Governments around the world are waking up to the scourge of plastics on our oceans and its creatures by banning items such as shopping bags and drinking straws. But an often-overlooked form of plastic waste is also a major threat to our seas: “ghost” gear. A report released Thursday from World Animal Protection highlights that […]
From January through March, an average of 6,000 dolphins are killed each year on France’s west coast by large industrial trawlers and vessels fishing in pairs (nets dragged between two trawlers). That number could be as high as 10,000, according to the Pélagis Observatory, based in La Rochelle. That’s more than the number of dolphins […]
Malibu, the trendy Californian city in Los Angeles County known for its stunning ocean views and sandy beaches, is taking a stand against single-use plastics. According to the Los Angeles Times, the City Council voted Monday to ban nearly 70 restaurants and food vendors from selling or distributing plastic straws, stirrers and utensils to customers. […]
A top EU official hinted that legislation to cut plastic waste in Europe is coming soon. Frans Timmermans, the first vice president of the European Commission, made the comment after Britain’s environment minister Michael Gove, a pro-Brexiter, suggested that staying in the EU would make it harder for the UK to create environmental laws such […]
By Paul Brown A ubiquitous tide of plastic particles has now swept throughout the world’s oceans. The human rights activist Bianca Jagger described to a conference in London Tuesday how a substance that was invented only in 1907 and seemed to have almost magical properties, because it was practically indestructible, is now threatening an environmental […]
By Julia Conley Bottled water companies have relied on predatory marketing practices and exorbitant lobbying efforts to sell Americans on the inaccurate belief that pre-packaged water is cleaner and safer than tap water—a notion that is costing U.S. households about $16 billion per year. In a new report entitled “Take Back the Tap,” Food & […]
Microplastics can really be found everywhere, even in the stomachs of creatures living deep underwater. Marine scientists from the National University of Ireland (NUI) in Galway found the plastic bits in 73 percent of 233 deep-sea fish collected from the Northwest Atlantic Ocean—one of the highest microplastic frequencies in fish ever recorded worldwide. For the […]
Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Agency, in cooperation with a number of environmental organizations, proposed an ambitious 12-year timeline Tuesday to eliminate four types of single-use plastics—takeaway beverage cups, drinking straws, shopping bags and disposable tableware—by 2030 to tackle plastic pollution. Taiwan, the birthplace of bubble tea, is famous for its unique food and drink culture, but […]
By Wenonah Hauter We are choking the planet in plastic. Everything from wasteful water bottles to grocery shopping bags are polluting our waterways, and endangering marine life and the natural environment. It’s fair to say that even the most casual news consumer has probably encountered a Facebook post, TV report or radio segment about the […]
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