(47) PLASTICS and ALISON TEAL – It’s worse than you could ever imagine
This year, Alison Teal arrived on a Maldivian island and ready to do 21 days without food or water for Discovery Channel’s reality show, she was overwhelmed with how much plastic trash she saw washed up across the small island. She even handcrafted a raft from the pollution and paddled back to civilization, thus winning […]
(46) World’s first ‘plastic-free’ packaging supermarket opens in Germany.
The opening of world’s first plastic-free supermarket in Germany is the fruit of a year-long campaign launched in January 2017 with a single goal: “to dramatically reduce” plastic usage, especially in food and drinks packaging. The concept of the store is simple: all food is provided in bulk and customers bring their own containers. If […]
(45) Mumbai’s anti-plastic police
The streets of Mumbai are now patrolled by anti-plastic police, known as the Blue Squad. They can impose fines of up to 300 euros or even jail time for anyone caught using single-use bottles, cups or bags. “The job is very stressful. When we fine traders and shopkeepers there is some form of resistance or […]
(44) Revolutionary Idea: Paying For Public Transport With Trash In Surabaya, Indonesia
Indonesia’s second-largest city has come up with a novel way to encourage its residents to recycle waste: giving free bus rides in exchange for used plastic bottles. Under the scheme launched by Surabaya in April, commuters can ride red city buses by dropping off plastic bottles at terminals or directly ‘paying’ a fare with bottles. […]
(43) You’re eating microplastics in ways you don’t even realise.
We’re increasingly aware of how plastic is polluting our environment. Much recent attention has focused on how microplastics – tiny pieces ranging from 5 millimetres down to 100 nanometres in diameter – are filling the seas and working their way into the creatures that live in them. That means these ocean microplastics are entering the […]
(42) 93 percent of the world’s children breathe toxic, polluted air each day.
Nearly 2 billion children – about 93 percent of the world’s children under the age of 15 – breathe toxic, putrid air that’s so polluted it puts their health and well-being at serious risk, a new report said. Many of the children die: The United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 600,000 children died in […]
(41) The European Union Just Voted To Ban Single-Use Plastics By 2021.
The European Parliament has voted to ban single-use plastics across the board in an attempt to stop the unending stream of plastic pollution making its way into the oceans. Such plastic products are, as the name suggests, used just once and then thrown away. They include things like straws, plates, cups and cotton buds, and […]
(40) The Amount of Space Junk Around Earth Has Hit A Critical Point
As some scientists try to clean up the world’s oceans and remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, others are tackling the problem of pollution in space. Defunct satellites, spent rocket parts and thousands of other pieces of human-made debris have accumulated in orbit around Earth in recent decades — and the problem is getting worse. […]
(39) IT’S ONE LAST CHANCE TO STOP CLIMATE CHANGE BEFORE IT BECOMES IRREVERSIBLE
We have 12 years to limit climate change catastrophe , warns UN. Urgent changes needed to cut risks of extreme heat, drought, floods and poverty, says IPCC. The world’s leading climate scientists have warned there is only a dozen years for global warming to be kept to a maximum of 1.5C, beyond which even half […]
(38) The Mental Cost of Air Pollution
People can easily inhale fine particulate matter (particles less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter) and absorb it into the bloodstream. Fine particulate matter is considered of greater risk than larger particles. The researchers found that the risk of psychological distress increased alongside the amount of fine particulate matter in the air. For example, in areas […]