It is startling to see AI visualizations that highlight the crazily ridiculous amount of material that is continuously produced: 190,000 clothes per minute; 2.5 million shoes.
Every hour; 68,733 phones every hour. These items cascade down stairs and out of buildings, causing tsunamis of trash to flood streets and grow up into enormous mountains.
The scenes depict the physical reality of the current state of affairs, where the already enormous volume of items being produced is increasing at an exponential rate annually.
However, what happens to all of these things? We are confined to a world with limited space, but we continue to occupy every available inch.
Plastic will be present for decades to come since it makes up the bulk of what is created, including our clothing.
Even when it breaks down, microplastics are released into the environment, ending up in our food, drinking water, and even our brains.
