“[Oil and gas companies] know that with the climate crisis, it’s not all going into fuel for cars, for ships or for planes. There’s a big transition that’s happening,” said Tong. “They’re also fully aware that the best place to put their oil and gas now is into plastic, and in the [invisibility] of plastic.”

(Getty Images/Olga Yakovleva/1292397963-170667a)

And, with plastic having its far reach across the globe, with samples discovered in remote locales such as the Arctic region or in the Mariana Trench, the deepest place on Earth, people might think escaping or avoiding it seems impossible at this point.

“It doesn’t matter where you go, it’s in just about everything. It’s in rainwater. It’s in the food you eat. It’s deeply, deeply embedded in the soil,” said Tong.

However, she said we shouldn’t give up hope in what appears to be an uphill battle to eliminate microplastics from the planet.

“My grandmother did not have very much plastic in her home. This is only something that we’ve been doing in a couple generations. So, it’s something that we can undo because we certainly know how to live without plastics,” said Tong.