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Marine Science / Re: What is the extent of chemical and nuclear waste dumping in the oceans?
« on: 28/12/2021 09:23:24 »Quote from:How much companies pay to store their waste?As little as possible.
- Anything dumped into the air or rivers is essentially "free" to the dumper
- Which is why legislators need to apply pressure to avoid dangerous dumping by setting legal limits, testing for compliance and applying fines for violators.
Unfortunately, the next lowest-cost option is to tender for someone to take it away:
- Frequently, the lowest-cost tenderer will win the contract
- And they achieve their low cost by taking the waste somewhere which has looser rules
- And/or bribing officials to look the other way
- And/or getting President T.Rump to wind back the powers of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) so that it no longer sets or enforces rules about pollution.
Is a solution possible on a global scale? And on what time scale?
Some scientists argue that Nature on Earth could collapse within decades.
(2020) Scientists: Multiple eco-crises could trigger a ‘systemic collapse’
Overlapping environmental crises could tip the planet into “global systemic collapse,” more than 200 top scientists warned.
Sources:
https://phys.org/news/2020-02-multiple-eco-crises-trigger-collapse-scientists.html
https://phys.org/news/2020-02-bumble-bees-extinct-climate-chaos.html
(2021) UN chief calls for bold action to end ‘suicidal war with nature’
“We are losing our suicidal war against nature. An ecosystem collapse is looming. Within decades, millions of animal species can become extinct, resulting in a collapse of Nature on Earth.”
Source: https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/10/1102672

Seabirds Extinct Within Decades
A recent study found a 67 percent decline in seabird populations between 1950 and 2010. “Essentially seabirds are going extinct,” says Wilcox. “Within decades.”
Sources: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0129342
https://www.ecowatch.com/seabirds-plastic-pollution-2609353767.html
In the past decades, 75 percent of all insects have died. Within decades, a tipping point could be reached beyond which a collapse of Nature becomes inevitable.
(2021) The insect apocalypse: ‘Our world will grind to a halt without them’
Insects have declined by 75% in the past 50 years – and the consequences may soon be catastrophic.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/25/the-insect-apocalypse-our-world-will-grind-to-a-halt-without-them

(2020) Ecosystems the Size of the Amazon Rainforest Could Collapse Within Decades
One-fifth of the jungle is to be burned in the coming years. “I’m not getting into this nonsense of defending land for the Indians,” the president said. A Brazilian general who last year served on the board of Canadian mining giant Belo Sun heads Brazil’s federal agency for indigenous peoples.
Sources:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00508-4
https://gizmodo.com/ecosystems-the-size-of-the-amazon-rainforest-could-coll-1842241699
https://news.mongabay.com/2020/01/impending-amazon-tipping-point-puts-biome-and-world-at-risk-scientists-warn/
https://www.ecowatch.com/indigenous-people-amazon-2645327056.html