Plastics release and attract toxic chemicals, and appear everywhere from human placentas to chasms thirty-six thousand feet beneath the sea. Elizabeth Kolbert writes for The New YorkerIn a nutshell:Born in 1865 out of a quest to eliminate elephant ivory from the billiard ball supply chain, plastics are now being spewed forth at an annual production volume of over eight hundred billion pounds. As plastics break down into microplastics and disperse, they make their way to the most distant parts of our planet as well as infiltrating the internal organs of species up and down the food chain. No amount of recycling, reusing or repurposing is going to solve the plastics problem. The oil and gas industry, protected by massive political might and bankrolled by decades of record profits and willing financiers will not go quietly.

Source: The Guardian June 28, 2023 19:06 UTC