Artist Statement:

     This piece titled “1,000 Years” is a commentary on the amount of time it takes for a plastic bag to decompose. The use of polyethylene terephthalate to construct plastic bags creates a nearly indestructible material, leaving the bags to outlive the people who created them. The writing on the bags is replaced with “No Thank You” as if spoken from the environment as a call for help. Now is the time to take action.

Curator Science Comment:

PLASTIC POLLUTION.  In addition to litter and injury to animals, plastic pollution contributes to the climate crisis.  GHG emissions from cradle to grave of plastics will reach 1.34 Gt per year by 2030. (For reference, total annual global GHG emissions are approximately 40Gt per year.)  Accumulative GHG emission from cradle to grave of plastics may exceed 56 Gt by 2050.  Therefore,  GHG emissions from plastic life cycle seriously threaten the remaining carbon budget.  (Journal of Cleaner Production Volume 254, 1 May 2020) – A. Northcutt 

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