 tons of plastic brought out of the one specific area in the ocean and over 100,000 marine life die per year. These oceans are so over crowded with plastic wastes, which do not decompose, that these animals have been eating it and dying because it will not properly go through their digestive system. Overall, if people opened up their eyes and realized the amount of damage they have created, then we would be able to fix ourselves and the environment in which we live in. Majority of the solution includes supplying your own bags, bottles and change your plastic tupperware containers to glass. In doing so, you will create less trash and harmful toxins both in and out of your

Non-material culture consists of ideas, attitudes and beliefs of a society (Openstax, 53). One idea that was stated in the movie Bag It was the idea of recycling. Recycling is a good idea and one that many believe in however, is it totally effective? Many people have a designated recycling bin along with certain days that the truck comes however; many do not know what items to recycle. Due to that, many people either do not recycle at all or just try to throw everything into these bins. In addition, according to Bag It, there is not a regulation with the recycling symbol. What this means is that only some of the chemicals can be recycled. Majority of the items that we think are being reused are actually newly made products. The old ones are usually thrown in landfills or carried to places in the environment that they should not