A Dead World, Plastic-Wrapped to Preserve Freshness
In the classic 1967 film The Graduate, a family friend of lead character Benjamin Braddock (played by Dustin Hoffman) offers him career advice: “One word. Plastics!” I was 16 when The Graduate was…
Plastic Pollution
The True Cost of Ocean Plastic Pollution
PARIS – The problem of maritime plastic-waste pollution first became apparent in the 1970s. In the half-century since then, the problem has become ever more widespread, as scientific expeditions conducted…
The Invisible Threat of Microplastics: From Chewing Gum to Bottled Water
Several new national and international research surveys have warned that hazardous microplastics are present in our breath, drinking water, and crops. Various research journals worldwide continuously publish alarming findings from…
While plastic dominates human consumption, the global economy will remain hooked on fossil fuels
In early December 2024, hopes for a landmark global treaty to curb plastic pollution were dashed as negotiations in South Korea stalled. Leading the campaign against the deal were major oil-producing…
Major Plastic Polluters Win as UN Treaty Talks Conclude Without Agreement
Environmental groups on Sunday decried the conclusion of a United Nations summit designed to secure an international treaty to combat plastic pollution after powerful oil- and gas-producing nations refused to…
Plastic Pollution Is a Crime Against People and the Planet
Plastic particles and chemicals pollute all of our bodies. But people living on the fencelines of the fossil fuel, plastic, and waste industries face even more life-threatening pollution. Louisiana’s “River…
Treaty Negotiations Should See Plastics for What They Are: An Ocean Justice Crisis
As the fourth negotiating session on the United Nations plastics treaty comes to a close, pressing questions loom: Will world leaders finalize a robust agreement by the end of this year that…
Plastics – Destroying Our Pretty Blue Planet
An anonymous ‘they’ are accused of damaging our pretty blue planet, but we know for certain it is not ‘they’. It is ‘Us’. ‘We’. It’s we who are ravaging and…
Plastic Pollution Caused $249 Billion In U.S. Health Care Costs In 2018, Finds Study
Chemicals leaching from plastics are leaving Americans notably sicker and poorer, according to a new study found. By contributing to the development of chronic disease and death, a group of hormone-disruptive…
How to Make Recyclable Plastics Out of CO2 to Slow Climate Change
Chemists are manipulating carbon dioxide to make clothing, mattresses, shoes, and more. It’s morning, and you wake up on a comfortable foam mattress made partly from greenhouse gas. You pull…
Pristine to Polluted: Vembanad Lake’s Microplastic Threat to the Food Chain
Vembanad Lake in India, the longest in the country and the largest in Kerala, is alarmingly polluted with microplastics, according to a study from the Alfred Wegener Institute. All sediment…
Ban on Single-Use Plastic items in India, an elusive dream
One year after India banned nineteen single-use plastic items for tackling plastic waste, the situation on the ground tells us a different story. Banned single-use plastic items are found to…
The Impact of Plastic on Human Health
We know that plastic is choking the planet. But it could be killing us, too. In 2019, the European Commission’s Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks published a statement that…
The US Shouldn’t Stand in the Way of an Ambitious Global Plastics Treaty
The United States has so far backed country-specific over global plastic-reduction targets, but relying on national targets alone undermines the sincerity and cohesiveness of a global effort to reduce plastics…
Stop Plastic Pollution as We Commemorate 50th World Environment Day 2023
There is widespread acknowledgement that the present-day structures of society are ill-prepared to address the needs of humanity in its current travails. Therefore, cooperation and reciprocity should be our highest…
Plastic Pollution in Destinations: A Growing Threat to Environmental Sustainability
The natural surroundings of tourist destinations play a significant role in attracting visitors. However, the contamination of these environments by plastic garbage poses a threat to tourism. When tourist spots…
Our Planet Versus Plastic Bags—A Tale of Two Cities
With oceans, countries, populations, and governments inundated by a plague of plastic worldwide, it may be useful to focus on the single-use plastic bag choices made by two cities, in…
600 Million Metric Tons of Plastic May Fill Oceans by 2036 If We Don’t Act Now
Fossil fuel stakeholders have been seeking new revenue in the petrochemical industry in general, and plastics in particular. As the private transportation sector shifts focus to batteries, biofuels, and green…
The Plastics Paradox Facing Humanity
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…
Burgeoning plastic footprint: Who is responsible?
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…
After earth, is human body a dumping ground to microplastics?
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…
Plastic in every bite of commercial seafood, finds research
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,…
The Perils of Plastic Pollution
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,…
Warring On Plastic: David Attenborough, Britain And Environmental Missions
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…
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