Why does JIANGQIAO insist on using bamboo instead of plastic?

Since the birth of the first plastic product in the 1950s, we don't know how much garbage humans have thrown into the vast sea, but we must know that it takes 200-400 years for plastic bags to degrade naturally and completely.

"National Geographic" magazine is known for its spectacular and beautiful photographs of natural scenes, shocking and refreshing our understanding of the greatness of nature, and recording all the beautiful things on earth. But the cover of one issue of the magazine changed its aesthetic style and used an exaggeratedly enlarged plastic bag floating on the sea as the cover.

The marine pollution we can see is just the tip of the iceberg, and there are more unmeasurable pollution and damage immersed in the seabed.

Gary E. Knell, CEO of National Geographic Partners, responded to questions on the cover of this issue: "In the past, we have provided readers around the world with awe-inspiring beauty, but in recent years, with photographers and research It is really unbearable to see the pollution of plastics to the marine environment every day.”

So they launched PLANET OR PLASTIC? The event collected shocking photos from photographers all over the world.

An ibis has been entangled in plastic bags as starvation and pain afflict it to its death. This is a real photo taken by a Spanish photographer in a landfill, a garbage bag we throw away, and inadvertently end a life.

But this is far from over. When innocent animals are killed by plastic bags, the plastic bags will not degrade but will continue to murder the next life.

Plastic fishing nets are tools for fishermen to make a living, but if they are thrown away at will, they will become murder weapons.

The sea turtle photographed in the Mediterranean Sea has been trapped in plastic fishing nets for an unknown period of time. If it does not meet the photographer, its life will definitely end here.

According to statistics, one million bottles of plastic beverages are sold every minute around the world. To date, more than 700 species of marine life are being eaten or entangled in plastic to death.

Up to the top of the earth, Mount Everest, down to the deep sea, disposable plastic waste is occupying and polluting our blue land

What can we do in the face of plastic pollution? There is always someone doing their part to make the world a better place.

Chinese-Canadian photographer Benjamin Von Wong has been concerned about marine debris pollution in his early years. Using his expertise in photography and visual art, he launched an environmental art exhibition.

He convened volunteers to collect plastic straws from the seaside and the streets, sorted them by color and fixed them on the prepared shelves to complete a modern environmental protection device composed of straws and lights.

A total of 168,000 straws were used for this creation. The waves and the ocean are composed of dark green and pure white straws, and the light seems to split the seawater from the middle, as if the sun rises from the gap on the sea surface, igniting hope.

Von Wong said that when he realized that ocean pollution and plastic waste were inseparable, he hoped that through his lens and design, people could experience the harm of plastic waste to the ocean more intuitively, although this would not immediately change the ocean. Pollution, but when people start to become aware and think about it, that's when change happens.

Julie Church from Kenya has been working in environmental protection for 20 years. She became an environmentalist when she first set foot in a marine reserve in northeastern Kenya in 1997. She was overwhelmed by the sight of the sea's heavily polluted ocean and decided to do something about it.

By chance, she discovered that local children would go to the beach to pick up colorful plastic slippers and use them as toys, so she began to recycle these discarded plastic slippers into toys that children love.

In 2000, Julie received an order for 1,500 turtles from the Swiss Nature Foundation, her first commercial order. In 2005, she formally established Ocean Sole Company, and by 2013, the company had grown from only 3 employees to 50 employees.

This move has not only improved the problem of local marine pollution but also promoted local employment and enabled local residents to have a stable income.

As of 2015, more than 6.9 billion tons of plastic waste have been generated globally. Only about 9% of it is recycled, 12% is incinerated, and 79% is landfilled or continues to accumulate in the environment. The scary thing about it is that it takes at least 470 years for plastic to degrade in nature. It is precisely because the problem of environmental pollution caused by plastic waste is becoming more and more serious that we must advocate a "plastic-free life".

Plastic-free life is not an extreme way to let everyone remove plastic items in their lives at once, but to use as few disposable plastic items as possible, and use non-plastic daily necessities to replace hard-to-degrade plastics.

JIANGQIAO has been committed to the development of more environmentally friendly living woodware, using bamboo with temperature and texture to upgrade people's life experience and do its part to protect the environment.

Living bamboo is both practical, beautiful, and green. More and more people choose JIANGQIAO living bamboo, join plastic-free life, and make an effort for environmental protection. In fact, it is not that difficult.

Sharing this article to let more people know about a "plastic-free life" is also a small step for us to protect the environment!