Environmental News

by Richard Arterbury

Photo Credit: ​Source: Rosenbaum and Luciano Huck

In 2014 Patricia L. Corcoran found a new Anthropogenic Marker Horizon In The Future Rock Record by finding aged Plastic in a Rock on the beaches of Hawaii. It was made of sand, organic debris, volcanic rock, all melted together with plastic.

So they proposed the name “plastiglomerate” and they suggested that, as plastic lasts pretty much forever, these stones could be a marker of the Anthropocene in the rock record. In the future, our time might be defined by our use of plastics. 

Ocean Blue Project feels this is the most eye-popping statistic in the study is how quickly plastic production has been accelerating in just this millennium. The world has made as much plastic in the past 13 years it did in the previous half-century. Read More about this Study: 

The Wall Street Journal Reported:
​The Shale Revolution’s Staggering Impact in Just One Word: Plastics

 These economic forces also govern how plastic gets recycled—or doesn’t. It’s often cheaper just to make virgin plastics, especially if you need plastic of a certain hardness or durability. Plus, there are so many different types of plastics that need to be sorted. “Plastic recycling just suffers from poor economics,” says Geyer.
It wasn’t always obvious that petroleum-based plastics would dominate. In the early 20th century, scientists experimented with plastics made from plant-derived carbon-based molecules. Henry Ford unveiled the “soybean car” in 1941. 

The car had a hard plastic shell, made of soybean fiber. The field of chemurgy—dedicated to turning agricultural materials into industrial products—rose and quickly fell, thanks to the ascendance of petroleum. It’s come full circle in a way. Now there are bioplastics, made out of biological materials like corn starch
Read more by the Wall Street Journal: 

Find out how you can help save the ocean: 

France plans to ban all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, the country's new environment minister has announced.
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Nicolas Hulot made the announcement as he unveiled a series of measures as part of newly elected President Emmanuel Macron's plan to make the country carbon neutral by 2050. 

​Mr Hulot said he recognised the target would put pressure on France's car manufacturers, but he said they currently had projects which "can fulfil that promise".

As part of the plan, poorer households will receive a premium so they can swap their polluting vehicles for clean alternatives.
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The announcement comes after Volvo said on Wednesday it planned to built only electric and hybrid vehicles from 2019.  
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Speaking at a press conference, Mr Hulot told reporters France would stop using coal to produce electricity by 2022 and that up to €4bn of investments will help to boost energy efficiency. 

The announcements are part of a five-year-plan to encourage clean energy and fulfil the country's commitments under the Paris Agreement. 

Mr Hulot said the government wanted to maintain the country's "leadership" in climate policy. 
"We want to demonstrate that fighting against climate change can lead to an improvement of French people's daily lives," he said. 
France is not the only country which aims to ban combustion-powered cars. The Netherlands and Norway previously said they wanted to get rid of petrol and diesel vehicles by 2025 and Germany and India announced similar plans ahead of 2030. 

Mr Hulot also announced plans to end the importation of products such as palm oil and unsustainably grown soya, which contribute to deforestation around the world and particularly in the Amazon forest, South-East Asia and in Congo. 

The former journalist and wildlife TV presenter said deforestation represented 10 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. 
He said it would be "schizophrenic" to encourage industrials and manufacturers to reduce their emissions while accepting that millions of trees, which absorb carbon dioxide, are being chopped down.

Mr Hulot also said "citizen panels" will be established in order to debate practical ways in which France can meet its commitment under the Paris climate accord and reduce its emissions. 

French Parliament is expected to vote on a bill in the autumn which would ban all new exploitation permits for petrol, natural gas and coal. 
France has also pledged to reduce nuclear energy from 75 per cent to 50 per cent of the country's energy mix by 2025. 

Reacting to the news, ClientEarth CEO James Thornton said: “This is a huge statement of intent from the French government and an example of how we’re likely to see exponential change in the coming years as governments grapple with the necessary changes we have to make for air quality and our climate.

“Coming hot on the heels of Volvo’s announcement yesterday, the outlook for the internal combustion engine is bleak. This is now clearly the direction of travel and industry players who are not on board will find themselves struggling before long.
"These moves should be heeded by other governments and industry, who need to act to protect us from air pollution in our towns and cities and help mitigate climate change.

Visit www.oceanblueproject.org to find out more about how you can save the Ocean!