This afternoon in Rita 101 I was able to attend the talk given by Winona LaDuke. I just want to first state my gratitude to the faculty who made it possible to bring her to the College of Charleston and getting the privilege to listen to her talk. I personally enjoyed my time and she is a true inspiration. She presented “The Sitting Bull Plan” which in summary is to become more efficient in our economy. Help fix the infrastructure that needs to be repaired now (Flint Michigan), instead of causing new problems with increasing more unwanted pipelines. She brought up how these corporations are putting these pipelines in low-income communities and not in white ones. This relates to the environmental injustice that has been discussing in our class with the Warren County PCB landfill. Another cool thing I learned is about the plant, hemp! No not THC but the plant itself can be used to make more sustainable clothing articles. Limiting the chemicals that we put into our waters. Not only with clothing articles, but hemp and be made into biodegradable plastic. We have these obtainable solutions they just are not being put to use. Lastly, I want to leave off with this one last thing Winona LaDuke said throughout her presentation and that is “no time is like the present”.

This is a picture shown durning the talk f the biodegradable hemp water bottle

and this is a photo of her I took durning her talk.

Source

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/microplastics-pollution-falls-from-air-even-mountains/

Microplastics In The Air

Microplastics have been a big issue for a while, we know that it ends up in the sea, and even the marine species who live there but now its traveling through the air as well.

Who/What/How/When/Where/Why

What:  Scientists discover large amounts of tiny plastic particles falling out of the air in a  remote mountain location.

• This is really important because it is the first time microplastics have been discovered on a mountain top
• There aren’t many people in this region, which suggests the particles were transported by wind, through the air, from more populated areas at least 59 miles away
• The area is considered pristine wilderness but the team found an average of 365 pieces of plastic per square metre, suggesting that people are probably breathing in toxic particles even in fresh mountain air.
• Microplastics are very small pieces of plastic waste. Their presence in oceans and waterways has received a great deal of scientific and media attention in recent years. However, not only are they in the oceans but they travel in our air too.

How:

• Researchers spent five months collecting samples from 4,600 ft above sea level in the Pyrenees mountain range which forms a natural border between France and Spain.

Where:

France’s Pyrenees Mountains

When:

Published Monday April 15th

Who:

National Geographic article was written by Stephen Leahy  

 Scientist that published this study where

• Steve Allen,
• Deonie Allen,
• Vernon R. Phoenix,
• Gaël Le Roux,
• Pilar Durántez Jiménez,
• Anaëlle Simonneau,
• Stéphane Binet  
• Didier Galop

Study called: Atmospheric Transport and deposition of microplastics in a remote mountain catchment.

Why:

• Because microplastics can be the next atmospheric pollutant.
• Researchers say Pieces of plastic small enough to sail into the atmosphere can be virtually impossible to clean up, suggesting the only viable solution is to produce less in the first place.

Impact of the event or finding/ relevance to society:

• People are exposed to microplastics through food and air  and these findings raise some worrying questions. Additionally,  there needs to be a better way to approach single use plastic.

Relevance to the course:

• This is related to the course, because this has to do with the environment. Even though we do not know the overall health impacts of microplastics on humans, we do know that it is a toxin and a pollutant. This raises a lot of worrying  questions for us and for the future of our planet.

• Researchers say Pieces of plastic small enough to sail into the atmosphere can be virtually impossible to clean up, suggesting the only viable solution is to produce less in the first place.

Any permanent questions raised by the story

• What are the health impacts of inhaling these microplastics?
• This raises questions on how often we need to purify our air?
• Is living in cities healthy ?