• Oceans

Top Stories of 2019: The Ocean Is On the Rise

• carbon sink
• climate change
• ocean
• plastic pollution

In 2019, the ocean finally got its due — from a growing public determination to end ocean plastic pollution (think straw bans) and the increasing scientific recognition that the ocean has taken the brunt of climate emissions and now is rapidly changing in ways that are impacting people all around the world today (like sea-level rise and historic/chronic flooding jeopardizing places from Houston to Venice), the ocean as an environmental cause finally got the attention it deserves.  

Why This Matters:  The ocean connects everyone on the planet, and globally there is tremendous support for protecting it — we are called the “blue planet” for a reason.

• People

Heroes of the Week: Diane Wilson and her Legal Team

• clean water
• plastic pollution
• polluters
• Texas

A federal judge approved a historic $50 million settlement agreement Tuesday between Taiwan-based plastics manufacturer Formosa and a scrappy environmental activist represented by indigent legal services nonprofit Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid.

• Oceans

A New Playbook For Addressing Ocean Plastics

• Coca Cola
• Dow
• ocean
• plastic pollution
• recycling
• Starbucs

In advance of the sixth Our Ocean Conference later this week, the Ocean Conservancy released its latest report on ocean plastics recommending content standards for recycled products to increase the demand for them and that they impose fees on producers depending on the amount of packaging material they put on the market or their plastic recycling/recovery targets in order to increase single-use plastic collection.

Why This Matters:  It is significant that a group of companies that are responsible for much of the plastic that is sold — companies like Dow, Starbucks, and Coca-Cola — were part of this effort and stand behind these recommendations.  They know they have a problem.  But it will take their action — urging Congress and state and local legislatures to enact the necessary laws and ordinances — to make their recommendations a reality.

• Sustainability

Hero of the Week: Lilly Satidtanasarn

• Ocean Plastic
• plastic pollution
• Thailand

Called “Thailand’s Greta Thunberg” 12-year-old Lilly Satidtanasarn has been fighting to stop the use of single-use plastics in her home country–which is one of the leading contributors to ocean plastic pollution. As the Jakarta Post reported, “In June, Lilly won her first victory: she persuaded Central, a major supermarket in Bangkok, to stop giving out […]

• Sustainability

PFAS Found in “Compostable” Sweetgreen and Chipotle Containers

• Chemicals
• PFAS
• plastic pollution

by Miro Korenha and Alexandra Patel While fast-casual restaurant chains Chipotle and Sweetgreen are praised for their consciously sourced ingredients and vegetarian-friendly options, their compostable containers have come under fire for containing harmful chemicals despite otherwise being seen as a more sustainable alternative to plastic and styrofoam. A recently-released report from the New Food Economy revealed […]

• Sustainability

President Trump’s Sustainable Straws A Big Seller

• #makestrawsgreatagain
• #StopSucking
• Ocean Plastic
• plastic pollution
• straws

The Guardian reported last week that President Trump’s campaign manager, Brad Parscale, boasted that they had raked in almost $500,000 in one week from selling reusable and recyclable Trump-branded nine-inch long plastic straws that sold out within hours.  The straw is nothing more than a gimmick — the idea for it grew out of Parscale’s bad experience with a paper straw — several cities like Seattle and Washington, D.C. have outlawed the single-use plastic straw. 

• Animals

Georgia Loggerhead Sea Turtles Thriving Thanks to Community Engagement

• eggs
• Georgia
• plastic pollution
• sea turtles
• St. Simons Island
• threatened

It is the middle of sea turtle nesting season along the Georgia coast, which typically occurs between May and September, and The New York Times reports that researchers there are crossing their fingers, hoping for a banner year. According to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR), which has an active sea turtle monitoring program, nesting season started early. 

• Sustainability

Another Corporate Plastics Initiative? This One’s Actually Different.

• oceans
• plastic pollution
• plastics
• sustainable brands
• WWF

One of the biggest environmental topics both in our current public dialogue and here at the Sustainable Brands conference from where I’m (Miro) reporting is that of plastic pollution. Already in the past year, several corporate commitments have been made with the stated goal of reducing plastics in the environment but can a multitude of […]

• Politics

EU Votes NO on Single-Use Plastics

• ban
• EU
• plastic
• plastic pollution
• single use plastic

The European Parliament voted this past week to ban all single-use plastic items, including straws, food containers, cotton buds, and cutlery by 2021. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of the ban; 560 MEPs voting in favor of the agreement, 35 voting against it, and 28 abstaining. The EU’s Call to Action: The new plans […]

• Climate Change

Plastic production a growing contributor to climate change

• #ActOnClimate
• climate change
• emissions
• GHGs
• plastic
• plastic pollution

  We know that plastic pollution is a problem so rampant that if we don’t drastically act we can expect to see more plastic in the world’s oceans than fish by 2050. However, a new study by the Center of International Environmental Law has revealed that the plastic industry is the second largest and fastest-growing source […]

• Oceans
• Sustainability

Seabins are helping clean up marinas around the world

• microplastics
• Ocean Plastic
• oceans
• plastic pollution

We write about ocean plastic pollution a lot, mostly because if we don’t act to curb our addiction to plastic there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans by 2050. Boating marinas especially are places where there’s a big opportunity to stop trash before it enters the ocean. Marinas are critical for […]

• Sustainability

MLS Celebrates Earth Week With Greener Goals

• Adidas
• MLS
• Ocean Plastic
• Parley
• plastic pollution
• soccer

Major League Soccer began its fourth annual Earth Day week of service last Thursday with a series of volunteer activities in all the MLS cities continuing through Earth Day, April 22nd.  Each of the 24 clubs will, during this week, be wearing special Adidas x Parley eco-friendly kits (that is uniforms) during Earth Day weekend (April 19-21).