This issue is a Global emergency that effects us all, feminist or not.

[Omlettes]

"Microplastics are infiltrating brain tissue, studies show: ‘There’s nowhere left untouched’'
I appreciate its not strictly about feminism, but god know how this is impacting hormonal balnce apart from anything else.
And realistically the feminists here are the most switched on and politically active.
What we pass on through the womb is absorbed by the baby.
The very worst thing you can do is microwave food particularly fatty cheesy things in plastic and plastic wrap.
NEVER use gladwrap on cheese etc, the fat absorbs it , nylon clothes in washer/dryer and recycling plastic makes it infinitely worse, releasing trillions of microplastics.
And we can guess what impact its having on our brain function.

Big Oil is forcing the sale of Plastics. We have to say No for the sake of literally, everything.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/21/microplastics-brain-pollution-health

Personally I have been campaigning against plastic for 30 years now, and have encouraged many local shops and restaurants to cut right back, but it has to be a group and personal effort.

For example it never cease to amaze me as a keen gardener the hideous irony of the Gardening industry pumping out plastic, completely unessecarily, in a hideous vicious cycle of poisonng the earth and water. Both plants and compost can easily be backaged in coir and sacks.

Declaring this a feminist issue is a reach. It’s an everyone issue. I’d suggest getting this thread moved somewhere else where it’ll reach more MNers with an interest in environmental issues.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-do-chemicals-in-plastics-impact-your-endocrine-system/
I take it you read my post and the headline, where I covered that?

Its beyond a niche environmental issue, its a global issue. Rather than argue where it should be, why dont you engage with it?
Or, not

I have come to the conclusion that things won't change, because people don't want to change. They want their lives and themselves to stay basically the same.

Sooner or later a bacteria will evolve to eat plastic. Then in a few hundred thousand years the problem will be solved.

You're right OP. We need systemic and global change on this and many other issues. Unfortunately I don't see much appetite for change. I try and reduce my plastic use, recycle (I know plastic recycling has issues too of course), buy from eco-friendly companies, sign petitions etc but feel that it's a drop in the ocean and we need collective societal change. I don't know how to get it. Maybe the new government will be more open than the last one. I am also very concerned about climate change and the spread of preventable infectious diseases but on the whole people I know (nice people!) just don't seem that bothered, might agree but put it to the back of their mind and carry on the same as they did before :-(

As you say though, what you as an individual do is a drop in the ocean - so maybe other people feel that drop is pointless.

We need massive change on a global scale, and I don't see that happening any time soon.

There are so many existential threats to humanity, I can't even begin to work out which might get us first. Maybe this one. Could it be microplastics have led to the precipitous decline in sperm count? That coupled with reproductive technologies to try and deal with this might make it very much a feminist issue.

We need more than a massive change. It could only happen by billions of people dying and those who remain reverting to a premodern lifestyle. We need a profound global catastrophe to save a few of us

We had AIDS and COVID. AIDS did slow things down for a while.

I have come to the conclusion that humans are pretty stupid.

I remember when plastics became ubiquitous in the 80s and 90s for packaging and anyone who complained was laughed at as a hippy.

it feels incredibly late to be caring now and I still find the majority laugh as so called hippies