How Will Earth Change If All the Ice Melts?

New Discovery in Antarctica Suggests Ice Sheets Could Disappear Way Faster Than Previously Thought !

Antarctica’s ice may melt faster than previously thought as result of a newly discovered network of lakes and streams that destabilize the continent’s ice shelves, according to new research — making them more vulnerable to collapse.

Scientists have long understood that water from melted ice harm ice sheets by flowing into cracks and refreezing, but that phenomenon was thought to be limited to a small part of the continent. Researchers behind a new study published in the journal Nature this week found that the process has been ongoing for decades and actually occurs across the continent including in places where scientists did not think liquid water was commonly found. The pace of the damage will increase as temperatures continue to rise as a result of man-made global warming.

“This is not in the future—this is widespread now, and has been for decades,” says study author Jonathan Kingslake, who studies glaciers at Columbia University, in a press release. “I think most polar scientists have considered water moving across the surface of Antarctica to be extremely rare. But we found a lot of it, over very large areas.”

The study draws on satellite images of the continent dating back to 1973 and aerial photos collected by military planes from as early as 1947. The scale of some of the water systems is staggering with some streams extending as long as 75 miles and some lakes stretching several miles across, according to the study.

Antarctica holds 90% of the world’s ice and rapid ice melt and the associated collapse of ice sheets could have profound effects across the globe, including a steep rise in sea levels, but much remains unknown about the speed at which Antarctic ice is melting. An accompanying study also published in Nature this week evaluates a specific region in Antarctica — the Nansen Ice Shelf — and finds that the worst destabilizing effects are avoided as the melted water drains into the ocean. It remains unclear which ice sheets will respond like Nansen and which will have the destabilizing effect seen elsewhere.

“It could develop this way in other places, or things could just devolve into giant slush puddles,” says study author Robin Bell, a scientist at Columbia University, in a press release. “Ice is dynamic and complex, and we don’t have the data yet.”

 World Leaders On Edge as President Trump Weighs Pulling U.S. Out of Paris Climate Deal

Previous research has suggested that ice melt from Antarctica could drive more than 3.5 feet in sea level rise across the globe by 2100. And Antarctica is just one source on along list that includes ice melt from the Greenland ice sheet and other glaciers as well as the expansion of sea water at warmer temperatures. The complete melting of the Antarctic Ice Sheet would raise global sea levels by 200 feet, though climate change researchers do not expect such a result.

Countries around the globe committed in the 2015 Paris Agreement to work to keep temperatures from rising more than 2°C (3.6°F) by 2100, though it remains unclear whether they will be able to meet that target. Even if that target is met, sea level rise will average 0.2 meters (0.67 feet) by 2100, though many places like the East coast of the U.S. will face a far greater rise, according to recent research.

What’s the problem with plastic bags?

What’s the problem with plastic bags?

How can such a flimsy thing cause so many problems? We are so used to using plastic bags to carry things around that we have taken it for granted… but you should start paying attention to how you use plastic bags… and start finding something else to carry your things – because our environment can’t take more of it.

Here are some interesting facts about plastic bags that you probably didn’t know:

• 160,000 plastic bags are used globally every second! 
• 5 trillion plastic bags are produced yearly. Side by side, they can encircle the world 7 times.
• The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is a floating landfill of garbage in the Pacific twice the size of Texas, is mostly composed of plastic.
• In 2008, a sperm whale was found beached in California. It died due to the more than 22 kilos of plastic found in its stomach.
• Plastic will only start degrading after 700 years and will only fully degrade in 1000 years. This means that all the plastic that has ever been produced has not degraded yet.
• Plastic bags remain toxic even after it breaks down. It doesn’t biodegrade, it photo-degrades. It means that after it degrades, it breaks down into smaller and smaller toxic bits of itself – and bleeds and contaminates the environment.
• An average family will use 60 plastic bags on four visits to the supermarket.
• Only 1 to 3% of plastic bags are recycled worldwide.
• Plastic bags cause the death of many marine animals when they are mistaken for food.
• Plastic bags were introduced to supermarkets in 1977.
• In the North Pacific Ocean, there are 6x more plastic debris than plankton.
• Plastic bags are produced using petroleum, natural gas and other chemicals. Its production is toxic to the environment.

How do they end up in the Ocean?

Plastic bags are so lightweight and aerodynamic, that even if we dispose of them properly, they can escape with the wind. They escape from our trash cans, garbage trucks and landfills and they go where the wind takes them – polluting our environment until they finally find their way to the ocean and kill birds and animals.

Just search for “animals eat plastic bags” in Google and you will find hundreds of stories of poor animals dying from suffocation and from eating the plastic bags, mistaking them for food! The problem is that when the animals die and decompose, the plastic bag in their stomachs will just be released into the environment again (it doesn’t degrade for 1,000 years, remember?) – and will probably kill another animal. It’s like a never ending killing cycle!

The Global Response

In response to the problem of plastic bag usage and to acknowledge its negative effects to our environment, more and more countries are banning or regulating the use of plastic bags in supermarkets and retail stores. 

Retailers are no longer automatically dispensing plastic bags. Some have started charging for them in the hopes that customers will be discouraged and bring their own reusable bags… and it works! More and more users are now bringing their own bags when they go shopping and this has drastically reduced our usage worldwide.

What can you do to help?

The efforts of governments and retailers will go to waste if we, the consumers, don’t contribute to the effort of reducing plastic bag usage. Yes, you’ve been so used to it. It’s a cheap and convenient way to carry things around. But there are other, better, alternatives. We just need to recondition our minds and make it a habit. Here are some suggestions:

• Start by bringing your own Eco-Friendly bags.
• Reuse and Recycle your plastic bags at home. You can take them to a nearby recycling center.
• Patronize businesses that support the effort to reduce plastic bag usage. Don’t get mad at them for inconveniencing you if they don’t give you a plastic bag.
• Spread awareness by not accepting plastic bags from retailers and reminding them that it’s toxic to our environment. 
• Let’s start educating our children about the plastic bag problem so they will continue the efforts and go green themselves.
• Stop using plastic altogether.

Just by remembering to bring your own bag when you go shopping, you’ll be helping our environment in a very big way.

Recycling our packaging

How plastic microbeads are causing big problems

How Much Plastic is in the Ocean?

Plastic 3 threw 7 does not get recycled in UTAH let come together and CHANGE that !

Plastic #3: Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)

PVC plastic can be rigid or flexible, and is commonly found in bags for bedding, shrink wrap, deli and meat wrap, plastic toys, table cloths and blister packs used to store medications.

PVC contains toxic chemicals including DEHP, a type of phthalate used as a plastics softener. Phthalates are one of the groups of "gender-bending" chemicals causing males of many species to become more female. These chemicals have disrupted the endocrine systems of wildlife, causing testicular cancer, genital deformations, low sperm counts and infertility in a number of species, including polar bears, deer, whales and otters, just to name a few.

Scientists believe phthalates are responsible for a similar pattern of adverse effects in humans as well. If your home contains soft, flexible plastic flooring, such as vinyl or those padded play-mat floors for kids (often used in day cares and kindergartens, too), there's a good chance it is also made from toxic PVC. PVC flooring has been linked to chronic diseases including allergies, asthma and autism.

Plastic #4: Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE)

Another plastic that is considered a low hazard, LDPE is used in bags for bread, newspapers, fresh produce, household garbage and frozen foods, as well as in paper milk cartons and hot and cold beverage cups. While LDPE does not contain BPA, it may pose risks of leaching estrogenic chemicals, similar to HDPE.

Plastic #5: Polypropylene (PP)

PP plastic is used to make containers for yogurt, deli foods, medications and takeout meals. While polypropylene is said to have a high heat tolerance making it unlikely to leach chemicals, at least one study found that PP plastic ware used for laboratory studies did leach at least two chemicals.6

Plastic #6: Polystyrene (PS)

Polystyrene, also known as Styrofoam, is used to make cups, plates, bowls, take-out containers, meat trays and more. Polystyrene is known to leach styrene,7 which can damage your nervous system and is linked to cancer, into your food. Temperature has been found to play a role in how much styrene leaches from polystyrene containers, which means using them for hot foods and beverages (such as hot coffee in a polystyrene cup) may be worst of all.

Plastic #7: Other

This is a catch-all designation used to describe products made from other plastic resins not described above, or those made from a combination of plastics. It's difficult to know for sure what types of toxins may be in #7 plastics, but there's a good chance it often contains BPA or the new, equally concerning chemical on the block in the bisphenol class known as Bisphenol-S (BPS).

BPA and BPS are endocrine disrupters, which means they mimic or interfere with your body's hormones and "disrupts" your endocrine system. The glands of your endocrine system and the hormones they release are instrumental in regulating mood, growth and development, tissue function, metabolism, as well as sexual function and reproductive processes.

Some of the greatest concern surrounds early-life, in utero exposure to bisphenol compounds, which can lead to chromosomal errors in your developing fetus, causing spontaneous miscarriages and genetic damage. But evidence is also very strong showing these chemicals are influencing adults and children, too, and leading to decreased sperm quality, early puberty, stimulation of mammary gland development, disrupted reproductive cycles and ovarian dysfunction, cancer and heart disease, among numerous other health problems.

For instance, research has found that "higher BPA exposure is associated with general and central obesity in the general adult population of the United States,"8 while another study found that BPA is associated not only with generalized and abdominal obesity, but also with insulin resistance, which is an underlying factor in many chronic diseases.9

Plastics Pose a Great Risk to the Environment, Too

Plastics are not only an issue in products while they're being used but also when they're disposed of. While approximately 50 percent of plastic waste goes to landfills (where it will sit for hundreds of years due to limited oxygen and lack of microorganisms to break it down) the remaining 45 plus percent "disappears" into the environment where it ultimately washes out to sea, damaging marine ecosystems and entering the food chain.

Plastic particles are like "sponges" for waterborne contaminants such as PCBs, pesticides like DDT, herbicides, PAHs, and other persistent organic pollutants. This phenomenon makes plastics far from benign, and scientists have yet to determine the full extent of the dangers posed by their consumption or the effects higher up the food chain.

One of the biggest environmental assaults is the massive accumulation of plastic trash in each of the world's five major oceanic gyres. Gyres are large, slowly rotating oceanic whirlpools, driven by global winds and ocean currents.10 Garbage and debris is funneled into the center of these gyres, in a kind of toilet bowl effect or vortex.

One of these gyres, the North Pacific Gyre, is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean about a thousand miles from the Western coast. In its midst is a huge mass of trash (90 percent plastics), which floats in a soup of smaller pieces that have been broken apart by wave action.

Some call it the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" and others the "Pacific Trash Vortex," but regardless of its name, it's the largest "landfill" in the world. In it you will find everything from plastic netting to bottles and bags and buckets, paint rollers, hula-hoops and medical equipment. Most of the garbage patch, however, is not made up of large items but rather microplastics you can't see with the naked eye, forming a sort of plastic soup where pure seawater used to be. Filter-feeding marine animals ingest these plastic particles, and the toxins they contain, and subsequently pass them up through the food chain, and eventually to humans.

Tips for Cutting Down on Your Plastic Use

If at all possible, seek to purchase products that are not made from or packaged in plastic. Here are a few ideas for doing so:

Use reusable shopping bags for groceries	Bring your own mug for coffee	Bring drinking water from home in glass water bottles, instead of buying bottled water
Store foods in the freezer in glass mason jars as opposed to plastic bags	Take your own non-plastic container to restaurants for leftovers	Request no plastic wrap on your newspaper and dry cleaning
Avoid disposable utensils	Buy foods in bulk when you can	Replace your plastic kitchenware with glass or ceramic alternatives
Use stainless steel or high-heat-resistant nylon for utensils in lieu of plastics

Since plastic is found widely in processed food packaging (this includes canned foods and beverages, which typically have a plastic lining), modifying your diet to include primarily fresh, whole foods that you purchase at a farmer's market or food co-op will have the added benefit of helping you cut down on exposure to plastic chemicals that are common in the food packages sold at most supermarkets.