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Plastics found in stomachs of deepest sea creatures
Animals from the deepest places on Earth have been found with plastic in their stomachs, confirming fears that manmade fibres have contaminated the most remote places on the planet.
The study, led by academics at Newcastle University, found animals from trenches across the Pacific Ocean were contaminated with fibres that probably originated from plastic bottles, packaging and synthetic clothes.
Dr Alan Jamieson, who led the study, said the findings were startling and proved that nowhere on the planet was free from plastics pollution. "There is now no doubt that plastics pollution is so pervasive that nowhere – no matter how remote – is immune," he said.
Evidence of the scale of plastic pollution has been growing in recent months. Earlier this year scientists found plastic in 83% of global tapwater samples, while other studies have found plastic in rock salt and fish. Humans have produced an estimated 8.3bn tonnes of plastic since the 1950s and scientists said it risked near permanent contamination of the planet.
Also at Newcastle University.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 18 2017, @06:59PM (4 children)
Humanities scale has grown massively along with our technological revolution. Perhaps we should start investing in the future instead of immediate profits. Garbage is a big problem, but the biggest obstacle is economics because no one WANTS to sift through garbage and figure out what to do with it. Eventually the problem will become so bad that people will demand the government do something and THEN we will get some progress.
Or possibly energy and automation will become cheap enough that it will become profitable to actually process all human waste.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Saturday November 18 2017, @07:17PM
For far too many people, that tolerance level comes after a mass extinction event when the ecological damage finally starts to impact their own little lives. Then it will be too late, for any of those problems to be fixed in their lifespan at least.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 18 2017, @07:48PM (2 children)
FTFY
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 19 2017, @03:00AM (1 child)
You can eat soylent if you want, I'll just move to Middlenowherstan and found my utopia. CONTRACTS FOR EVERYBODY!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 19 2017, @04:17AM
> CONTRACTS FOR EVERYBODY!
So, you are planning on a nice mix of 50% lawyers to write all those contracts, with the other 50% of the population covering every other kind of skill set?