Lauren McCauley at Common Dreams writes Report Warns that Plastics Will Soon Outweigh Fish in World's Oceans:
The weight of plastic waste clogging the world's oceans threatens to exceed all fish by 2050 if the world's seemingly insatiable appetite for the material continues at the current explosive rate, warned a new report presented on Tuesday.
In fact, according to the study by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation along with the World Economic Forum, "plastics production has surged over the past 50 years, from 15 million tonnes in 1964 to 311 million tonnes in 2014, and is expected to double again over the next 20 years."
The study—The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the future of plastics—introduced at the opening day of the WEF's annual summit in Davos, Switzerland is the first of its kind to comprehensively assess global plastic packaging flows. The report makes an economic case for what it calls the "New Plastics Economy," described as "a new approach based on creating effective after-use pathways for plastics; drastically reducing leakage of plastics into natural systems, in particular oceans; and decoupling plastics from fossil feedstocks."
Among the findings, which are based on interviews with over 180 experts and on analysis of over 200 reports, the study estimates that roughly 8 million tonnes of plastics leak into the ocean each year—"which is equivalent to dumping the contents of one garbage truck into the ocean every minute." This amount is expected to double by 2030.
"In a business-as-usual scenario, the ocean is expected to contain 1 tonne of plastic for every 3 tonnes of fish by 2025, and by 2050, more plastics than fish (by weight)," the report continues.
What's more, the report estimates that only 14 percent of plastic packaging is collected for recycling and even less for plastics in general. After sorting, only 5 percent is ultimately retained for subsequent use, which is far below global recycling rates for paper (58 percent) and iron and steel (70–90 percent). [...]
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At Daily Kos on this date in 2013—'Pro-life' terrorists super excited about this year's Fetuspalooza:
Ah, January in Washington, D.C., Bare trees, icy sidewalks, inauguration plans underway—and terrorists dressed up like sweet little grandmothers bussing to the nation's capital, ready for their annual celebration of restricting women's access to health care.
That's right, it's time for Fetuspalooza 2013!
Ever since the Supreme Court held in 1973 that yes, women have the right to decide whether and when they want to have children—a right that has been redefined, restricted and outright denied ever since—the fetus fetishists have gathered for the "March for Life" to either celebrate or mourn, depending on just how successful their war on women and doctors has been in the preceding year. In 2012, 19 states passed 43 new laws restricting reproductive rights, so you figure there will be an awful lot of celebrating at this year's march.
Sarah Kliff at the Washington Post writes about one such fetus fetishist who has devoted her life to terrorizing the Allegheny Reproductive Health Center in Pennsylvania and is very excited about her upcoming four-hour bus trip to "to spend the day with 100,000 other people who feel the same way that I do"—meaning, of course, a big group hug with thousands of other like-minded terrorists.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, Greg Dworkin and Armando consider the debate, the morning-after punditry and the pie-fighting. Flint’s water crisis expands. Some finally get it, others never heard of it. Bundyite bemoans his lost subsidies. Scholastic pulls their Washington book.
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