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As an individual who wants to make the biggest impact on this issue, what are my options? I am a UX/UI designer and I wonder what I could do to help rid the wo

As an individual who wants to make the biggest impact on this issue, what are my options? I am a UX/UI designer and I wonder what I could do to help rid the world of microplastics. I was thinking off the top of my head: 1. Write a letter to every company that uses exorbitant amount plastic in it's product or packaging (tons of them here in Japan) and try to make them aware of the issue (appeal through emotions - their kids). I figured, if I send 5,000 letters, perhaps I get an action rate of 2%, that could amount to 100 companies acting to reduce their product waste. 2. I could write to every politician that comes in contact with this issue on a regular basis - but what do I tell them? I think it needs to be something very specific and actionable, but maybe it doesn't? 3. I could create a website that helps expose the issue. I think, especially here in Japan people are just unaware of the environmental disaster pending outside their nation. It seems the island as a geographical feature creates a very strong bubble and we hardly ever hear about anything environment related. I could also do the same in U.S. (multi-language site) That's where my creativity stops... what other things can I, or people like myself do right now to make an impact? EDIT: If anyone wants to help me make a list of top Japanese company executives (preferably with their email, and or any other personal information we can find - hopefully their kids names), I can write a compelling letter + email to try to get past their gatekeepers. EDIT 2: I am starting a doc to get info on Japanese Execs who have the most impact on this issue. I will try to find ways to communicate action to them in ways that do not cost them, preferably help generate additional revenue. Here is a link to anyone who would like to participate. I think if we crowd-source this issue, we can make an impact: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1biahioKkh7ZbYBxquWaML6nW3zXBZVkVRy0Pp22IiMA/edit?usp=sharing https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1biahioKkh7ZbYBxquWaM...

orky56 8y ago
I think it will be a tough sell to go after companies directly as an individual. Unless you are influential yourself, they will only take notice from an entity that dictates or shapes policy. It might be more beneficial to offer your services, perhaps pro-bono, to researchers like the ones cited in the article or to a non-profit with a similar mission. Your effort and hard work can be significantly higher levered with the right organization behind it.
- sophistication 8y ago
  Generally, the highest impact of any individual is mostly minior (of course the collective actions matter, but you are mostly bound to be a tiny gear in massive cultural processes that are nearly out of our control). To increase impact, you need to increase ~net worth. The most effective way of doing that is to ascend existing hierarchies even though that is massively biased by nepotism, looks and imperfect evaluation abilities; but, hey, that's the best we can get out of a system of distributed responsibilities and provided that all alternatives seem to diverge into authoritarianism. It is excessively rare to find alternative ways of having an impact. If nobody tried, changes would of course occur much less often. So there is that.
  - woogiewonka 8y ago
    I don't believe this. I think humans are capable of rapid change if appealed to their emotions in a powerful way. I think kids are the key to this and I am willing to try it. Imagine if 1000 people wrote urgent messages that actually reached these people who have significant control over how things are produced - that has to make some impact!
    - sophistication 8y ago
      Just be prepared to fail. That's all I'm saying. I'm not saying it is futile.
zeth___ 8y ago
As posts in the thread have made clear, this is a third world problem which is being exported to the rest of us. A captain for proper sanitation and waste disposal in China and Africa would greatly reduce this problem.
- rrcaptain 8y ago
  Rather it's a problem we're exporting to the third world.
rrcaptain 8y ago
Companies won't act as long as the short to mid term profit is still with wasting plastic. Opposing the system (capitalism) as whole is the only way to prevent evironmemtal collapse.
hr2016 8y ago
Before I saw your edit I thought starting an "Executive spam list", say on GitHub, would be a great idea. I see you started a Japanese one, maybe this could/should be expanded to globally or at least add pages for more countries? Good luck!
titzer 8y ago
Writing helps. IMHO, doing a little to pick up trash in your local community--parks, rivers, waterways, lakes, beaches--goes a long way, not only for cosmetic reasons, but also to raise awareness. My sincere belief is that cleaning the trash out of the Earth is something that everyone can get behind and is a monumental task that absolutely must be crowdsourced. The millions of tons of trash out there can really only be picked up and cleaned out by...millions of people. We must ban plastics worldwide, we must recycle, and we must introduce proper waste management into areas where it is lacking, but we can't wait. Go pick some up!
ced 8y ago
what other things can I, or people like myself do right now to make an impact? Reduce consumption? I also wish I could have an impact on a large scale, but it seems quixotic. Environmental change is cultural change, and that takes a long time.
8rye 8y ago
Donella Meadows 12 points of leverage in a system is worth reading to map out the system and figure out at which point to try to shift to create the biggest change. I also think UX/UI designers have useful skills to design better systems/experiences.

orky56 8y ago

I think it will be a tough sell to go after companies directly as an individual. Unless you are influential yourself, they will only take notice from an entity that dictates or shapes policy. It might be more beneficial to offer your services, perhaps pro-bono, to researchers like the ones cited in the article or to a non-profit with a similar mission. Your effort and hard work can be significantly higher levered with the right organization behind it.

sophistication 8y ago
Generally, the highest impact of any individual is mostly minior (of course the collective actions matter, but you are mostly bound to be a tiny gear in massive cultural processes that are nearly out of our control). To increase impact, you need to increase ~net worth. The most effective way of doing that is to ascend existing hierarchies even though that is massively biased by nepotism, looks and imperfect evaluation abilities; but, hey, that's the best we can get out of a system of distributed responsibilities and provided that all alternatives seem to diverge into authoritarianism. It is excessively rare to find alternative ways of having an impact. If nobody tried, changes would of course occur much less often. So there is that.
- woogiewonka 8y ago
  I don't believe this. I think humans are capable of rapid change if appealed to their emotions in a powerful way. I think kids are the key to this and I am willing to try it. Imagine if 1000 people wrote urgent messages that actually reached these people who have significant control over how things are produced - that has to make some impact!
  - sophistication 8y ago
    Just be prepared to fail. That's all I'm saying. I'm not saying it is futile.

zeth___ 8y ago

As posts in the thread have made clear, this is a third world problem which is being exported to the rest of us. A captain for proper sanitation and waste disposal in China and Africa would greatly reduce this problem.

rrcaptain 8y ago
Rather it's a problem we're exporting to the third world.

rrcaptain 8y ago

Companies won't act as long as the short to mid term profit is still with wasting plastic. Opposing the system (capitalism) as whole is the only way to prevent evironmemtal collapse.

hr2016 8y ago

Before I saw your edit I thought starting an "Executive spam list", say on GitHub, would be a great idea. I see you started a Japanese one, maybe this could/should be expanded to globally or at least add pages for more countries? Good luck!

titzer 8y ago

Writing helps. IMHO, doing a little to pick up trash in your local community--parks, rivers, waterways, lakes, beaches--goes a long way, not only for cosmetic reasons, but also to raise awareness. My sincere belief is that cleaning the trash out of the Earth is something that everyone can get behind and is a monumental task that absolutely must be crowdsourced. The millions of tons of trash out there can really only be picked up and cleaned out by...millions of people. We must ban plastics worldwide, we must recycle, and we must introduce proper waste management into areas where it is lacking, but we can't wait. Go pick some up!

ced 8y ago

what other things can I, or people like myself do right now to make an impact? Reduce consumption? I also wish I could have an impact on a large scale, but it seems quixotic. Environmental change is cultural change, and that takes a long time.

8rye 8y ago

Donella Meadows 12 points of leverage in a system is worth reading to map out the system and figure out at which point to try to shift to create the biggest change. I also think UX/UI designers have useful skills to design better systems/experiences.