Microplastics in the Ocean are More Abundant than Previously Thought
A new study from the Plymouth Marine Institute in the U.K. has found that the amount of microplastics in our oceans is much higher than previously thought. Scientists trawled off the coast of Maine in the U.S. and the coast of Plymouth in the U.K. and used mesh nets in sizes of 100 microns (0.1mm), 333 microns and 500 microns. Scientists found 2.5 times more particles in the smallest 100-micron net than in the 333-micron nets usually used in microplastic studies. Both U.S. and U.K. coasts had similar results, which suggests that other, populated coasts would have similar results.
The estimate of marine microplastic concentration could currently be vastly underestimated…Using an extrapolation, we suggest microplastic concentrations could exceed 3,700 particles per cubic meter – that’s far more than the number of zooplankton you would find…”
The majority of microplastics found in this study were textiles fibers from ropes, nets, synthetic clothing, and other plastic laden fibers. It’s unclear how many microplastics are in the ocean (scientists estimated there were from 15 and 51 trillion individual pieces in the oceans in 2014), but it’s clear that we haven’t even begun to truly measure those numbers.
New Plant-Based Plastic Bottles Are Biodegradeable And Supported by Coca-Cola
Dutch company Avantium is in the process of developing a biodegradable plastic bottle made from plant sugars, rather than fossil fuels. Several major beverage companies like Carlsberg, Coca-cola, and Danone have already expressed support for the project, and Avantium’s chief executive, Tom van Aken, will reveal other partnerships during the summer. The plastic bottles could potentially reach shelves in 2023.
This plastic has very attractive sustainability credentials because it uses no fossil fuels, and can be recycled – but would also degrade in nature much faster than normal plastics do,”
Avantium uses polyethylenefuranoate (PEF), a bio-based plastic derived corn, wheat, or beet sugars and plans to source materials from biowaste in the future. The bottles are recyclable and may be compostable under certain conditions. Trials found the plant plastic would decompose in a composter in one year, and in a few years longer in normal outdoor conditions.
The Bureau of Land Management Continues to Lease Public Land to Oil and Gas Companies During Pandemic
While the majority of Americans find themselves shut-in during the pandemic, the Department of Interior (DOI) through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has offered more than 200,000 acres of public land to oil and gas companies in five different lease sales. These sales have continued with little to no opportunity for public oversight, other than the mandatory 10 day protest period. The duration of that protest period was shortened to 10 days from 30 days in January 2018. That year generated $1.1 billion in revenue for the BLM, nearly tripling the previous annual sales record ($408 million in 2008) and almost equaling the bureau’s budget. According to the BLM Deputy Director for Policy and Programs, that’s a good thing.
This was a historic year for oil and gas, and clearly illustrates what is possible when public lands are put to work using innovation, best science, and best practices…Our sound energy policy continues to ensure reliable, safe, abundant, and affordable energy for all Americans, without putting unnecessary burdens on industry. In fact, this policy generated nearly as much revenue as the BLM’s $1.1 billion budget for 2018.”
Oil and gas leases are nothing new for the DOI as the BLM is required to offer these competitive leases quarterly. Of the 213,000 acres offered by the BLM, 89,000 were sold at the competitive sale. The remaining acres will continue to be offered by the BLM for 10-year non-competitive leases, a process that allows oil and gas companies to control large portions of public lands for incredibly cheap. Companies with non-competitive leases, which are issued on a first-come, first-serve basis, pay $1.50 an acre for the first five years of the lease. Yet 55% of these leases are terminated early, and only 3% of them are under production at the termination at the end of their 10-year term. Those defaulted leases are returned to the BLM so they can sell them again.
The noncompetitive leasing program resembles a hamster wheel in which the BLM reviews parcel nominations; holds an auction; issues unsold oil and gas leases noncompetitively; terminates the leases when the companies fail to pay rent—and then repeats the cycle, often recycling the same parcels over again.”
Constantly listing, selling, managing, repossessing, and relisting public lands for oil and gas leases takes time and resources. These are time and resources that could be spent doing things that are less beneficial for the fossil fuel industry, like environmental impact reports. A judge in Montana recently ruled to vacate 287 oil and gas leases because they were improperly issued. According to the judge, his decision…
…largely relates to the absence of analysis rather than to a flawed analysis. In other words, the Court does not fault B.L.M. for providing a faulty analysis of cumulative impacts or impacts to groundwater, it largely faults B.L.M. for failing to provide any analysis.”
Oil and gas companies don’t care if these leases default. The amount spent on the leases is virtually equal to the Bureau of Land Management’s yearly budget. While the department is meant to represent public lands and public interests, fossil fuel money is what keeps it operating. The money spent on leases that don’t yield significant oil or gas deposits pays off in diverting resources and influence.
The BLM is spending taxpayer money on an ineffective and unnecessary program. Furthermore, Americans are losing out on a fair return for the use of their resources, and the BLM’s hands are tied from actively managing the public lands for conservation, recreation, or other beneficial purposes. The BLM is already stretched thin, lacking adequate staff and resources to fulfill its complex multiple use mission on public lands, of which oil and gas development is a fraction. Devoting significant time to this program that, for all intents and purposes, appears to mainly benefit companies looking to pad their books or engage in speculative practices, takes away much-needed resources that the BLM could better use for public benefit elsewhere.”
Center for American Progress
This not a new practice from either the government or the fossil fuel industry. The government makes its decisions based on the resources they have available. These resources are provided by the interests the government is elected to regulate. The pandemic has not changed their businesses at all, essential or not. In fact, the pandemic and subsequent shutdown have served to further remove roadblocks for the massive corporations that rule our nation.
Celebrities and Scientists Call for Changes After Coronavirus
More than 200 celebrities, Nobel prize winners, and scientists have signed an open letter calling for systematic change rather than a return to normalcy. In the midst of the pandemic, many have talked about what our return to normalcy will look like and when it will arrive. Others, however, have spoken out on the importance of using this opportunity to make the changes our environment needs to survive.
Consumerism has led us to deny life in itself: that of plants, that of animals and that of a large number of humans. Pollution, global warming and the destruction of natural spaces are leading the world to a breaking point. For these reasons, combined with the ever increasing social inequalities, it seems to us unthinkable to “return to normal”.
The letter calls for changes to how we, as humans, consume. They point out that while the pandemic will do damage, it will not compare to the consequences of the damage done to the environment.
It’s important to remember that despite their call for change, these celebrities have directly benefited from our rampant consumerism and that they too are part of the problem. It is easy to speak from a soapbox about change after you have made millions of dollars off the broken system.
You can read the full letter and a list of signees below.
Our Drastic Decrease in CO2 Emissions is Not Enough
Many people have celebrated the fact that in the midst of the global lockdown air quality has improved and emissions have dropped by 5.5%, a decrease greater than the time of the Great Recession, or the drop after WW2. However, an article by grist brings up an important point – 5.5% is not a lot and not enough. Where is the other 95% coming from?
Massive amounts of transportation overall has been cut out and we’re still only expected to see a 5.5% drop, so how are we on an individual level supposed to fix the climate crisis when radically reducing our carbon footprint didn’t make that big a difference? Transportation makes up around 20% of global carbon dioxide emissions (closer to 30% in America) so even if we went completely green without transportation, there’s still a significant amount of greenhouse gas emissions.
“I think the main issue is that people focus way, way too much on people’s personal footprints, and whether they fly or not, without really dealing with the structural things that really cause carbon dioxide levels to go up,”
Electricity and heating make up for 40% of global emissions, while 60% of electricity is still generated from coal, oil, or natural gas. The last 20% of CO2 emissions come from manufacturing industries. Neither manufacturing industries or electricity have seen a significant decrease in emissions during the pandemic.
To combat global warming, emissions need to be cut by 7.6% every year, and we’re not even there with an economic shutdown. Despite clear skies in LA and clear water in Venice, CO2 emissions are invisible and still very much present. This lockdown is proof that humans on an individual level are not responsible for combating climate change alone. In order for significant changes to be made, corporations have to be held accountable for their actions.
Reusable Grocery Bags Are Being Banned as Plastics Industry Takes Advantage of COVID-19
States and cities are rolling back plastic bag bans at the grocery store and enacting bans on reusable grocery bags as the plastics industries ramps up lobbying during the COVID-19 pandemic. San Francisco, the first municipality to ban plastic bags, has banned customers from bringing reusable grocery bags while the state of California has lifted their plastic bag ban for 60 days. Oregon has lifted its plastic bag for the same period, and cities like Bellingham, WA, and Albuquerque, NM have announced they will allow the bags during the pandemic. Massachusetts, Illinois, New Hampshire, and Maryland are among the states that have banned or strongly discouraged the use of reusable grocery bags due to coronavirus fears.
It is critical to protect the public health and safety and minimize the risk of Covid-19 exposure for workers engaged in essential activities, such as those handling reusable grocery bags.”
There is evidence to suggest that efforts to stop the spread of coronavirus by banning reusable bags don’t actually work any better than using plastic bags does. Scientists have found that coronavirus can linger on hard surfaces like stainless steel and plastic, where the novel coronavirus can survive for 2-3 days. Meanwhile, there is no evidence to date that coronavirus can survive on what we wear and most reusable bags lack the hard buttons and zippers that clothes have.
At the grocery store, plastic bags don’t reduce exposure for customers or essential workers any more than reusable bags do. Plastic bags have been received, stocked, and distributed by a person who has likely not been tested for COVID-19 for a multitude of reasons. Cashiers wear gloves, but many haven’t received proper training on how to limit the spread of disease while wearing gloves.
So those workers are constantly touching food, people’s money, people’s hand, carts and touch screens–without cleaning their hands or changing their gloves. But we know that the gloves can carry a bioburden and increases the risk for transfer of germs.”
Your grocery store clerk is touching money, their workstation, the plastic bag carousel, every bag they gave you, and every single item you and everyone else in store give them. Simply using plastic bags doesn’t stop that.
Properly washed reusable bags eliminate points of exposure for everyone. The cashier doesn’t need to touch the bag carousel. The customer isn’t handed bags that have been touched by multiple people. The cashier doesn’t need to touch the plastic bag carousel that has been repeatedly handled and doesn’t even need to touch the reusable bag if the customer holds it open while grocery items are dropped in. Reusable bags are touched by one person and can be washed for reuse immediately upon returning home. So why would governors ban them? The answer lies in the plastics industry.
Influence Infrastructure
Plastics makers have capitalized on coronavirus fears, including heavy pushes from lobbyists to end all plastics bag bans. Groups like Bag the Ban and American Progressive Bag Alliance have been especially active in overturning bans and promoting single-use plastics as a way to maintain public safety. Tony Radoszewski, president and CEO of the Plastics Industry Association, recently penned a letter to Alex Azar, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
We are asking that the Department of Health and Human Services investigate this issue and make a public statement on the health and safety benefits seen in single-use plastics. We ask that the department speak out against bans on these products as a public safety risk and help stop the rush to ban these products by environmentalists and elected officials that puts consumers and workers at risk.”
Plastic bag sales in the U.S. were projected to reach 1.4 billion dollars this year. Thanks to the lift on bans during the pandemic, those numbers will likely be higher than expected. In addition to the rollback of previously instated bans, pending bans have also taken a hit. A proposed ban of plastic and paper bags and polystyrene food containers in New Jersey died in January. The plastics ban proposed in New York has been held since February by a lawsuit filed by Poly-Pak Industries Inc., Green Earth Food Corp., Green Earth Grocery Store, Francisco Marte, The Bodega, and the Small Business Association. Meanwhile, the plastics recycling industry is seeking a 1 billion dollar bailout due to the coronavirus. The U.S. system is notoriously bad at processing plastics with only 10% of plastics actually being recycled.
Plastics Are Not Here to Make Friends
The plastics industry is having a party, and the American people will be left with both the bill and the cleanup. Senator Tom Udall (D-NM) has proposed the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act.
By asking for a billion-dollar handout, Big Plastic is trying to maintain what already is the status quo: that is, taxpayers funding and taking responsibility for the waste of plastic producers…When we surface from this pandemic, plastic pollution will still be at crisis levels — and matters may be even worse, as industry tries to exploit this pandemic to leverage more marketing for single-use products.”
Elizabeth Warren and Ro Khanna Co-Sponsor Cory Booker’s Farm System Reform Act
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) have announced that they will co-sponsor the Farm System Reform Act (FSRA) introduced by Cory Booker (D-NJ). Khanna also introduced companion legislation in the House of Representatives. The FSRA is designed to move the United States agricultural system away from factory farming by immediately stopping the construction of new factory farms, the expansion of existing farms, and phasing out the largest farms by 2040. Booker initially proposed the legislation in December of 2019, and the current pandemic-induced food system woes and COVID-19 have inspired Senator Warren and Representative Khanna to show their support for the legislation.
For years, regulators looked the other way while giant multinational corporations crushed competition in the agriculture sector and seized control over key markets…The COVID-19 crisis will make it easier for Big Ag to get even bigger, gobble up smaller farms, and lead to fewer choices for consumers….”
The Farm System Reform Act also includes a $100 Billion voluntary buyout program for contract farmers who want to move away from factory farming, strengthens family farmer and rancher protections, prohibits the USDA from labeling imported meat as Product of the U.S.A., and reinstitutes mandatory country of origin labeling for beef, pork, and dairy.
Our food system was not broken by the pandemic and it was not broken by independent family farmers…It was broken by large, multinational corporations like Tyson, Smithfield, and JBS that, because of their buying power and size, have undue influence over the marketplace and over public policy.”