|
  |
|
|
plastic bag peril
600 billion is a very great amount of anything. Most people would surely love to see 600 billion of one thing-any kind of dollar bills! In the case of 600 billion dollar bills 600 billion is a very good great amount of something. When 600,000,000,000 is the number of plastic bags produced in ONE YEAR, it's an extremely harmful and dangerous great number for everyone on Earth. That's how many bags are produced each year world wide! It's staggering considering the fact that plastic bags can take 1000 years to photo-degrade. That's 1000 years IF they're exposed to the elements. Buried in landfills, there degradation will take a tremendously greater time to "disappear". So what if we stopped today, this hour, this minute producing plastic bags? We'd have approximately 30 X 600,000,000,000. THAT's 18,000,000,000,000 plastic bags that will be gone in 1000 years. Take heart though, remember, some of those bags are already 30 years old so they only have 970 years to go before they're gone. Unfortunately, they're releasing tiny toxic particles that are being released into the soil and water. The problem is so bad that it is estimated that every human being has some level of these particles in their bodies. Even infants are just being discovered to have greater than normal concentrations. Plastic bags are now amongst the top 12 items of debris most often found along coastlines ranging from Spitzbergen in the north to the Falklands in the south. Animals and sea creatures are hurt and killed every day by discarded plastic bags - a dead turtle with a plastic bag hanging from its mouth because it has mistaken the bag for an aquatic animal and its DINNER. Others get tangled in them and drown. Because plastic bags take hundreds of years to break down, every year our seas become 'home' to more and more bags that find their way there through our sewers and waterways. Every bag that's washed down a drain during rainfall ends up in the sea - every bag that's flushed down a toilet (many small bags are), ends up in the sea - every bag that's blown into a river will most likely end up in the sea. Every sea and ocean now has a deadzone that contains literally miles and miles of deep plastic aquatic animal misery where the currents and winds are stagnant and allow no movement of debris. According to Sharon Jabson in her article posted here: http://www.googobits.com/articles/p2-1604-plastic-bag-pollution.html, "Some countries have introduced so-called "environmentally friendly plastic bags" that are biodegradable. These bags take about three years to break down into practically nothing and while that sounds like an attractive solution, the truth is that the process of breaking down these petrol based bags causes carbon to become methane which is a greenhouse gas. It's also possible to get 'plastic' bags manufactured from corn. These break down very quickly and give off no more methane than any other corn product on landfill sites. Unfortunately, they're more expensive to produce and few shops use them." Want to save a turtle? Want to help keep toxins from your soil and water? Use reusable bags! Use RECYCLED material reusable bags from Fashion Green T Bags
|
       
No reactions yet.
Please login or sign up to rate this intel.
Please login or sign up to add a comment.
The copyright for this content entitled "plastic bag peril" has been specified by the contributor as:
All Rights Reserved
This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.
|
 |
May, 2012
2008
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2009
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2010
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2011
January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
2012
January, February, March, April, May
|
|
Not a member yet?
Qondio is a powerful network for making it online. If you have a website to
promote, we can help.
Sign up and get in on the action.
|
|
Welcome to Qondio! Discover the awesome power this network can deliver by going to our About page. Or you could skip straight to the Sign Up form.
|
|
