Millions of tonnes of plastic garbage winds up in our oceans each year. Voluntary pledges haven’t worked. It’s time for Canada to advocate for an international plastics treaty.
Besides wondrous creatures, new discoveries and spectacular filming, Sir David Attenborough’s follow up to The Blue Planet comes with a stark warning about the future
Archaeologists this week found that more than half of of HMAS Perth, a WWII wreck in Indonesia, has disappeared. It’s now a race to protect the millions of other wrecks and sunken cities lying under the oceans.
Plastics pose a major threat to seabirds and other animals, and most don’t ever break down - they just break up. Every piece of petrochemical-derived plastic ever made still exists on the planet.
Microfibres and microplastics are a massive problem for marine life. Once ingested, they
severely affect marine animals ability to eat. There’s also concerns about their toxicity.
Thousands of seabirds die every year from consuming plastic trash in the oceans. But why do they eat plastic? New research shows that it produces odors that help some species find prey.
Coal dust and oil can spread toxic chemicals hundreds of kilometres out to sea. But Australia’s monitoring guidelines do not meet the standards used in countries such as the United States.
Dave West from the environmental group Boomerang Alliance told Fairfax that if you’ve got an average seafood diet in Australia, you’re probably ingesting about 11,000 plastic pieces a year. Is that right?
California is the latest state to attempt to ban microplastics from consumer care products. Why these commonly used microbeads are causing major health and environmental problems.