An article in Saturday’s Daily Star, “Coral bleaching near record across world,” reports that ocean heating has gone “crazy haywire,” causing damage to coral reefs. Climate change is described as the major cause of this unprecedented warming.
Though most people know that fossil fuel use is the leading driver of climate change, few are aware that the production of plastic is a big part of the problem. But a 2021 analysis by Beyond Plastics stated that, in the U.S., the plastics industry will make a greater contribution to climate change than coal-fired power by 2030. Beyond Plastics founder Judith Enck says, "… plastic produces greenhouse gas emissions at every stage of its life cycle. To provide context, if plastic were a country, it would be the world’s fifth largest greenhouse gas emitter…."
Since plastics harm the oceans in other ways, too (by 2050 it’s estimated that plastic waste will outweigh fish in the world’s oceans), it makes sense to cut plastic production now.
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Alice Whittenburg
West side
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