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Plastic Pollution

News
'Plastics Crisis' Costs $1.5T Annually, Study Says: 'World Cannot Recycle Its Way Out' 'Plastics Crisis' Costs $1.5T Annually, Study Says: 'World Cannot Recycle Its Way Out'
'Plastics Crisis' Costs $1.5T Annually, Study Says: 'World Cannot Recycle Its Way Out' Researchers are warning about a "global plastics crisis" that's costing about $1.5 trillion a year in deaths and medical issues. The estimate comes from a new study published in The Lancet medical journal on Sunday, Aug. 3. Plastic production is projected to triple by 2060, and less than 10% is ever recycled. Plastics are made from fossil fuels and contain more than 16,000 chemicals. Around 8,000 megatons are polluting Earth's environment, including the most remote places on the planet. Chemicals and microplastics have been found in the brains and other body parts of humans, along with lan…

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by Chris Spiker
Politics
Chemistry Council Lobbyists Skirt Campaign Finance Laws: Rivertowns Activists Fight Back Chemistry Council Lobbyists Skirt Campaign Finance Laws: Rivertowns Activists Fight Back
Chemistry Council Lobbyists Skirt Campaign Finance Laws: Rivertowns Activists Fight Back In a David and Goliath standoff, 33 members of Beyond Plastics’s Lower Westchester Chapter, mostly Rivertowns residents, and 250 recycling and plastic reduction advocates met in Albany on May 7th to challenge industry lobbyists and encourage State legislators to Put People over Plastics. The group is fighting for passage of the NYS Packaging Reduction & Recycling Infrastructure Act (PRRIA) even as industry lobbyists try their best to kill it. With a strong PRRIA, New York has an opportunity to address the monumental scourge of plastic pollution and lead the nation in reducing wasteful si…

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by Harriet Cheney
News
Hidden Dangers: Study Reveals High Levels Of Plastics In People's Brains Hidden Dangers: Study Reveals High Levels Of Plastics In People's Brains
Hidden Dangers: Study Reveals High Levels Of Plastics In People's Brains A new study is raising fresh concerns about the hidden dangers of microplastics — this time inside the human brain. Researchers at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences found that plastic particles have not only reached the brain but are present at higher concentrations there than in any other organ.  Even more alarming, the buildup appears to be accelerating, with plastic accumulation increasing by 50 percent over the past eight years. The study, published in Nature Medicine, involved an analysis of brain tissue collected during autopsies and stored by the New Mexico Office of…

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by Joe Lombardi
Lifestyle
We’ve Got To Ditch Single-Use Plastics We’ve Got To Ditch Single-Use Plastics
We’ve Got To Ditch Single-Use Plastics We’ve got to ditch single-use plastics. We have adopted a disposable lifestyle in which around 50% of plastic is used once and then thrown away. Today, single-use plastics present some of the biggest environmental hazards because plastic can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade. (A plastic water bottle takes 450 years.) And when plastic breaks down into microplastics, tiny 5mm particles, the dangers increase exponentially. When you discard plastics, they remain in landfills for decades. Contrary to popular belief, only 6% of plastic (actually) gets recycled. As plastics biodegrade, they can…

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by Camilla Calhoun
News
LI Sound Seal Pup Dies Weeks After City Street Rescue: 'Chappy Was Surrounded By Love' LI Sound Seal Pup Dies Weeks After City Street Rescue: 'Chappy Was Surrounded By Love'
LI Sound Seal Pup Dies Weeks After City Street Rescue: 'Chappy Was Surrounded By Love' A seal pup found wandering on a New Haven street has died, unable to recover from illness and malnutrition. The gray seal nicknamed "Chappy" has died, Mystic Aquarium said in an Instagram post on Monday, Mar. 3. The male pup was brought to the aquarium's Animal Rescue Clinic on Sunday, Feb. 16 after New Haven police found him stranded near the intersection of Chapel and East streets. At first, Chappy responded well to treatments for dehydration, malnutrition, and mild pneumonia, but he struggled with digestion after transitioning to eating whole fish. "The Mystic Aquarium st…

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by Chris Spiker