Excerpt from an article I wrote for WMF: "In November 2016, I was invited by World Monuments Fund to discuss possible solutions to and methods for overcoming plastic pollution and other waste management issues at their work sites. In the process, I discovered many things about myself, Siem Reap, and Cambodia. My first week was largely observational. I witnessed the incredible restoration work at Phnom Bakheng and at Preah Kahn being done by WMF staff. I observed tourists and locals using massive quantities of disposable plastic in Siem Reap and at Angkor archeological sites. I observed the huge cultural event of Bon Om Tuk (water festival) in the city center and its utter reliance on plastic products. I also observed the daily routines of the World Monuments Fund staff at Angkor. Plastic is everywhere, and it is far too easy to simply say that it is bad. Yes, of course, with connections to cancer, infertility, respiratory disease, and many other human illnesses, plastic is bad. But strangely, this information doesn’t overcome egotistical immunity. Why? Few of us know, and I was determined that this be the focus of my work: to make information about plastic pollution accessible and personal. I also observed that the scale of plastic use is far too great to understand when our level of understanding is at zero. With this realization gained from the first week of observation I had undertaken, I shifted to research focused on several widely popular materials, including plastic bags, Styrofoam take-away containers, personal plastic water bottles, and plastic cigarette lighters. My objective was to create an understanding that would result in an elimination or serious reduction in the most prevalent and destructive types of plastic pollution." Continue reading here: https://www.wmf.org/blog/dont-eat-lighter-case-against-plastics Thank you World Monuments Fund
