Properly addressing the plastics problem involves not only interrogating corporate tactics but also understanding that some plastics provide societal benefits. Over the past few years, the paradox of plastic as both a miracle for and a menace to society has become a platitude. There are countless stories in the media and popular culture about our fraught relationship with plastic, focusing[Read More...]
Today, the world is witnessing the Covid-19 pandemic, accompanied by other pandemics like the information pandemic (infodemic) and the Covid-19 waste pandemic. The burgeoning consumption and improper disposal practices of face masks by the community worldwide have given rise to a new environmental challenge. These materials are getting into waterways from where they reach the freshwater and marine environment, adding[Read More...]
Researchers finding microplastic in the placenta of pregnant women buzzes precursor alarms to life on earth. Plastic has prevailed in every sphere of the planet earth, from deepest trenches in the ocean to the highest mountains; even the mother’s womb could not escape plastic. By 2040, scientists estimated that earth would be dumped with 1.3 billion tonnes of plastic, in[Read More...]
Many of us – the readers of Countercurrents – are eating plastic although we do not buy the plastic for eating. There are incidents of recalling of several food items, because there were traces of plastic in those foods items. Almost 60,000 pounds of Pilgrim’s Pride chicken nuggets were recalled back in June because they may contain plastic. Now, scientists have found[Read More...]
Plastics are found in the products we use every day: the toys we give our children, the clothing we wear, the disposable cups we drink from, the automobiles we make, the straws we use, the list goes on. Cheap and easy to make, plastic goods and plastic production have exploded in recent years. Yet the junked cars, the used straws[Read More...]
Few documentaries have had quite this impact, so much so that it has ushered in the unfortunate combination of war and plastic, two terms that sit uneasily together, if at all. Tears were recorded; anxiety levels were propelled as Sir David Attenborough tore and tugged at heart strings in his production Blue Planet II. The oceans, warned the documentary maker,[Read More...]
Americans reportedly dump some 35 billion plastic bottles every year. Most of the rest of the world doesn’t fare much better. At least half of the plastic manufactured is designed to be used only once and then thrown away. The plastic takes centuries to decompose, resulting ultimately in landfills and beaches being inundated with these single-use […]
