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Hello everyone,
I hope you are enjoying a beautiful summer - while moving the needle of sustainability ;-).
The damage plastic (if not recycled or deposed of properly) causes to animals and environment has been in the limelight a lot recently, not least due to David Attenborough's TV series Blue Planet II after the making of which he warned, "The world’s oceans are turning into a ‘toxic soup’ of industrial waste and plastic, putting the future of humanity at risk."
If you are not yet aware of the magnitude and urgency of the problem, here a few pointers that will bring you up to speed,
- In a blogpost the Center for Biological Diversity writes: "Plastic never goes away. And it's increasingly finding its way into our oceans and onto our beaches. In the Los Angeles area alone, 10 metric tons of plastic fragments — like grocery bags, straws and soda bottles — are carried into the Pacific Ocean every day. Today billions of pounds of plastic can be found in swirling convergences making up about 40 percent of the world's ocean surfaces."
- 3rd June 2018 Reuters reported, "Plastic bags jam stomach of dead pilot whale in Thailand" - and it is not an isolated incident (read and see more here). Indeed, according to EcoWatch "Roughly 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into the world's oceans every year, and according to a new study, the majority of this waste comes from just five countries: China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam." It is all very well to point fingers, yet dealing with this problem should be the responsibility of each and everyone of us - here some suggestions of what we can do.
- You may also want to check out this BBC article on the "Seven charts that explain the plastic pollution problem" and read more about the cause and effect of plastic pollution here.
Of course there are attempts to start tackling this problem - not least by Katerva's Grand Prize Winner from 2015, The Ocean Cleanup who are using the fact that the plastic congregates in 5 'garbage patches' as a starting point for extracting plastic from the oceans.
McDonald UK plans to ban plastic straws by next year while others realise that recycled plastic can become the raw material for fashion items such as sunglasses. There are loads more examples of practical things, useful ones as well as some truly artistic and beautiful ones out there. If we (believe) we cannot live without plastic, the least we should do is to keep in in the circular economy for as long as ever possible.
As usual, politicians are rather more timid opting, in my view, for 'too little too late': a planned ban of plastic straws, cutlery and plates by the EU by 2021 feels rather ridiculous.
Anyway, why this newsletter just now? A friend of mine just sent an email about a 4-day program taking place in Cambridge, UK September this year which is all about finding solutions to the plastic pollution crises, and I just had to share it with you.
How about doing something similar in your region? Or how about helping us to find the most radical, sustainable innovations, submitting them via our Nominee Candidate Form so we can shine a spotlight on them, and hasten their dissemination?
We cannot solve the world's pressing problems by pretending they don't exist, we can only solve them by taking a close look at them, and acting now, in which ever shape or form we are able to.
With kind regards,
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People, Plastics and our Planet – Venturing for Solutions
Are you passionate about the issues that surround plastics in our environment? Would you like to contribute to finding solutions to current key challenges? Do you already have an idea for innovation that can reduce/re-use/recycle plastic? Would you like to find ways to change people’s behaviour around plastic?
People, Plastics and Our Planet offers the unique opportunity for early career researchers and entrepreneurs to come together over 4 days to develop and test ideas around solving the challenges that plastics in our environment pose
When: 18th to 21st September 2018
Where: Aurora Cambridge, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OET, UK
To find out more: click here .
To apply - click here
To ask some questions - click here
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