Information That Proves That Plastic Causes Global Warming

Global warming is the phenomenon in which the earth's oceans and atmosphere continue to warm up to record levels. This results in expanding deserts, deadlier storms and plant life destroyed. Global warming is expected to cause rising sea levels, which will disrupt life in coastal cities -- often the most densely populated cities on the planet. Plastic use is one of those factors that scientists have attributed to the human cause of global warming.

Plastic Bags

• Every time you buy something from a grocery store and the clerk gives you a plastic bag for your groceries, you are contributing to global warming. In a 2007 "Time" magazine article, writer Carolyn Sayre reported that only 3 percent of the 500 billion plastic bags clerks give to customers after every shopping trip are ever recycled. The polyethylene that plastic bags are made up of take thousands of years to break down in landfills. Sayre advises using bags made of plant-based material, because plastic bags release greenhouse gases when you throw them in the landfills and they begin to break down.

Bottled Water

• Bottled water is made of plastic as well. The Natural Resources Defense Council reports that bottled water contributes to global warming in two ways: during delivery and after consumption. During delivery, manufacturers ship the bottles from country to country, then airplanes and trucks transport them to stores -- polluting the area with more greenhouse gases. After consumption, more than 2 million tons worth of water bottles clog up landfills, taking thousands of years to break down.

Plastic Production

• Producing plastic also releases toxic chemicals and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Many plastic products are created with crude oil. A Lulea University report estimates that plastic production contributes "about the same magnitude than the gas flaring, less than the impact of nuclear power, and more than coal fires."

Marine Life

• Plastics suffocate plants that can take in some of the carbon gases in the atmosphere and reduce their impact. The Algalita Marine Research Foundation lists plastic in its top 10 causes for pollution. Corals are a key ingredient in sustaining life in the sea. According to Algalita Marine Research Foundation, because plastic can attract toxic elements like PCB and DDT, floating plastic is like a "poison pill" that kills off living corals, and subsequently other marine life.