18 March 2018
In the final episode of The Blue Planet, David Attenborough highlights for us a modern menace to sea life.
Microbeads.
Now microplastics, smaller than water filters can take out, are eeded to make our skin look better – no matter what happens to water down the line!
Are cosmetic scientists unable to foresee this problem? They’re clever. But now, how many victims of this narrow profit-driven research must there be? – us, them, marine life, the Earth?
In 2014, Ireland beat us to a plastic bag charge - and usage dropped over 70%.
In 2015, we in the UK adopted it and we’ve seen usage drop 85% - very impressive.
A global issue which needs a global solution
Let’s remember too that this is a response to the long-life of plastic bags and their effects on wildlife – a small yet important commitment by us all in Britain.
But now there's microbeads! We don’t need microbeads in our body wash. We’ve coped for millennia without. What we need are ever cleaner products - in the Earth sense. The USA banned these in 2016 – so why do we still have them?
When it comes to global ocean plastic, it’s a global issue which needs a global solution. We need international efforts to clean up the plastic gyres in the Pacific.
There’s a very easy way to stop global pollution – stop participating in it!
Greens call on everyone to limit their use of plastic, and to reject, before buying, products that contain microplastics.
Martin Deane is a candidate for Avenue ward
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