plastic

By Daniel T Cross” ( Sustainability Times) – Microplastics have permeated the environment from mountain tops to the seafloor and are posing a threat to human health as well because we unwittingly ingest considerable quantities of it. It turns out that microplastics, which are minute particles often invisible to the naked eye, can even get […]

Environment

Scientists issue Dire Warning: Chemical Pollution now Exceeds Safe Planetary Limit

The Conversation

By Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez | – The production and release of plastics, pesticides, industrial compounds, antibiotics and other pollutants is now happening so fast and on such a large scale that it has exceeded the planetary boundary for chemical pollution, the safe limit for humanity, a new study claims. We asked Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez, a PhD candidate […]

Environment

Let’s de-commercialize Christmas this Year and give our Kids the Gift of a Liveable Earth

Frida Berrigan

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Confession time: this year, I don’t want to buy my kids anything for Christmas. Big one, right? Okay, let me soften that just a bit. I have bought a few modest, useful things. But that’s it! No new games, no new toys, no new clothes (other than socks)… nothing. They already […]

Environment

Plastic trash in the ocean is a global problem, and the US is the top source – a new report urges action

The Conversation

By Matthew Savoca, Anna Robuck, and Lauren Kashiwabara | – Plastic waste of all shapes and sizes permeates the world’s oceans. It shows up on beaches, in fish and even in Arctic sea ice. And a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine makes clear that the U.S. is a big […]

Environment

Plastic, plastic everywhere – airborne microplastics are settling into the most remote corners of the globe

The Conversation

By Elvis Genbo Xu and Xiaoyu Duan | – Little pieces of plastic can now be found everywhere: from table salt, drinking water and food, to the deep seas, far deserts and most remote mountains. While it’s not surprising to find plastics and microplastics in urban environments where they’re used every day, their appearance in […]

Climate Change

We Can’t go Carbon Neutral without Reducing Plastics: 1 ton of plastic creates 5 tons of CO2 emissions

Clean Energy Wire

By Benjamin Wehrmann | – ( Clean Energy Wire ) – Avoiding and better managing plastic waste should receive much greater attention by the German government in its bid to achieve a climate neutral economy, economic research institute DIW said in an analysis. Producing and disposing of one tonne of plastic on average causes about […]

Climate Crisis

Why We cannot meet sustainable development goals with a sick ocean

The Conversation

By Josep Lluís Pelegrí Llopart | – The United Nations declared the start to the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development earlier this year. Its aim is to promote science-based ocean and coastal management, making healthy oceans one of the pillars of progress for all of humanity. Under the slogan “The science we need […]

Oceans

Where does the 10 Million Tons of Plastic we put into the Oceans Annually actually go?

The Conversation

By Bruce Sutherland, Michelle DiBenedetto and Ton van den Bremer | – Of the hundreds of millions of tonnes of plastic waste we produce each year, it’s estimated that around ten million tonnes enters the ocean. Roughly half of the plastics produced are less dense than water, and so they float. But scientists estimate that […]

Oceans

The Plastic Plague: Fish are eating more Microplastics, and We are eating those Fish

The Conversation

By Alexandra McIntur and Matthew Savoca | – Trillions of barely visible pieces of plastic are floating in the world’s oceans, from surface waters to the deep seas. These particles, known as microplastics, typically form when larger plastic objects such as shopping bags and food containers break down. Researchers are concerned about microplastics because they […]