environment

In an article that appeared on the Sunday Times this week, a man was detained by the police in Rwanda after being caught smuggling a shipment of polythene bags into the country, which are considered an environmental hazard by the Rwandan government. According to correspondent Laurent Kamana, the man was found in possession of 200 packets of the plastic bags, amounting to approximately 40,000 pieces in total. The suspect, identified as Maurice Bizumuremyi, brought the bags in from Burundi, and was taking them to a client in Kimironko, Kigali City. Kamana reports:

The Environment Ministry of China has admitted to the presence of places they refer to as "cancer villages" in a new, official report which examines the effects of rapid industrialism on the environment. According to news source France 24's recent story, the Chinese response comes as a result of increasing discontent over smog, industrial waste, and environmental toxins. The article states that the term "cancer village" is both unprecedented and somewhat ambiguous.

Despite the Hawaii-wide ban on plastic bags set to take effect in 2015, lawmakers are working on a temporary solution that they feel will save taxpayers and the environment from paying the price of plastic pollution. According to Mileka Lincoln of Hawaii News Now, lawmakers would like to introduce an intermediary bag tax in order to prevent the environment from suffering any further pollution. Lincoln writes:

House Bill 357 would require businesses to charge a dime for each single-use bag provided to customers at check-out.

This weekend, a group of elderly Iowan women who call themselves "100 Grannies" celebrated National Grandparents Day by making a strong request: to ban plastic bags in their community. As reported by the Daily Iowan, the 100 Grannies fear for the safety of the future generations, and encourage others to consider the huge impact plastic bags have on the environment. Writes Katie Kuntz of the Daily Iowan:

Today, the University of California in Santa Barbara [in the United States] has announced that it has recieved three Best Practice awards in a competition sponsored by the California Higher Education Sustainability Conference, called the Energy Effiency and Suatainability Awards. UCSB has recently become a Plastic-Free Campus, an initiative driven by the Plastic Pollution Coalition, and this is one effort among many that the University has used to improve their campus's level of suatainability. Local Santa Barbara news site, Noozhawk, writes:

By the Korea Zero Waste Movement Network

S. Korea’s major superstores declared a “No Disposable Plastic Bags” policy, resulting in zero disposable plastic bags from these stores as well as a 55 percent increase in the number of customers using reusable tote bags, which equals a CO2 reduction of 6,865 tons and a cost savings of 10 million US dollars.

 No Disposable Plastic Bags Declared

 By Gwyneth K. Shaw, the New Haven Independent 

A court settlement with an environmental group will force the US Food and Drug Administration to finally make a judgement on the controversial chemical bisphenol A by next spring. ...Read More.

By Steve Law, Sustainable Life

In late-October, Multnomah County enacted Oregon's first restrictions against products containing bisphenol A, a widely used chemical compound often called BPA. The ban on BPA-laced baby bottles, sippy cups, and reusable water bottles will ...Read More.