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Plastic pollution is one of the direst environmental crises we face. Worse yet, nearly all the plastic ever created still exists in some form today yet much of it has merely broken down into microplastics–microscopic fragments of plastic that are ubiquitous in the environment. They’re in food, seaspray, and now, according to new research published […]
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by Natasha Lasky, ODP Staff Writer A new UN report suggests that plastic pollution isn’t just a threat to marine life — it’s also an issue of environmental justice. The report, titled Neglected: Environmental Justice Impacts of Plastic Pollution, highlights that poor nations and communities around the world disproportionately suffer the effects of plastic waste. This […]
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by Erin Simon, Head of Plastic Waste and Business, World Wildlife Fund After a year of unprecedented devastation and loss, the arrival of 2021 has shown us at least a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Our top priority remains the immediate health and safety of our fellow citizens, but we […]
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A new report from the environmental nonprofit Oceana finds that Amazon has increased the amount of plastic packaging it uses every year. Last year, according to Oceana’s estimates, the company generated enough plastic packaging to circle the globe 500 times.
Why this Matters: Oceana also found that less than 1% of Amazon’s plastic waste ended up in rivers, lakes, and oceans. But it’s 1% of a huge number — that amounts to the equivalent of dumping one delivery van full of plastic into marine ecosystems every 70 minutes.
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by Natasha Lasky, ODP Contributing Writer A new study published in the journal Conservation Letters has found that plastic bags and flexible packaging are the most deadly bits of plastic waste in the world’s oceans. From a review of hundreds of scientific articles, the agency found that plastic ingestion was responsible for the deaths of […]
Continue Reading 576 wordsThe World Wildlife Fund (WWF) issued a new report yesterday illuminating the devastating impact of derelict or abandoned fishing gear in the ocean (aka “ghost gear”), and the numbers are terrifying — between 500,000 and 1,000,000 tons of ghost gear wind up in the ocean EACH YEAR!
Why This Matters: While fishing gear that is in use is a threat to marine life like whales, abandoned fishing gear is just a tragedy waiting to happen and completely needless — eliminating it is totally within our control.
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