That Anti-Straw Movement? It's All Based On Ane 9-Year-Old's Suspect Statistic (We'll Demo Y'all The Existent Problem)

First up, USA Today, July 19:

The root of the displace to ban plastic straws may come upward equally a surprise: It began with a 9-year-old man child named Milo Cress together with his 2011 campaign, "Be Straw Free," which launched to heighten awareness virtually plastic waste.

His big finding? Americans utilisation to a greater extent than than 500 1000000 drinking straws daily, plenty to fill upward 125 schoolhouse buses. That figure has croak highly touted since, referenced inward straw ban coverage from The New York Times and Fox News, Washington Examiner, together with Reason, aimed to debunk the figure.

The teen is aware of objections to the less-than-verified stat.

"Why I utilisation this statistic is because it illustrates that nosotros utilisation also many straws," he said. "I intend if it were some other number, it nevertheless illustrates the fact that at that topographic point is room for reduction. That’s actually my message."

Eco-Cycle, a Colorado-based recycling nonprofit that partnered alongside Cress' campaign, trusts his statistic. If anything, said Eco-Cycle communications manager Harlin Savage, 500 1000000 straws per hateful solar daytime could be also low. And if anyone has come upward up alongside a dissimilar figure, Savage  — addition a lot of other people, she said —  would similar to encounter it. She applauded the teen's efforts.

“He saw a work together with it actually bothered him, together with he decided to orbit something virtually it,” Savage said. “He’s a wonderful purpose model.”...MORE

Corrections & Clarifications: An before version of this article misstated the estimated total of plastic produced globally since the mid-1950s, which is 8.3 billion metric tons.

The fact of the affair is nosotros possess got to halt plastic getting into the oceans. You've in all probability seen the pictures of the Caribbean:

That's H2O underneath the plastic.

World News Canada has video shot off the Dominican Republic on July 14. It is stunning.

And finally, from the World Economic Forum, June 8:

90% of plastic polluting our oceans comes from but 10 rivers

Over the lastly decade nosotros possess got croak increasingly alarmed at the total of plastic inward our oceans.

More than 8 1000000 tons of it ends upward inward the body of body of water every year. If nosotros croak on to pollute at this rate, at that topographic point volition live more plastic than fish inward the body of body of water past times 2050.

But where does all this plastic waste matter come upward from?

Most of it is washed into the body of body of water past times rivers. And 90% of it comes from but 10 of them, according to a study.

Rivers of plastic

By analyzing the waste matter constitute inward the rivers together with surrounding landscape, researchers were able to gauge that just 10 river systems comport 90% of the plastic that ends upward inward the ocean.

Eight of them are inward Asia: the Yangtze; Indus; Yellow; Hai He; Ganges; Pearl; Amur; Mekong; together with 2 inward Africa – the Nile together with the Niger.

"We were able to demonstrate that at that topographic point is a definite correlation inward this respect," said Dr. Christian Schmidt, 1 of the authors of the written report from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research. "The to a greater extent than waste matter at that topographic point is inward a catchment expanse that is non disposed of properly, the to a greater extent than plastic ultimately ends upward inward the river together with takes this road to the sea."

Schmidt together with his squad constitute that the quantity of plastic per cubic metre of H2O was significantly higher inward large rivers than inward minor ones.

 

Image: Statista

The rivers all had 2 things inward common; a by together with large high population living inward the surrounding percentage – sometimes into the hundreds of millions – together with a less than ideal waste matter administration process.

The Yangtze is Asia’s longest river together with also 1 of world’s most ecologically of import rivers. The river basin is home to almost 500 1000000 people (more than 1 3rd of China’s population). It is also the biggest carrier of plastic pollution to the ocean....MORE