Plastic, extinction, poisoned oceans: the planet is dying while we negotiate

There are numbers that should stop everything. Not slow everything down — stop everything. Here they are. Each year, approximately 11 million tons of plastic waste enter aquatic ecosystems. Global plastic production could increase by 40% by 2030 if no action is taken. 94% of marine plastics end up on the ocean floor — making any surface cleaning futile.

With global production increasing from 2 million tons in 1950 to 475 million in 2022, the 16,000 chemical substances present in plastics cause hormonal and cognitive disorders, malformations, sterility, and a mortality rate that is difficult to quantify. Sixteen thousand chemical substances. In our bottles. On our plates. In our blood — because microplastics have been found in the human brain, in breast milk, in the lungs of newborns.

In the meantime, species are disappearing. A barometer published in June 2025 reveals that 1,677 marine species, including one-third of sharks and more than a quarter of cetaceans, are at risk of extinction. According to Marina Lévy, a researcher at the CNRS, this barometer shows an "accelerated degradation" of the oceans.

Reports are multiplying, documenting the collapse of all areas of biodiversity, particularly due to industrial agricultural practices. International negotiations did not lead to a global treaty against plastic pollution in Busan at the end of 2024, due to a lack of agreement in the face of industrial economic interests.

That's the reality of 2026: science documents the collapse in real time, states sign declarations of intent, industries block treaties, and the planet continues to burn, drown in plastic, and lose its species one by one. We don't lack reports. We lack political courage. And while the lobbies negotiate the commas of international treaties, the sixth mass extinction is advancing — without negotiating, it.