Climate change, environmental damage, and the world ending because of human destruction is at the forefront of the conversation. Music is a constant, and we keep raving on, but even while doing so, we try to lessen our impact on the environment. Festivals urge us to leave no trace, and ones like Electric Forest have even had Electricology Sustainability programs.
Within the past few years, it became clear that one of our favorite rave accessories, glitter, is not environmentally friendly. It is made of microplastics, which are tiny pieces of plastic that end up harming the environment, especially marine life. These microplastics are so small that they get mistaken for tiny bits of food and consumed by ocean creatures. The smallest particles are even finding their way into human consumption because they are being eaten by sea creatures that eventually are part of seafood tables. The ingesting of these plastics is affecting growth and reproduction, and harming sea life.
The destructive properties of glitter have been made known and active efforts have been made to combat their reach. The Drastic on Plastic movement began back in 2018 as an attempt to get glitter banned from festivals. Unwilling to totally forgo our shimmery shining necessity but recognizing something had to be done, biodegradable glitter was created by companies like Lush and EcoStarDust. While the movement is picking up, it still has not quite taken a major hold.
Scientists are now trying to ban glitter and microplastics. Countries such as Australia have already made this law, and hopefully, the rest of the world will catch up. Until then, know that you can still shine in an environmentally friendly way, so while plastic glitter may be banned, we can all still wear eco-friendly glitter as we rave.
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