"Norway’s huge oil and gas sector is the clear driving factor behind the nation’s economic boom over the last three decades, following major discoveries in the North Sea."
Perhaps Greta does not need to travel so far for her scolding.
Ecologists at the University of Sydney estimate around 480 million mammals, birds and reptiles have been killed, directly or indirectly, by the devastating blazes since they began in September, The Times reported.
Malaysia emerged as a new major hub for plastic waste imports after Chinaâs decision to ban imports of plastic scrap in early 2018. The four biggest exporters of plastic waste, Germany, The UK, the U.S. and Japan, shipped a total of approximately 650,000 tons to the Southeast Asian state that is only 330,000 square kilometers in size.
The top four exporters accounted for around 50 percent of global plastic waste exports in 2018, according to the UN Comtrade database. Only about 240,000 tons ended up in China and Hong Kong as imports were being phased out. Other Asian countries, including India, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia, were also popular export targets, but didnât come close to Malaysiaâs numbers. Many Chinese recyclers moved operations to the country which has a sizable Chinese-speaking population, according to the South China Morning Post. The plastic waste trade is very diverse globally, with major exporters using a plethora of different partners in developed and developing countries.
Buyers of plastic waste typically process the material into pellets that can then be resold to manufacturers and turned into plastic products again. Unfortunately, processing plants often burn low-grade plastics they canât use, releasing toxins into the air. In other instances, reckless businesses dumped leftover plastic waste illegally, like observed by Süddeutsche Zeitung (link in German) in the Malaysian district of Jenjarom.
Seven Charts explaining the plastic pollution problem.
In July a paper published in the journal Science Advances by industrial ecologist Dr Roland Geyer, from the University of California in Santa Barbara, and colleagues, calculated the total volume of all plastic ever produced at 8.3bn tonnes.Of this, some 6.3bn tonnes is now waste - and 79% of that is in landfill or the natural environment.
– Much of the plastics in the oceans gets there through rivers – And most gets there only through a small number of rivers – these 20 are responsible for 67% of global annual river input (according to Lebreton et al.) That's why it's great that this is now in operation.
Trumpâs EPA ended the particulate matter advisory board nearly a year ago. The agency also replaced many of the academic scientists on a broader science panel with scientists from industry and conservative states.
Earlier this month, EPA chief Andrew Wheeler selected a new group of ânon-member consultantsâ to assist that panel with work on both particle pollution and smog. About half of the new consultants are linked with industry. Their recommendations to the panel will happen behind the scenes, rather than in public meetings.
Trump really does not care about the health of ordinary Americans, eh?
