Microplastics are everywhere, including in your body. Kurtis Baute spent 24 hours doing everything he could to avoid ingesting them. It shouldn’t be this hard.
Democracy Now! speaks to journalist Sharon Lerner about how corporations in the United States are refusing to turn to more sustainable materials, with most of the country’s plastic waste ending up in landfills or scattered around the world. According to her investigation, in 2015, the United States only recycled 9% of its plastic waste, and since then, that figure has dropped even lower. Lerner is a health and environment reporter at The Intercept and a reporting fellow at Type Investigations. Her series “The Teflon Toxin” was a finalist for a National Magazine Award.
This video tells the story of ten Sea Shepherd volunteers on a remote clean-up at Queensland’s Moreton Island (Moorgumpin) on a mission to find out just how polluted with plastic this remote island is. During the clean-up the volunteers found a dead green sea turtle entangled in discarded fishing gear. Results from the clean-up and microplastic survey showed significant plastic accumulation on the island with over one tonne of marine debris removed from the 21km of beach cleaned.
“Moreton Island is such a beautiful and unique location, home to so many important marine species. It is devastating to see an endangered animal has died from marine pollution; something which could have been avoided” — Campaign Leader Rebecca Griffiths.
