Microplastics range from 5 mm down to micron sizes

From an Article by Emmie Halter, Cavalier Daily, Univ. of Virginia, November 28, 2021

Microplastic waste has become a serious threat to the ecosystem — plastic pollution in particular has grown exponentially in the past decade within Virginia, leading to disruption of the Chesapeake Bay and other large bodies of water. University researchers explain the significant harm that microplastics can have on the environment, particularly in the Chesapeake Bay, and discuss plans of action to combat this detrimental effect.

Microplastics are categorized as plastic particles less than 5 millimeters in size. These often enter the ocean through sewage systems and infiltrate soil and the air we breathe. Initially, researchers only knew of microplastics as the microscopic particles formed by larger plastic waste that was broken down by the sun. However, new findings have confirmed that microplastics come from the synthetic fibers in clothing and microbeads from cosmetic products, such as face exfoliants.

Research on microplastics is minimal, and as a result, researchers do not know the specific effects microplastics have on the environment. For other environmental issues such as landfill waste, pollution and the lack of fossil fuels, researchers have come up with timelines and proposed action plans — this has not yet been developed for microplastics, however.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce has voiced concerns about the lack of a large-scale and long-term collective database that contains visual survey information of microplastics along coasts and in the open ocean in order to support microplastic research. As a solution, the NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information created the Marine Microplastic Database this year, a publicly accessible and regularly updated collection of global microplastic data from researchers around the world.

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam signed Executive Order 77 in March, which outlines a plan to phase out single-use plastics and reduce solid waste at state agencies. In response to the order, the University created a single-use plastic reduction policy, which began with eliminating plastic waste in dining halls and replacing single-use plastic with sustainable and reusable takeaway containers and compostable silverware. The University is also looking into expanding their composting facilities and minimizing plastic bag use under this initiative.

Similar initiatives have been implemented throughout the nation, and environmental concerns based on plastic pollution have pushed retailers to provide more sustainable bag options, pilot the trend of reusable containers and make plastic straws a rarity. Environmentally-conscious consumers have even boycotted stores that utilize single-use plastics.

Large plastics make their way into the ocean frequently and are easier to remove from the water compared to microplastics, which must be either filtered out of the ocean or entirely prevented from entering the ocean. The existence of plastics in large bodies of water results in a multitude of issues — notably, the disruption of the ecosystem when animals ingest plastics and release toxic gas and foods containing tiny plastics.

Asst. Engineering Prof. Lindsay Ivey-Burden has conducted research in environmental engineering — specifically engineering for a more sustainable future. Ivey-Burden explained further how these unsustainable materials end up in our environment. “When anything with synthetic fibers and polyester goes in the washer, the fibers sort of come out and they form very small micro [and] nano-plastics,” Ivey-Burden said. “And so then that goes into the wastewater system and back into the environment.”

Another way microplastics enter our oceans is through cosmetic products, especially those labeled as exfoliants. Exfoliants contain microbeads, which produce an abrasion towards the skin that removes dead skin cells from the surface of the face. These microbeads easily pass through household water filter systems and travel to large bodies of water.

In Virginia specifically, this affects the coast and its marine life. One of the most common ways microplastics damage the coastal system is through the oysters in the Chesapeake Bay. “Microplastics in the water make it much harder for [the oysters] to filter the water — which they’re supposed to do because they’re trying to eat all the algae — and they end up eating a bunch of plastic instead of algae,” Ivey-Burden said.

This leads the oysters to be put under an immense amount of stress. In order to fulfill their nutritional needs, they must filter through much more water in order to consume enough algae due to the alarming algae-plastic ratio present in the bay.

Certain areas of the Chesapeake Bay also serve as hot spots for microplastics, acting as breeding grounds for chemicals and diseases that are picked up by microplastics and transported into the bay. Shorelines and underwater grass beds are the most common hot spots because it is easy for microplastics to settle in these areas. The black sea bass — a local fish commonly served at restaurants in coastal Virginia — is just one of the marine animals that feed near these hotspots and ingest the microplastics.

While studies show that most microplastics do not move to the muscle tissue of fish — the part consumed by humans — scientists are still concerned with the effect of microplastics on human health. It is difficult to determine the individual impacts of these plastics on consumers as we are constantly in contact with microplastics, from bottled and tap water to clothing. Additionally, researchers know very little about the levels of toxicity that can hurt humans as well as how food chain processes may affect the toxicity of plastics.

Environmental and material scientists have been researching the toxicity of plastic materials and the solutions needed to decrease this toxicity to people and the environment. Researchers have explored solutions to microplastic waste, but some of these solutions are costly and may cause further destruction to the environment. Water filtration systems, for example, are one of the most discussed solutions. Filtration systems utilizing magnets, tiny nets and vacuums have all been tested by different researchers, but it is nearly impossible to filter out such small pieces of plastic without filtering out very crucial marine organisms as well.

Robert Hale, microplastic expert and head researcher at the Virginia Institute for Marine Science, explained that implementing a filtration system is not realistic. “There are not just microplastics in the ocean, there are other organisms — especially floating organisms — that will get weeded out too,” Hale said. “There is just no way for these filters to sort effectively.”

Other solutions, such as creating more sustainable clothing, eliminating single-use plastics and establishing filtration systems in washing machines are all viable and would have a large impact on microplastic waste. However, from a cost standpoint, the likelihood that the general public will react favorably to increased taxes as a way to fund initiatives that stop plastic waste is very low. “The cost efficiency of plastic ends up feeding the monster and makes it very difficult for big corporations to increase production costs in order to be more environmentally friendly,” Hale said.

In order to eliminate microplastics, scientists agree that toxic additives that are in plastic waste must first be removed. Assoc. Engineering Prof. David Green has been studying plastic waste for much of his career, specifically plastic as a material and the microscopic properties associated with it. “By trying to remove certain additives that have proven to be toxic — things like car plasticizers, stabilizers and pigments — and making this plastic particle, but trying to design it so that when it gets wet and it gets into the landfill, that it doesn’t degrade off,” Green said.

Green also agreed that general reduction of plastics would help to eliminate microplastics. The elimination of single-use plastics at the University is a plan that, if modeled at other universities across the country, could make a big difference.

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See Also: Chesapeake Quarterly : Volume 19, Number 2 : Rona Kobell, Hazards, Large and Small, Dec. 2020

Scientists are looking closely at these tiny microplastic hazards and trying to assess their harm and reduce their numbers. Neither is an easy task. In this issue, we explore these dangers invisible to most of us. We’ll also talk about how Maryland Sea Grant is working with high school teachers to help them identify microplastics in labs with their students.

The Pennsylvania RGGI Veto Means More Greenhouse Gases

From an Article by the WKOK Staff, Harrisburg, PA, June 15, 2021

IMAGE — Pennsylvania’s GHG emissions alone are more than the total of the 9 original RGGI states in the northeast

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republicans who control Pennsylvania’s Legislature are reprising a fight from last year, passing legislation Monday to require Gov. Tom Wolf to go through them if he wants to impose a price on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The bill passed 35-15 in the Senate, a veto-proof majority for a bill that Wolf’s office said he will veto. Six Democrats joined every Republican in voting for the measure, which has support from blue collar labor unions whose workers maintain power plants, build gas pipelines and mine coal. The bill still must go to the House.

Wolf, a Democrat, last year vetoed a similar bill to prevent him from unilaterally bringing Pennsylvania into the multi-state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Wolf’s top priority to fight climate change. The organization sets a price on carbon dioxide emissions that fossil fuel-fired power plants emit. Environmental advocacy organizations and companies with solar, wind and nuclear power interests support Wolf’s plan. Under the bill, legislative approval is required to join the consortium, after six months of public comment and four public hearings on the governor’s proposed legislation.

The sponsor, Sen. Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, said joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative will prematurely force coal-fired power plants in his district to close, throwing people out of work and drying up million of dollars in property taxes that fund schools there. He also warned that it will hurt waste-coal plants, which have been instrumental in cleaning up piles of waste coal that poison rivers with acidic runoff, and send demand for power to neighboring West Virginia and Ohio.

Imposing a price on carbon emissions would raise hundreds of millions of dollars annually for the state. The Wolf administration expects regulatory approval later this year, with carbon pricing to begin next year. With Wolf’s support on Monday, Democratic lawmakers unveiled legislation on how to spend the money, including grants to reduce carbon emissions, improve energy efficiency and aid communities hurt by plant closures.

Pennsylvania’s counties and municipal governments will see the lowest level of annual fee revenue they get from Marcellus Shale gas wells, as drilling slowed and prices sank during the pandemic, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission said Monday. Impact fee revenue from Marcellus Shale wells sank to $146 million from drilling activity in 2020, down $54 million from the year before, the commission said.

Lawmakers authorized the fee in 2012, pinning it to new wells and the price of natural gas. But the average price of natural gas in 2020 was $2.08 per million British thermal units, down from $2.63 in 2019. Pennsylvania also saw the fewest number of new wells drilled than in any year since the law was enacted, the commission said.

Most of the money, about $71.5 million, goes to county and municipal governments, while smaller amounts are earmarked for environmental improvement programs, roadway repairs and water and sewer infrastructure upgrades

Join us on the Halt the Harm Network

A TEACH-IN promoted by the Halt the Harm Network

REGISTER AT: https://tinyurl.com/BreakFreeTeachIn​

This event will feature:

>>> A presentation (giving an overview of the BFFPPA bill) from Congressional aides, Dr Anja Malawi Brandon (Senator Jeff Merkley) & Shane Trimmer (Congressman Alan Lowenthal)

>>> Alexis Goldsmith: National Organizing Director of Beyond Plastics sharing how we can support the bill

>>> A short film by Stiv Wilson (creator of “Story of Plastics”) & Megan Ponder.

>>> Live Q & A session

More about A-Z Plastics: This event will not only showcase this groundbreaking legislation, but it will also kick off the A-Z series 2.0!

Last summer People Over Petro and many of its partners joined in a summer digital series and summit called Tackling the A-Z Impacts of Plastic – From Fracked Gas to Plastic Pollution in the Ohio River Valley and Beyond.

Hundreds of people joined in a social network with events, arts, and discussions around the impacts of plastic and what we can do about it.

See impactsofplastic.com for more info, to join the A-Z community, and watch recordings of past events.

More about PASUP: Pittsburghers Against Single Use Plastic is a group advocating for a systemic & equitable shift away from plastic. Learn more and get involved by visiting http://pasupnow.org/.

FYI The presentations will NOT be taped for later viewing.

Hope you can join us live!!

REGISTER AT: https://tinyurl.com/BreakFreeTeachIn​

Increasing plastic pollution is at a dangerous level in our oceans

From an Article by Tiffany Duong, EcoWatch & Oceans, January 22, 2021

This month, a new era began in the fight against plastic pollution.

In 2019, 187 nations within the United Nations amended the 1989 Basel Convention, which governs trade in hazardous materials, to include plastic waste. The historic treaty created a legally binding framework to make global trade in plastic waste more transparent and better regulated, the UN Environment Program (UNEP) said in a press release.

The amendment to the Basel Convention, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2021, will result in a cleaner ocean within five years and allow developing nations like Vietnam and Malaysia to refuse low-quality and difficult-to-recycle waste before it ever gets shipped, a UN transboundary waste chief told The Guardian.

“It is my optimistic view that, in five years, we will see results,” Rolph Payet, the executive director of the Basel Convention, told The Guardian. “People on the frontline are going to be telling us whether there is a decrease of plastic in the ocean. I don’t see that happening in the next two to three years, but on the horizon of five years. This amendment is just the beginning.”

“Pollution from plastic waste, acknowledged as a major environmental problem of global concern, has reached epidemic proportions with an estimated 100 million tons of plastic now found in the oceans, 80-90 percent of which comes from land-based sources,” the UNEP release noted, explaining a primary rationale behind the amendment’s passage.

Once in the oceans, plastic continues to cause harm. It degrades into microplastics, which end up in our seafood and ultimately us. A recent study also found that plastic pollution increases ocean acidification.

The amendment now requires “prior notice and consent” in writing from importing and transit countries before shipping plastic waste for recycling, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)explained. Exporting countries must detail whether a shipment is mixed or contaminated. If permission isn’t granted to receive the goods, they must remain in their country of origin.

The new international rule aims to level the playing field between wealthy nations that dump contaminated plastic waste and poorer ones that have traditionally received it. According to The Guardian, before the new rule, shipments containing contaminated, non-recyclable and low-quality plastics were often sold to developing nations for recycling. After China refused to continue accepting contaminated waste in 2018, the onus fell on other developing nations to accept it, a 2020 Greenpeace report found. Once received, the waste was often illegally burned or dumped in landfills and waterways because it was unusable and unrecyclable.

Heng Kiah Chun, a Greenpeace Malaysia campaigner, called the impact from illegally dumping plastic waste from more than 19 countries worldwide “an indelible mark” left throughout Southeast Asia, the report added.

According to the EPA, the Basel Convention made an exception for pre-sorted, clean, uncontaminated and recycling-bound plastic scrap: it will not be subject to informed consent requirements. The idea is to encourage exports of commercially viable plastics for recycling rather than the unrestricted dumping of plastic trash that previously occurred.

In Dec. 2020, the European Union passed additional regulationsthat are even stricter than the Basel Convention amendment, including a ban on sending unsorted plastic waste, which is harder to recycle, to poorer countries.

Despite leading the world in plastic waste, the U.S. did not agree to the amendment in 2019. However, the amendment still applies to the U.S. anytime it tries to trade plastic waste with another of the 187 participating countries, CNN reported.

Rather than framing the plastic problem as an issue between developed and developing nations, some critics would rather see commercial producers take responsibility. Others, noting that recycling models, especially in the U.S., aren’t working, are encouraging a cultural shift away from using plastics, stemming the problem of plastic pollution at the source.

Nevertheless, the convention is a “crucial first step towards stopping the use of developing countries as a dumping ground for the world’s plastic waste, especially those coming from rich nations,” Von Hernandez, Break Free From Plastic global coordinator, told CNN.

“Countries at the receiving end of mixed and unsorted plastic waste from foreign sources now have the right to refuse these problematic shipments, in turn compelling source countries to ensure exports of clean, recyclable plastics only,” Hernandez added. “Recycling will not be enough, however. Ultimately, production of plastics has to be significantly curtailed to effectively resolve the plastic pollution crisis.”

Plastic code for reuse applications

From an Article by Dr. Kate Raynes – Goldie, Scitech News (Australia), October 23, 2020

Hands up if you grew up thinking that recycling plastic waste is key to saving the environment. It turns out that for decades the recyclability of plastics was grossly oversold by the plastics industry.

The creation of this recycling ‘myth’ is why, despite 30 years of being diligent recyclers, we have things like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. In fact, we’ve only recycled 9% of all the plastics we’ve ever produced. And, our use of plastics is still increasing every year.

The reality of the situation is that recycling plastics is actually really hard and expensive. so, how did we get to a world full of plastic?

Triangle of mistruths on plastic products

The myth created around plastic recycling has been one of simplicity. We look for the familiar triangle arrows, then pop the waste in the recycling bin so it can be reused. But the true purpose of those triangles has been misunderstood by the general public ever since their invention in the 1980s.

These triangles were actually created by the plastics industry and, according to a report provided to them in July 1993, were creating “unrealistic expectations” about what could be recycled. But they decided to keep using the codes.

Which is why many people still believe that these triangular symbols (also known as a resin identifier code or RIC) means something is recyclable.

But according to the American Society for Testing and Materials International (ASTM) – which controls the RIC system – the numbered triangles “are not recycle codes“. In fact, they weren’t created for the general public at all. They were made for the post-consumer plastic industry.

Polystyrene cups are about as far from recyclable as you can get – but they still have a resin code. In other words, the symbols make it easier to sort the different types of plastics, some of which cannot be recycled – depending on the recycling facility.

“Unfortunately, just placing your plastic into the recycling bin doesn’t mean it will get recycled,” says Lara Camilla Pinho. She is an architect and lecturer at the UWA School of Design who is researching novel uses of plastic waste.

“The recycling system is complicated and often dictated by market demand. Not all plastic is recyclable. We cannot recycle plastic bags or straws for example.”

Behind the scenes — So, what makes recycling plastics so difficult?

“Essentially, there are two types of plastics – thermoplastics and thermosets. While thermoplastics can be re-melted and re-molded, thermosets contain cross-linked polymers that cannot be separated meaning they cannot be recycled,” says Lara.

“Even thermoplastics have a limit to the amount of times we can recycle them, as each time they are recycled they downgrade in quality.” Even when plastics are recyclable, it is often more costly than simply making new plastics.

Sugar, seaweed and mushrooms — If the conventional recycling system isn’t working, what else can we do with all the plastic we’ve created?

Lara is looking for ways to add value to recycled plastics such as using it in the design and development of architectural products. She hopes to use these architectural products to help underserved communities that are disproportionately affected by plastic waste.

In addition to recycling, we also need to find ways to reduce our use of virgin petroleum-based plastics.

Bioplastic is one such product that has been getting a lot of hype over the last few years. And although they’re better than petroleum-based plastics, bioplastics also come with their own set of challenges.

“There are already a lot of bio-based alternatives to plastic, such as bagasse – a byproduct of sugar cane processing,” says Lara.

View Larger — Sugarcane-based plastics can be used to make big designs – and small ones too. LEGO released their first plant-based bricks in 2018.

Mycelium, a type of fungi we most often associate with mushrooms, are also providing an interesting plastic alternative. “In the field of architecture, mycelium is starting to be used as an alternative to plastic insulation, but also as compostable packaging and bricks,” says Lara. “The bricks take around five days to make and are strong, durable, water resistant and compostable at the end of their use.” Hy-Fi Tower, created by The Living, is an example of a building made from these bricks.

Growing up, we thought we were going to save the world by recycling. But only 9% of all plastics we’ve produced have been recycled, and our use of plastics is still increasing every year. What went wrong?

And finally, there’s seaweed — “[Seaweed is] cheap and can reproduce itself quickly without fertilisers. In architecture, there is use for seaweed as an alternative to plastic insulation but also as cladding, ” says Lara.

More money, more problems — While all these alternatives are great, the main cause of our plastic dilemma is not scientific or technological, but economic.

As long as it remains cheaper to create new plastics from fossil fuels rather than from bioplastics or from recycling, we’re going to be stuck with plastic garbage islands floating in our oceans.

The true cost to our health and our environment has yet to be included in the equation. But once it is, maybe that is when the real shift will happen.

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See also: War on plastic waste faces setback as cost of recycled material soars, Jillian Ambrose, The Guardian, October 13, 2019

For years the cost of making plastic products from recycled flakes was cheaper than relying on virgin plastics made using fossil fuels, meaning the sustainable option was an economic option too. But according to experts it is now cheaper for major manufacturers to use new plastic. (Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking have lowered fossil energy price, being practiced widely with minimal environmental regulation.)

Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC) has raised many issues with the PTTG & Storage Hub

From OVEC and Concerned Ohio River Residents, February 27, 2020

What: No PTTG: Petrochemicals and Plastics Press Conference — Residents concerned about the proposed 500-square-mile petrochemical build-up in the Ohio River Valley, known as the Appalachian Storage and Trading Hub, and its associated infrastructure, including the PTTG Ethane Cracker facility, will voice their concerns.

When: Monday, March 2, 2020 from 12:30-1:30 p.m.

Where: WV State Capitol Building, Lower Rotunda, East (Attorney General side)

Who: Residents from Marshall and Ohio County, WV, and Belmont County, Ohio, along with their allies.

Why: During the 2020 West Virginia Legislative Session, many WV legislators have been promoting a so called “petrochemical renaissance” in the Ohio River Valley region, with little to no input from local community members, nor consideration of strong evidence that such infrastructure and its products are harmful to human health and the environment. Residents who would be impacted by the construction of the PTTG Ethane Cracker in Belmont County, OH, will be at the WV Capitol to voice their opposition to state Senators and Delegates.

Contacts:
>>>>> Dustin White, OVEC-Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, 304-541-3144, dustin@ohvec.org

>>>>> Bev Reed, Concerned Ohio River Residents, 740-738-3024, ConcernedOhioRiverResidents@yahoo.com

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See also: Petition · No Ethane Cracker Plant for Dilles Bottom, OH and No Petrochemical Storage Hub · Change.org

Freshwater Accountability Project started this petition to Belmont County Commission President JP Dutton and 24 others

Plastic pollution is now in the Great Blue Hole

From an Article by Jordan Simmons, EcoWatch.com, December 14, 2018

In a recent expedition, Gaelin Rosenwaks found plastic in the Great Blue Hole in Belize, Central America.

Did you know that 2018 was the year for plastic pollution awareness. One good aspect of the plastic crisis is the fact that we can solve it. Getting involved with solutions is an easy way to have our voices heard globally.

“The bottom line with plastic pollution is that there’s plastic everywhere,” said Gaelin Rosenwaks, founder of Global Ocean Exploration, during an EcoWatch Live interview on Facebook Thursday. The interactive live interview with Rosenwaks—who just got back from an expedition diving deep into the Great Blue Hole in Belize—inspired EcoWatchers to educate themselves on plastic pollution and commit to solutions.

“It doesn’t matter where you go … whether you are in the open sea … or at the bottom of the blue hole, you’re going to see plastic,” said Rosenwaks who brings cutting-edge research from global expeditions to the public through film and photography.

Education is the first step. We must understand and acquire the tools we need to solve this pervasive issue. Eliminating single use-plastic when possible is critically important, but to double that effort, we must survey how many items we use that are wrapped in plastic and work towards a zero-waste lifestyle.

Each time we refuse plastic whether it’s single use or plastic packaging, we are planting a seed for witnesses or companies to examine.

“The thing about plastic that’s a blessing in disguise is that it’s something that every single individual can do and have an impact,” said Rosenwaks. “Showing that as a consumer you care will hopefully drive industries to care and make changes.”

Tune in to the conversation above to find out more about solutions to plastic pollution and to hear from two passionate individuals who are not only tackling the problem of plastic pollution, but creating a better world for future generations through awareness and commitment.

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Depths of Belize’s Great Blue Hole, the World’s Largest Sinkhole, to Be Explored by Submarine

Information from The Weather Channel, November 29, 2018

Belize’s Great Blue Hole is one of the most awe-inspiring yet mysterious places on the planet, stretching over 1,000 feet across, more than 400 feet deep and standing out as a bold blue blob amid the light blue waters of Lighthouse Reef. And now, for the first time, we’re going to find out what it looks like below the surface.

Global entrepreneur Richard Branson and Fabien Cousteau — grandson of Jacques Cousteau, who took a one-man submarine into the Great Blue Hole in 1972, according to the USGS — are taking a submarine to the depths of the sinkhole this December to explore part of the Earth that’s never been seen before.

The underwater sinkhole sits some 60 miles off the coast of Belize City and is part of the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Central America.

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SEE THIS NEW NEWS REPORT:

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: Cleaning up the plastic in the ocean – 60 Minutes – CBS News

Earth Day Founder Calls for End to Plastic Pollution

From an Article by Erik Hoffner, Mongabay (EcoWatch.com), April 19, 2018

Denis Hayes was the principal national organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970, and he took the event to the international stage in 1990. He is board chair of the international Earth Day Network, and president of the Bullitt Foundation.

Earth Day 2018 is on April 22 and focuses on plastic pollution, so Mongabay took the opportunity to ask him about this year’s event and find out what else is on the mind of this key leader of the international environmental movement.

Interview With Denis Hayes

Erik Hoffner for Mongabay: What was the impetus for the first Earth Day, nearly 50 years ago now?

Denis Hayes: There were hundreds of important “environmental” issues before the first Earth Day: DDT & bird deaths. Air & water pollution. Oil spills. Herbicide use in Southeast Asia. Wilderness areas.

But they were commonly viewed as unrelated. One prominent leader actually asked me, “What the hell does air pollution have to do with birds?” Earth Day took all these myriad strands and wove them into the fabric of modern environmentalism—linked by a coherent set of values and grounded in an ecological framework. When added together, they formed the basis for a formidable new political force.

Mongabay: What’s the theme of this year’s Earth Day, and how can people get involved?

Denis Hayes: The 2018 theme is “End Plastic Pollution.” There is not much that the average person can do about the Pacific Garbage Patch or to ban endocrine disrupting plasticizers except scream at politicians to take the issues seriously. So inviting political leaders to rallies and teach-ins and confronting them can be useful. An aroused public can overcome a powerful economic interest, but only when the issue is felt intensely. Until ending “one-way” plastics becomes a political priority around the world, [their manufacture] will continue unabated. Meanwhile, we nevertheless each should “be the change we want to see.” The world produces at least a trillion plastic bags each year. Don’t be part of this gigantic waste stream that makes a one-way trip from the oil well to the dump. Earth Day Network has produced an excellent, free, downloadable primer on plastic pollution and what people can do about it as well as a “plastic footprint” calculator. And if you want to organize an event in your neighborhood, see www.earthday.org/yourjourney2018

Mongabay: We regularly cover the news of plastic and microplastic pollution, like the recent revelation that the Pacific Garbage Patch is much heftier than thought, and growing—the scope of the issue is just mind boggling. What do you hope the 2018 Earth Day efforts will accomplish, in the face of news like that?

Denis Hayes: It ranges in size from the North Pacific Gyre to nanoplastic fibers small enough to penetrate individual cells. We are finding microplastics in treated drinking water, in soft drinks, in beer … (maybe the discovery in beer will unleash a whole new constituency?) Environmental regulation has been most successful inside nation states. Transboundary issues (like migratory species that may need habitat on three continents) or global commons issues (like marine pollution and greenhouse gases) pose much tougher issues. 2018 will focus mostly on local, state and national policies, and also individual behavior. It’s my hope that by 2020—the 50th anniversary—we will be able to build a global constituency for action on the planetary scale.

Mongabay: You live in a major population center in America’s Pacific Northwest. How are cities there and in British Columbia models of sustainability?

Denis Hayes: It would be shockingly arrogant for any city to characterize itself as a “global model of sustainability.” Portland, Vancouver and Seattle are all making progress on super-efficient buildings, bicycling and electric vehicles, public transport, local and organic food, etc. But if “sustainable” means capable of being continued for thousands of years into the future—coupled with strong elements of social justice—there is no city on the planet that is close to sustainable. Our cities, along with Copenhagen, Freiburg, Malmo and others are at least making a serious effort.

Mongabay: Your office, the Bullitt Center, is made of wood and is said to be the world’s greenest office building. The Northwest has a long history of wooden buildings, so what’s your take on the trend of building large urban wooden structures, including skyscrapers?

Denis Hayes: We built the Bullitt Center before Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) made its debut in the United States. We were the first 6-story, heavy timber building constructed in Seattle since 1927. But with CLT, it is theoretically possible to build structures that are 40 or 50 stories tall. If the wood comes from forests that mimic ecosystems—forests that will remain healthy for thousands of years into the future—then wood can be a very attractive building material. We are still gaining a greater understanding of what that means, but for the present, being certified by the Forest Stewardship Council is a pretty good proxy for sustainable forestry. Every piece of wood in the Bullitt Center is FSC certified.

Of course, there is no free lunch. Even ecological forestry can be damaging. Beavers are damaging. But properly-sourced wood can be vastly less harmful than concrete and steel, as well as more beautiful and longer-lasting.

Mongabay: What would you say are the biggest challenges for Northwest forests in 2018?

Denis Hayes: Tens of millions of acres of West Coast forest have been killed by insects, mostly various bark beetles that global warming is allowing to spread into new regions. Hopefully, predators will follow them, and the ecosystems will get back into equilibrium soon. There have been hundreds of small- and medium-sized fires, but so far we have not had the vast inferno that was everyone’s worst fear.

Beyond that, there is a threat hidden in the opportunity provided by CLT. Understandably, politicians are falling all over themselves with enthusiasm for this new building material. Done well, it could be a boon. But if the now-dormant timber beasts are unleashed by the Trump administration to wantonly rape and pillage the region’s forests, we could see the re-ignition of the timber wars of the 1990s.

As for other environmental issues, I do my best to stay on top of most of the things that appear to be urgent and important. Currently on my desk are things having to do with autonomous vehicles, passivhaus buildings, tariffs on Chinese solar modules, ocean acidification, and antibiotic resistance. I love my job!

Mongabay: It was big news last week when the kids’ case “Juliana v. United States,” suing the federal government over its climate change inaction, was approved to go to trial in Eugene, OR, after much stalling and avoidance tactics from the Trump administration. Are you proud it’s been led by many young people and their adult advocates in the Northwest (and elsewhere)?

Denis Hayes: As it turns out, I had lunch just today with one of the plaintiffs in that case, Aji Piper, and one of the attorneys is an old friend. More precisely—as is so often the case these days—that attorney is the daughter of a dear old friend. I love that young people are waking up again, whether around gun violence, skyrocketing tuition, or environmental issues. Big dramatic change, when it happens, is usually led by the young. America’s civil rights struggle, the anti-war movement that toppled a president, and the environmental movement that fundamentally changed the rules of the game for industry were all led by kids in the 1960s and 70s. I’m hoping that some of the aged veterans of the 1960s will be able to find common cause with the angry young activists today — a gray-green alliance.

Mongabay: I’ve read that Earth Day is now the most widely observed secular holiday in the world. What does that look like?

Denis Hayes: If “observed” means a day on which people actually engage in some activity in support of a cause, I think it probably is. Most secular holidays tend to be national, like the Fourth of July or Bastille Day. Earth Day is observed in very different ways in different countries, and in different cities within the same nation. It will vary depending on which issues are resonating, what sorts of activities are acceptable in different polities and different cultures. Earth Day Network India is a year-round organization addressing issues ranging from protecting Asian elephants to empowering women (which brings innumerable indirect benefits, from smaller family sizes to smarter public policies). On Earth Day itself, most Indian activities focus on schools. The group has produced digital texts that are widely distributed, and it engages students in all manner of environmental restoration projects.

Actually, grade schools and high schools remain a crucial element of Earth Days around the world. When a billion little green guerrillas head home with messages relating to sustainability, it has a real world impact. Every parent wants to be a hero to his or her kids.

Mongabay: It perhaps points out the failures of the environmental movement, that a day to raise awareness of the ecological crises the world faces is still needed almost 50 years later. But it helped galvanize a movement for change that achieved many accomplishments, right?

Denis Hayes: The first Earth Day was purely a national effort, and it was successful beyond our wildest dreams. In the five years following that first Earth Day, America established the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and passed:

• Clean Air Act (1970)
• Environmental Quality Improvement Act (1970)
• Lead-Based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act (1971)
• Clean Water Act (1972)
• Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (1972)
• Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (1972)
• Marine Mammal Protection Act (1972)
• Endangered Species Act (1973)
• Safe Drinking Water Act (1974)
• Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standards (1975)
• Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (1975)
• Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976)
• Toxic Substances Control Act (1976)
• National Forest Management Act (1976)

Tens of trillions of dollars have been spent differently, and better, because of that legislation. Human health has improved dramatically, and the environment has improved immeasurably. But (1) we’ve never managed to enjoy similar success on trans-national and global issues, and (2) in the United States, the environment has been caught up in the dim-witted, whacko politics of the Trump administration. The current EPA head is by far the most irresponsible director that agency has had in a half century. It’s my hope that the 50th anniversary of Earth Day in 2020 will produce an unprecedented global outpouring of outrage over climate change and other global threats, and demands that all governments do whatever is necessary to preserve a habitable planet. Is there any more fundamental obligation of political leaders than making sure that humanity has a future?

Mongabay: What else is on your mind?

Denis Hayes: There are two important ideas that I’d like to close with. First, in the 1960s and 1970s, the news media were not omnipresent and were more relaxed. A “day” could have an enduring impact. In America, people of a given age still remember the March on Selma and the March on the Pentagon, one-day events that marked major milestones. Earth Day (which stretched over a couple of weeks but was 90 percent focused on April 22) left an indelible legacy.

Today, a “day” is simply a news cycle, forgotten the next morning. With that in mind, Earth Day 2020 will be more like a meme than a day. Hopefully, it will last for many months, with innumerable developments tied together with a common branding. For example “Indonesian forest destruction halted #EarthDay2020,” or “Saudi Arabia commits to 20 GW solar plant #EarthDay2020,” or, more tragically, “Five more environmental activists murdered #EarthDay2020.” We need to build in the experiences of #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo and #EndGunViolence to create a global community—on myriad different platforms—of billions of people committed to a peaceful, healthy, equitable future.

Second, Earth Day is not a top-down enterprise. Earth Day Network has no global command-and-control structure. Modestly resourced, it functions through inspiration, encouragement and shared values. So the success of Earth Day 2020 will be entirely dependent on the voluntary efforts of people like the readers of Mongabay deciding what’s really important to them and contributing their efforts to this global campaign.

Earth Day 2020 provides a framework and a value system, but humanity-writ-large will need to fill #EarthDay2020 with content and policies. Earth Day has always been premised on the belief that humankind, like other species, has hard-wired within it the will to survive, and that it will do what is necessary toward that end.

Shell Ethane Cracker in Ohio River Valley PA

Photo: Preliminary Construction for Shell’s Ethane Cracker Underway

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From an Article by Marie Cusick, NPR StateImpact Penna., August 28, 2017

Shell Chemical Appalachia has reached a settlement agreement with two environmental groups that had challenged the air permit for its new petrochemical plant being built near Pittsburgh.

The deal follows more than two years of negotiations and requires Shell to do more air quality monitoring, including installing fenceline monitoring, which can quickly detect emission spikes. It also places more stringent requirements on flaring, in order to burn off pollutants.

“We are pleased to have reached this settlement,” Ate Visser, Vice President of the Shell project, said in a statement. “Now our full focus will be on delivering the facility, with its state of the art operations and environmental controls, which will bring jobs and economic benefits to many Western Pennsylvania families for decades to come.”

Attorney Joseph Minott of the Clean Air Council, says the technology will make Shell’s workers and the community safer.

“I think this is a very good model for what communities should insist what all large air pollution sources now have,” he says. “The technology exists, the cost is reasonable, and the level of protection it provides is well worth it. Anyone who lives next to a facility like that will be exposed to elevated levels of hazardous air pollutants.”

Shell’s plant, known as an ethane cracker, breaks up ethane, which is a natural gas liquid from the Marcellus Shale, and turns it into material used to make plastics. It is being built in Potter Township, Beaver County, about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

“Our appeal of the air permit for the Shell facility sought to address two main pieces the permit was lacking: fenceline monitoring to detect and fix leaks and better requirements to assure the facility’s flares properly control air pollution,” Adam Kron, senior attorney for the Environmental Integrity Project, said in a statement. “This settlement achieves both of these goals, and we believe the health of people living and working near this facility will be better protected as a result.”

See also: www.FrackCheckWV.net and www.Marcellus-Shale.us

Beth Terry: "MyPlasticFreeLife.com"

New Bioplastic Even Encourages Plant Growth In The Environment

From an Article by the News Staff, Science 2.0 Blog, March 4, 2014

A number of people are concerned about BPA in plastics but that is far less warranted than concern about plastics themselves.

In 1967′s movie “The Graduate”, the following conversation took place between an older man and the young protagonist Ben Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) at the home of Mrs. Robinson (Ann Bancroft):

McGuire: I just want to say one word to you. Just one word.
Benjamin: Yes, sir.
McGuire: Are you listening?
Benjamin: Yes, I am.
McGuire: Plastics.

He was right then, though everyone knew it, and he is even more right today. Recycling is something of a joke, since government recycling mostly consists of sending it to China, and even with efforts at recycling we have been littered with plastic. Everyone feels like their special snowflake needs an individual disposable bottle of water for optimum health.

There may be a solution coming. Researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute have developed a method to manufacture everything from cell phones to food containers using a fully degradable bioplastic isolated from shrimp shells. The objects exhibit many of the same properties as synthetic plastic but without the environmental threat. It also trumps most bioplastics on the market today in posing absolutely no threat to trees or competition with the food supply.

Most bioplastics are made from cellulose, a plant-based polysaccharide material. The Wyss Institute team developed its bioplastic from chitosan, a form of chitin, which is a powerful player in the world of natural polymers and the second most abundant organic material on Earth. Chitin is a long-chain polysaccharide that is responsible for the hardy shells of shrimps and other crustaceans, armor-like insect cuticles, tough fungal cells walls – and flexible butterfly wings.

The majority of available chitin in the world comes from discarded shrimp shells, and is either thrown away or used in fertilizers, cosmetics, or dietary supplements, for example. However, material engineers have not been able to fabricate complex three-dimensional (3D) shapes using chitin-based materials – until now.

A California Blackeye pea plant in soil enriched with its chitosan bioplastic over a three-week period demonstrates the material’s potential to encourage plant growth once it is returned to the environment, according to Harvard’s Wyss Institute.

The Wyss Institute team, led by Postdoctoral Fellow Javier Fernandez, Ph.D., and Founding Director Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., developed a new way to process the material so that it can be used to fabricate large, 3D objects with complex shapes using traditional casting or injection molding manufacturing techniques. What’s more, their chitosan bioplastic breaks down when returned to the environment within about two weeks, and it releases rich nutrients that efficiently support plant growth.

“There is an urgent need in many industries for sustainable materials that can be mass produced,” Ingber said. Ingber is also the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “Our scalable manufacturing method shows that chitosan, which is readily available and inexpensive, can serve as a viable bioplastic that could potentially be used instead of conventional plastics for numerous industrial applications.”

The advance reflects the next iteration of a material called Shrilk that replicated the appearance and unique material properties of living insect cuticle, which the same team unveiled about two years ago in Advanced Materials. They called it Shrilk because it was composed of chitin from shrimp shells plus a protein from silk.

In this study, the team used the shrimp shells but ditched the silk in their quest to create an even cheaper, easier-to-make chitin-based bioplastic primed for wide-spread manufacturing.

It turns out the small stuff really mattered, Fernandez said. After subjecting chitosan to a battery of tests, he learned that the molecular geometry of chitosan is very sensitive to the method used to formulate it. The goal, therefore, was to fabricate the chitosan in a way that preserves the integrity of its natural molecular structure, thus maintaining its strong mechanical properties.

“Depending on the fabrication method, you either get a chitosan material that is brittle and opaque, and therefore not usable, or tough and transparent, which is what we were after,” said Fernandez, who recently won the Bayer “Early Excellence in Science” Award for his achievements in materials science and engineering.

After fully characterizing in detail how factors like temperature and concentration affect the mechanical properties of chitosan on a molecular level, Fernandez and Ingber honed in on a method that produced a pliable liquid crystal material that was just right for use in large-scale manufacturing methods, such as casting and injection molding.

Significantly, they also found a way to combat the problem of shrinkage whereby the chitosan polymer fails to maintain its original shape after the injection molding process. Adding wood flour, a waste product from wood processing, did the trick.

“You can make virtually any 3D form with impressive precision from this type of chitosan,” said Fernandez, who molded a series of chess pieces to illustrate the point. The material can also be modified for use in water and also easily dyed by changing the acidity of the chitosan solution. And the dyes can be collected again and reused when the material is recycled.

This advance validates the potential of using bioinspired plastics for applications that require large-scale manufacturing, Fernandez explained. The next challenge is for the team to continue to refine their chitosan fabrication methods so that they can take them out of the laboratory, and move them into a commercial manufacturing facility with an industrial partner.

NOTE: Beth Terry has commited to a life free of plastics. Her book is titled: “Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too.”   Her blog is entitled: “MyPlasticFreeLife.com“