Blowing Water | All I want for Christmas … is an end to the global plastic calamity

If the fact that Hong Kong throws away 5.2 million plastic water bottles every day, some 17 million pieces of waste plastic are flushed into the sea, and about 760 tonnes of plastic bags are disposed of daily does not shock you, maybe this will: there is more microplastic in the ocean than there are stars in the Milky Way.

Big festivals such as Christmas are always a nightmare for the environment because excessive consumption generates thoughtless wastage on an annual basis.

During this time of the year, many people tend to throw caution to the wind and go all out to splurge on the most expensive presents, cook the most sumptuous festive meal or book the most extravagant holidays. What should be the most wonderful time of the year has sadly turned into the most horrible time of the year for our planet, and for what purpose? Because we choose to blindly follow the decaying culture of Christmas consumerism to satisfy our misguided sense of obligation, which is to fit in with the modern festive rituals of shopping and partying.

Christmas has effectively lost its true meaning over the years as people tend to associate the amount of money they spend on gifts and frivolous festive activities as a measure of their love and affection for their loved ones.

But it does not have to be this way; we should make more environmentally sensitive consumption choices.