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Things you should know about disposable face masks

By | On June 14,21 | 0 Comment

The uses of face masks in the pandemic situation are getting higher since people have to wear it all the time. By using face masks, it will help to protect us from the spread of Covid-19 but it also creates a new issue regarding to the plastic pollution. 

Disposable face masks are made from multiple plastic fibbers and polypropylene, that will remain in the environment for decades or maybe centuries, fragmenting into smaller and smaller microplastics and nano plastics. It says that the single face masks can release as many as 173,000 microfibers per day into the seas, according to a study in Environmental Advances. Other studies forecasted that the amount of plastic waste or face masks waste in the ocean will be triple in the next 20 years. 

Here are the reasons why disposable face masks are bad as plastic pollution: 

1. The increasement of face masks sales driven to pollution 

Quoted from National Geographic, the Scientists have recorded their presence on South American beaches, river outlets in Jakarta Bay, in Bangladesh, on the coast of Kenya, and on the uninhabited Soko Islands in Hong Kong. Discarded PPE has clogged street drains from New York City to Nairobi, and has gummed up machinery in the municipal sewage system in Vancouver, British Columbia. 

The UN trade body, UNCTAD, estimates that global sales will total some $166 billion this year, up from around $800 million in 2019. 

2. Toxic Problem 

The data indicator is estimated that around 75% of the used face masks will end up in landfill or floating in the seas. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) estimated that the environmental damage, the financial cost in areas such as tourism and fisheries at around $40 billion. 

3. Water Pollution 

According to a Hong Kong – based environmental group, there will be more than 1.5 billion disposable face masks will wind up in the world’s ocean and polluting the water with tonnes of plastic and endangering marine wildlife this year. 

The face masks are not only releasing microbes, but the mask trap is also killing the marine life as they can suffocate by it. 

Beyond Earth, Oceans

Ocean Sustainability for a better Economy

By | On April 13,21 | 0 Comment

There are 14 countries who commits in ocean sustainability in order to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Ocean is a big asset of economy in the world, and according to data, there are 90% of goods are traded across the ocean and the ocean economy contributes more than $1,5 trillion a year to the global economy. 

Hundreds of millions of people are having a better life and economy because of the ocean since there are many business industries in fishing and mariculture such as, shipping and ports, tourism, offshore energy, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. 

The ocean is so vast, and its role in the global economy and the lives of the world’s people so fundamental, however there are groups that destroying the nature of the sea and cause big damages to the sea animals and biodiversity. 

Ocean provides a wide variety of vital benefits, according to the Ocean Panel, there are 6 benefits of ocean to our life: 

It helps make the planet liveable and is critical to managing the effects of climate change. Besides forests, ocean can also produce oxygen. In fact, half of planet’s oxygen produced by ocean and the ocean absorbs 93% of world’s anthropogenic in the world. 

The global economy and the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people depend on the ocean. The ocean economy contributes more than $1,5 trillion for the worldwide economy. As we can see that many people are work in the ocean sectors. 

The ocean provides billions of people with nutritious food, with a much smaller environmental footprint than land-based food production. Seafood contains are the sources of protein, and key nutrients, including the omega-3 fatty acids and iodine. 

Coastal habitats, such as mangroves, provide protection for hundreds of millions of people, nurture biodiversity, detoxify pollutants flowing off the land, and provide nursery areas for fisheries, increasing the supply of food and providing livelihoods. In fact, the coral reefs contribute $11,5 billion a year to tourism, benefitting more than 100 countries and providing food and livelihoods to local people. 

The ocean provides a sense of wonder, solace and connection to the natural world and is deeply woven into the cultural and spiritual lives of billions of coastal dwellers. It also gives pleasure to the hundreds of millions of people a year who visit it 

The ocean may store unknown treasures. In addition to its known benefits, it may be the home of undiscovered resources—including medical ones—and new knowledge.