September, 16 2016, 02:45pm EDT

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Jane Patton, Plastic Pollution Coalition * 225-266-5534; jane@plasticpollutioncoalition.org
Monica Wilson, GAIA * 510-682-7663; monica@no-burn.org
Martin Bourque, Ecology Center * martin@ecologycenter.org; 510-812-5514 (for plastics recycling questions)
Matt Prindiville, UPSTREAM * 207-902-0054; matt@upstreampolicy.org
Stiv Wilson, Story of Stuff Project * 503-913-7381; stiv@storyofstuff.org
Global Movement Envisions a Future Free From Plastic Pollution: Major U.S. Companies Must Rise to the Challenge
WASHINGTON
Today, a new global vision for a future free from plastic pollution has been released by a network of 90 NGOs. The vision lays out 10 principles with the ultimate goal being "a future free from plastic pollution." It represents the first step in a global movement to change society's perception and use of plastics.
Scientists predict that without urgent action there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050, threatening marine biodiversity and posing a risk to human health. Yet, despite the danger that plastic pollution poses to our planet and to human well-being, industry and governments have so far failed to face up to the systemic change required to solve the issue.
"This is the first time that groups from all around the world have come together to find a common solution to plastic pollution," said Monica Wilson from GAIA. "It shows the evolution of a movement that is pushing governments, cities and major companies to solve this ever-growing problem. This isn't just about managing the problem. It's about preventing it in the first place. "
The environmental impacts of plastic pollution are now well understood. A significant amount of plastic production is for single-use disposable applications. Nearly a third of plastic packaging escapes collection systems and winds up in the oceans. Once there, sunlight and ocean currents shred plastic debris into smaller particles called microplastics, which attract and concentrate toxic chemicals up the marine food chain and into our bodies.
Plastic is also a human rights issue. Increasingly, consumer goods companies sell goods wrapped in plastic into markets without waste management systems that can adequately capture the plastic waste. Most plastic ends up in incinerators and landfills in the U.S. endangering nearby communities, which are frequently low-income communities and communities of color.
"Any strategy to combat the plague of plastic needs buy-in from both frontline communities in the Global South and in the Global North," said Stiv Wilson from the Story of Stuff Project. "For the first time in history, that is happening. This is what a movement looks like."
"Many of the major consumer goods companies, packaging suppliers and plastics manufacturers are headquartered here in the United States. The decisions made in board rooms here have negative ripple effects throughout the world," said Matt Prindiville from UPSTREAM. "It's time for these companies to face up to their responsibility for creating plastic pollution, and change."
The United States and the major consumer goods corporations headquartered here are driving the irresponsible use of plastics and the resulting environmental damage around the world, which often affects the most vulnerable globally. It is clear that without strong and coordinated effort by policy makers, businesses will continue to use plastic indiscriminately and the pollution will intensify.
"For years, the plastics industry has been telling us that all plastics are recyclable, but what we find in the field demonstrates that we can not recycle our way out of the plastic pollution problem," said Martin Bourque, Executive Director of the Ecology Center who runs the United States' longest-operating curbside recycling program.
We call on US corporations and governments to lead the way to a future free from plastic pollution.
We also stand in solidarity with people around the world who are implementing real community-based solutions. Today, we also announce a new initiative to support zero waste system implementation in cities in the Philippines and Indonesia, by the Mother Earth Foundation (Philippines), YPBB (Indonesia), and GAIA (a global network). This initiative will be supported in the US by the 5 Gyres Institute, Story of Stuff Project, and UPSTREAM. Together, these organizations will work to apply successful approaches to comprehensive waste prevention, plastics-use reduction, composting and recycling systems, and generate new information about the need for material and system redesign.
Go to breakfreefromplastic.org to see the vision statement in video, read more about the project and to see the nearly 100 organizations who have signed the statement.
Greenpeace is a global, independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.
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Muhannad Fadl al-Lili, captain of the Al-Maghazi Services Club and a member of Palestine's national football team, died Thursday from injuries suffered during an Israeli airstrike on his family home in the central Gaza Strip earlier this week, making him the latest of hundreds of Palestinian athletes killed since the start of Israel's genocidal onslaught.
Al-Maghazi Services Club announced al-Lili's death in a Facebook tribute offering condolences to "his family, relatives, friends, and colleagues" and asking "Allah to shower him with his mercy."
The Palestine Football Association (PFA) said that "on Monday, a drone fired a missile at Muhannad's room on the third floor of his house, which led to severe bleeding in the skull."
"During the war of extermination against our people, Muhannad tried to travel outside Gaza to catch up with his wife, who left the strip for Norway on a work mission before the outbreak of the war," the association added. "But he failed to do so, and was deprived of seeing his eldest son, who was born outside the Gaza Strip."
According to the PFA, al-Lili is at least the 265th Palestinian footballer and 585th athlete to be killed by Israeli forces since they launched their assault and siege on Gaza following the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. Sports journalist Leyla Hamed says 439 Palestinian footballers have been killed by Israel.
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The Palestine Chronicle contrasted the worldwide press coverage of the car crash deaths of Portuguese footballer Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva with the media's relative silence following al-Lili's killing.
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In a landmark advisory opinion published Thursday, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights—of which the United States, the world's second-biggest carbon polluter, is not a member—affirmed the right to a stable climate and underscored nations' duty to act to protect it and address the worsening planetary emergency.
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The advisory opinion builds on two landmark decisions last year. In April 2024, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Swiss government violated senior citizens' human rights by refusing to abide by scientists' warnings to rapidly phase out fossil fuel production.
The following month, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea found in an advisory opinion that greenhouse gas emissions are marine pollution under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and that signatories to the accord "have the specific obligation to adopt laws and regulations to prevent, reduce, and control" them.
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Climate defenders around the world hailed Thursday's advisory opinion, with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk calling it "a landmark step forward for the region—and beyond."
"As the impact of climate change becomes ever more visible across the world, the court is clear: People have a right to a stable climate and a healthy environment," Türk added. "States have a bedrock obligation under international law not to take steps that cause irreversible climate and environmental damage, and they have a duty to act urgently to take the necessary measures to protect the lives and rights of everyone—both those alive now and the interests of future generations."
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Delta Merner, lead scientist at the Science Hub for Climate Litigation at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a statement that "this opinion sets an important precedent affirming that governments have a legal duty to regulate corporate conduct that drives climate harm."
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Markus Gehring, a fellow and director of studies in law at Hughes Hall at the University of Cambridge in England, called the advisory opinion "highly inspiring" and "seminal."
Drew Caputo, vice president of litigation for lands, wildlife, and oceans at Earthjustice, said that "the Inter-American Court's ruling makes clear that climate change is an overriding threat to human rights in the world."
"Governments must act to cut carbon emissions drastically," Caputo stressed. "While the United States and some other major polluters have chosen to ignore climate science, the rest of the international community is advancing protections for all from the realities of climate harm."
Climate litigation is increasing globally in the wake of the 2015 Paris climate agreement. In the Americas, Indigenous peoples, children, and green groups are among those who have been seeking climate justice via litigation.
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As reported recently by the Oil and Gas Journal, the plan "involves expanding the Wildcat Loadout Facility, a key transfer point for moving Uinta basin crude oil to rail lines that transport it to refineries along the Gulf Coast."
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Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) issued a joint statement condemning the Trump administration's push to approve the project while rushing through environmental impact reviews.
"The Bureau of Land Management's decision to fast-track the Wildcat Loadout expansion—a project that would transport an additional 70,000 barrels of crude oil on train tracks along the Colorado River—using emergency procedures is profoundly flawed," the Colorado Democrats said. "These procedures give the agency just 14 days to complete an environmental review—with no opportunity for public input or administrative appeal—despite the project's clear risks to Colorado. There is no credible energy emergency to justify bypassing public involvement and environmental safeguards. The United States is currently producing more oil and gas than any country in the world."
On Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management announced the completion of its accelerated environmental review of the project, drawing condemnation from climate advocates.
Wendy Park, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, described the administration's rush to approve the project as "pure hubris," especially given its "refusal to hear community concerns about oil spill risks." She added that "this fast-tracked review breezed past vital protections for clean air, public safety and endangered species."
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