In India’s Largest City, A Ban on Plastics Faces Big Obstacles
Facing a scourge of plastic bags, the Indian state that includes Mumbai mandated a sweeping ban on plastic bags and other throwaway plastic items. But the chaos that followed shows the challenges of restricting a material so deeply embedded in the modern economy.
Invasive Species Are Riding on Plastic Across the Oceans
Crustaceans and mollusks foreign to the United States have survived up to six years riding on ocean plastic trash.
Plastic straw ban? Cigarette butts are the single greatest source of ocean trash
Cigarette butts have long been the single most collected item on the world’s beaches, with a total of more than 60 million collected over 32 years.
Ghost netting: Image emerges of decomposed turtle wrapped in plastic net
Pictures taken from the upcoming environmental film Blue, which will be shown at the Ocean Film Festival UK & Ireland Tour, show the horrific effects of plastic pollution and ghost nets on marine life and the world’s oceans.
Degrading plastics revealed as source of greenhouse gases
Researchers have found that several greenhouse gases are emitted as common plastics degrade in the environment. Their study reports the unexpected discovery of the universal production of greenhouse gases methane and ethylene by the most common plastics when exposed to sunlight.
Piling up: Drowning in a sea of plastic
Piece by piece, an environmental threat is piling up, and we’re ALL to blame. Worse yet, even those of us trying to bring an end to the problem may not be doing as much good as we think.
For Marine Life, New Threats from a Fast-Tracked Canadian Pipeline
A new Canadian government-backed pipeline that will triple the amount of thick Alberta tar sands oil flowing to a British Columbia port poses significant risks for a threatened population of killer whales and other coastal marine life.
What is a red tide?
Harmful algal blooms pop up nearly every summer, turning coastal waters red and creating problems for marine life and humans.
See wave of garbage off the Dominican Republic
A video taken by “Parley for the Oceans” on July 14 shows a “dense garbage carpet” covering the water in Santo Domingo.