Do you consider it important to focus on the fight against plastic pollution?

Certainly. From an ethical perspective, which is what I am dedicated to, it is very important to promote responsibility when acting, making us see that our actions have consequences and through them we may be harming other people or the environment.
 

How can this problem be addressed from your research area ?

First of all, it is necessary to underline something that may seem obvious, but is often forgotten: behind every plastic found in the fields or the seas there is a person, who may simply have been careless in dropping it, but is usually someone who is unaware of the harm it causes or even one who cares nothing about what happens to others. It is therefore essential to make it very clear what damage plastic causes to the environment and to other people. It will then be easier to make at least well-meaning people be more careful when disposing of their bottles and containers. Finally, a modern version of a famous Socratic question can be posed: Which would you prefer, to have your garden full of plastic through no fault of your own, or to have it happen to your neighbor's garden because of you? By convincing someone that it is better to suffer an injustice than to commit it - as classical ethics suggests - many individuals or company managers will be able to convince themselves that it is worth the effort, even if they have to suffer certain discomforts or make less profit.
 

Are you participating in any project related to this issue? Tell us briefly! If not, what project or idea would you like to implement to tackle plastic pollution from your discipline?

I do not participate in any project at the moment. I think that a project examining the relationship between the presence of plastics and some characteristics of the places where it happens would be interesting. As a girl who lives in a small town told me one day: "In my town it is unthinkable for a child or young person to throw garbage on the ground, because they know that later a person they know will have to come and clean it up". It seems that where the opposite happens is precisely in societies where the sense of community is lacking, where individualism prevails and where there is a lack of sensitivity to appreciate the land (fields, forests and rivers).

* Miguel Pérez de Laborda belongs to the School of Sciences. Learn more about his research.