National Geographic Magazine - UK June 2018

It’s hard to get your head around the story of plastic. The facts and figures are so staggering as to seem almost fantastical. Can it really be true that half the plastic ever made was produced in the past 15 years? That a trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year, with an average “working life” of just 15 minutes? And that estimates for how long plastic endures range from 450 years to forever? The answer, unfortunately, is yes—those grim facts, and more, are all true. That’s why we asked writer Laura Parker and photographer Randy Olson to put this global crisis in perspective. Plastics, of course, are a great thing. As Parker writes, they helped the Allies win World War II, “eased travel into space, and revolutionized medicine… In…

When you sail around the world, at times you can be 2,500 miles away from the nearest town. This brings an awareness that what you have on the boat is all you have; there is nothing more. You understand what finite means. Following my 2005 record-breaking circumnavigation, I spent the next four years researching the challenges facing our global economy. I realized that my understanding of finite at sea is no different when applied to our planet’s resources. These resources are available to us just once. Using them more sparingly and slowly merely delays the date we will exhaust them. We cannot continue in this linear fashion. The solution lies in the creation of a circular economy: We need to move beyond a culture of single use. All products and…

TRIOCUP Coffee to-go Reimagined An origami-like disposable paper cup, TrioCup eliminates the need for a plastic lid that can’t be recycled and would end up in a landfill. The cup’s simple trifold lid design easily integrates into existing coffee cup production methods, and the cost of the extra paper needed is more than covered by not having to produce a separate lid. Made of 100 percent compostable materials, the cup stacks well after assembly and has the added benefit of spill resistance because of its nonremovable lid. The American team that created the TrioCup is now working on an alternative material that will be 100 percent recyclable. — E D EVOWARE DESIGNED TO BE EATEN OR COMPOSTED Indonesian startup Evoware has developed food packets and wrappings that are made of…

THERE ARE 25 MILLION PEOPLE in North Korea, but the only visible portraits are of its leaders. Regular people are rarely photographed unless they are in a large group—even on their wedding day. In 2017 French photographer Stéphan Gladieu went to North Korea to discover its citizens’ individuality. At factories and farms the cleanest workers were trotted out for him. “In a country where ‘individuals’ don’t exist, I was doing something crazy by asking people to stand alone,” says Gladieu. He was repeatedly reminded of this by his minders, who chose the facilities he visited. He picked his subjects—though sometimes the minders would argue the person was too ugly, old, or unkempt. Taken alone, each portrait could look like smiling propaganda for the authoritarian regime. Together, they have an unsettling…

I TEACH UNDERGRADUATE psychology courses at the University of Maryland, and my classes draw students with diverse interests. But every one of them perks up when I pose this question: Do you want two extra-credit points on your term paper, or six points? I tell my students that the extra-credit offer is part of an exercise illustrating the interconnectedness of choices individuals make in communities. I explain that the exercise was inspired by an ecologist named Garrett Hardin and an address that he delivered 50 years ago this summer, describing what he called “the tragedy of the commons.” Hardin said that when many individuals act in their own self-interest without regard for society, the effects can be catastrophic. Hardin used the 19th-century convention of “the commons”—a cattle-grazing pasture that villagers…

Dylan Selterman teaches students about the tragedy of the commons with this extra-credit exercise: Choose zero, two, or six points to be added to your final paper grade. If more than 10 percent of you choose six points, no one will receive any points. If you choose zero points, you cancel out one of the six-point choosers, who will receive no points. In his class in fall semester 2017, how did students respond? Read on. ZERO POINTS SOCIOLOGY MAJOR Devin Porter, 21 “I took the class to get something out of it, not necessarily for the grade. When we didn’t get the extra credit, I felt bad for the people who really needed it, but I wasn’t too surprised. People who chose two made the obvious choice—everyone eats. People who…