"Wouldn’t it be nice to celebrate with the first-ever global treaty to curb the world’s mounting plastic pollution problem?
That’s not a completely unrealistic outcome. Indeed, since its inception in 1970, Earth Day has grown into an international movement with the potential to seriously influence policy. This year’s theme is Planet vs. Plastics, and global leaders will convene in Canada later in the week to lay plans for what could be the most significant environmental deal since the 2015 Paris Agreement..."
Global plastic treaty talks are happening. What do stakeholders want? By Valerie Volcovici, April 22, 2024
"Most plastic products, from #SippyCups to #FoodWraps, can release chemicals that act like the sex hormone #estrogen, according to a study in Environmental Health Perspectives.
"The study found these chemicals even in products that didn't contain #BPA a compound in certain plastics that's been widely criticized because it mimics estrogen.
"Many plastic products are now marketed as BPA-free, and manufacturers have begun substituting other #chemicals whose effects aren't as well known.
"But it's still unclear whether people are being harmed by BPA or any other so-called estrogenic chemicals in plastics. Most studies of health effects have been done in mice and rats.
"The new study doesn't look at health risks. It simply asks whether common plastic products release estrogen-like chemicals other than BPA.
"The researchers bought more than 450 plastic items from stores including Walmart and Whole Foods. They chose products designed to come in contact with food — things like baby bottles, deli packaging and flexible bags, says George Bittner, one of the study's authors and a professor of biology at the University of Texas, Austin."
@DoomsdaysCW
This is part of the reason I pick up litter by the river. I didn't know about estrogen like chemicals until today but microplastics pollute the river and eventually end up in the ocean. Now I find out they could be reducing birthrates among animals. Animals rip open plastic bags and wrappers and drink water from rivers contaminated with microplastics. #Pollution#Litter#PickItUp#Plastic#Microplastics#River#Environment
If growing up poor, deep in the countryside of rural America did anything for me that I think is worth sharing with others, it's that it gave me reverence for nature and a hatred of littering.
Before you go hiking, camping, fishing, hunting. birdwatching, forest bathing, or just party by the river, lake or beach, have a plan for not leaving your trash behind.
If you have space in your pack for full cans of beer or soda and bags of food, you have space for them when the cans and bags are empty. Throw them away at home.
Bring an extra bag. You can use a bag from the convenience store or supermarket. If you see litter or trash left by others, pick it up and throw it away at home or at a convenience store later.
Always leave it cleaner than you found it. The asshole who dropped the trash in the forest, river or lake, isn't coming back for it.
Found a Pyne Pod 8500 discarded in the grass during a walk into town yesterday
Surprisingly sophisticated charging circuitry for an item designed to be disposable. No obvious way to open it in order for owners to refill the tank or to swap in a new atomizer module.
Our routes combine road and tracks and we see litter everywhere. Bottles, cans, glass. Once a week we walk a route with a bag. Today’s haul over 8.5k attached.
I might describe people as pigs, except that dirty, stinking pigs are those locked away without adequate space and water. This is the Scottish Borders but we have it all over the UK. What is wrong with people? And it’s not just drivers. Cyclists and walkers too.
We have had some successes. My partner chased down two cyclists (she’s fast) and demanded they return for discarded cans outside our cottage, and with neighbours identified a regular driver who threw cider cans out of the car. Reported the bar steward for erratic driving and the cans. He was picked up as he arrived home, breathalysed and banned. And my brother 6’5”, put a filthy nappy back through the drivers window next to the wee beach by the river.
Interesting take on littering: a symptom of anger, power and disenfranchisement, rather than ‘lazy good-for-nothing’? The capitalist profit-is-all society generating as much rubbish as possible.
Easy paced 10km on a mix of trails and roads at lunchtime, including some hill repeats, as decent hills are hard to find locally. Picked up 15 pieces of #litter and added some to the #recycling#plogging#running#TrailRunning
Reminder: The true story about "litter boxes" in public school is that SOME schools keep a bucket of litter in their classrooms to have a place for kids to urinate in case there is an active shooter in the building & they can't leave the room.
It was never about furries.
It was always about the guns.
This is a picture of the forest floor under the bridge I spent almost a month cutting back underbrush from and picking up the garbage which hadn't been cleaned in years. The last time I went out and cleaned was 5 days ago. This spot was free of litter less than a week ago and drivers throwing trash from their cars did this.
5km walking route from home and back.Uplifting at this,my least favourite ,time of year.
Pleased to see how totally #litter free the Area was then bumped into a couple of #Telfordstreetchampions ,quietly and anonymously finishing the picking of a bag full. #Dawley#LNR#fungi
Does anyone know of systems in town or cities that use either a detector to detect if a trash can is full OR a system with a qr code where people can report if the trash can is almost full.
Someone in our local #litter pick up group mentioned one of those systems and I myself have also been wondering about them, but I don't know how effective they are.
A fine morning spent nurdle hunting in Marie Curtis Park. Nurdles are lentil-sized plastic pellets that are used in manufacturing. They are regularly shipped back and forth across the Great Lakes and some end up in the water (then inside fish and birds). A Greener Future is organizing volunteers to help clean them and other plastic debris from some of the beaches along the north shore of Lake Ontario. https://www.agreenerfuture.ca/
Do you wanna see #dogs and #puppies whenever you want?
The Finnish Broadcasting Company #YLE started today Pentulive - Puppy Live. A streaming that follows a whippet called Sini, who is expecting her first #litter.
Lunch time #plogging run in the sun. 3.5 miles (5.7km) easy pace base training. Removed 21 pieces of #litter from the local #environment here in northern Hampshire and a few of them are now in the #recycling bin. Nice go #running with a purpose other than just “training”.