globalbriefs
News and resources to inspire concerned citizens to work together in building a healthier, stronger society that benefits all.
Tiny Baubles Plastic Pollution Flows from Washday to the Sea
A study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology warns that microscopic plastic debris from washing clothes made of syn- thetic materials like polyester, acrylic and nylon is accumulating in the marine environment and could be entering the food chain. Concentrations were greatest near coastal urban areas. Up to 1,900 tiny fibers per garment were released with each wash during the study. Earlier research has shown that plastic particles smaller than one millimeter comprise 80 percent of envi-
ronmental plastic and are being eaten by animals and getting into the food chain. Mark Browne, Ph.D., an ecologist based at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a member of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthe- sis, advises, “Once the plastics had been eaten, they transferred from the animals’ stomachs to their circulation system and actually accumulated in their cells.” The team took samples from 18 beaches around the globe, including sites in Australia, Britain, India, Japan, Oman, the Philippines, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa and the United States. They found no sample that did not contain pieces of the microplastic.
Source: BBC Natural Wealth Spreadsheet Proposal Go Rio
The British government is setting up a Natural Capital Committee that will describe the country’s wealth in terms of the quality of its air, water, wildlife and other natural resources. Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman intends to propose that all countries begin “green accounting” to audit the state of their rivers, forests and other landscapes. The United Nations Rio+20 Conference in Brazil this June is expected to unite the participating nations in protecting the world’s environment. Sustainable development goals under consideration include ensuring that all agriculture is sustainable, protecting oceans, setting up an international court on environmental crime, and appoint- ing an ombudsperson to speak on behalf of future generations. The summit, to be attended by 190 nations, will also look at cutting subsidies for fossil fuels and low carbon en- ergy for all. Spelman observes that businesses in Great Britain are already measuring the impact they are having on the envi- ronment. She states, “In the same way, governments can start to take account of damage to the environment in order to sustain resources like fresh water for fisheries, forests for clean air and green spaces for tourism. We want our own government to take account of natural capital and our statisticians to calculate the state of the nation more widely.”
24 Collier/Lee Counties
swfl.naturalawakeningsmag.com
Church and State Faith Begets Civic Activism
The Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project affirms that reli- giously active people are more likely to engage in civic activities than others. The authors say their findings counter the view that religiously active people are less engaged with the secular world. The report found that 40 percent of Americans engage in some form of religious activity such as going to a church, synagogue or mosque, and feel better about their place in the larger civic community. They tend to be more trusting of others and more optimistic about their impact on their community and are more active in groups. Religious teachings have a com- ponent of helping others at their core, points out Eugene Fisher, a professor of Catholic-Jewish studies at Saint Leo University, in Florida. “Civic participa- tion would be a natural result of that push to help your fellow man,” he says. The study similarly reveals a high level of digital participation by religious- ly engaged folks. Media expert Paul Levinson, author of New New Media, says, “The Internet is an amplifier of all that each of us are in our humanity.”
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,
and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.
~Henry David Thoreau
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