Is Solving the Plastic Problem a Moral Issue?

Explore

Plastics in the clouds, in fish guts, in our brains, in the placenta: The Earth and its inhabitants are in the midst of a plastics crisis. A global treaty to address that crisis is long overdue. A United Nations committee has been trying to hash out the details of an agreement that would limit the production of new plastics and minimize plastics’ harmful effects since 2022.

The committee’s goal was to finalize such an international treaty last year, but negotiations have stalled, with multiple oil-producing countries—including Russia, India, and Saudi Arabia—rejecting proposals to limit plastic production, among other roadblocks. With a 2024 goal for a finalized treaty come and gone, delegates from more than 170 countries, along with representatives from advocacy groups, plastics industry organizations, and others, have been gathered in Geneva, Switzerland, since last week to give finalizing the treaty one last shot.

The outlook is not particularly good. Late last month, Trump administration officials sent a memo to several countries urging them to reject provisions aimed at capping the production of virgin plastic and the addition of certain chemicals to plastics before the Geneva talks even commenced. But the United States government isn’t the only one sending around letters trying to influence the shape of this sweeping plastics treaty. Religious leaders from around the world have also weighed in, stating their desire to see some form of a constructive solution to the mounting plastic crisis. The letters were obtained recently by Nautilus.

The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, sent a message dated July 28 that relayed his hopeful but pragmatic approach. “It is impractical to expect the total elimination of plastics production because many plastic-based products are essential for the health and well-being of living beings,” the head of Tibetan Buddhism wrote. “However, the thoughtless usage of plastic needs to be curtailed.” The Dalai Lama urged the delegates to “act wisely,” and put together a treaty that “protects the health of all living beings, safeguards human rights, and preserves our small blue planet, our only home.”

Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church, echoed the Dalai Lama’s sentiments, with a special emphasis on the most vulnerable. “Through our insensitive attitudes and careless actions, we have created far more plastics and single-use goods than we need or can possibly manage,” he wrote. “We now know that plastic waste not only pollutes mountains, forests, cities, and oceans, but that it harms the most vulnerable among us by breaking down into minute particles that enter and pollute the bodies of every living creature,” he wrote in a letter to the UN committee.

Batholomew urged that solving this problem will require a dramatic change in attitudes about the relationship between Earth’s creatures. “It is our fervent hope and prayer that we will drastically convert our worldview and ways, recognizing that we are all interrelated as human beings and with the rest of creation.”

The Vatican weighed in as well. Joachim von Braun, president of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, reiterated the need to change humanity’s relationship with plastic. The crisis requires a “holistic approach—one rooted in a profound ethic of care for our common home, not merely marginal adjustments,” he wrote in an August 1 letter. “The treaty must be science-based and include actionable recommendations that address both the chemical and particulate aspects of plastics throughout their life cycle.”

Hopefully an agreement will come out of Geneva this week that will help humanity emerge from decades of dependence on plastic products and will protect our own health and the blue ball we call home.

Lead image: FOTOKITA / Shutterstock

• Bob Grant

  Posted on August 13, 2025

  Bob Grant is the deputy editor at Nautilus.