Ever since its invention, we have produced and consumed an incredible amount of plastic. Globally, an estimated 8.3 billion metric tonnes of plastic waste have been disposed of with 9% of that being recycled, 12% incinerated and 79% going to landfill. Each year we produce an additional 300 million tonnes of plastic waste and that is projected to continue.

How we manage that is the multi-billion dollar question. Too much of it ends up in the natural environment and is having major impacts that will affect this planet for decades. …

The amount of plastic we are consuming is growing and, if projections are correct, will continue to rise over the coming decades. Between the early 1950s when plastic production first began and now, we’ve consumed more than 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic and the rate at which we consume seems to be accelerating. More on the global production of plastic and its impacts there can be find in an article posted last week.

This article is to look at how our consumption and the pollution that has come from our plastic addiction has affected the natural environment. …

Plastic in its completely synthetic form has been around since the start of the 20th century with the invention of Bakelite. Its number of uses and the types of plastic created grew slowly before exploding into the mainstream during World War Two. In the 1950s and 60s, plastics entered the home and many saw an entirely plastic home as the future. In 1957, Disneyland introduced the Monsanta House of the Future that was entirely made of plastic. …

The impact of the Coronavirus has been felt across every single country in the world. As of June 25th, there have been over 9 million cases of the virus — almost half a million of those that caught it have died — with the number of those having the virus still going up. We seem to be getting closer and closer to the peak of the pandemic, but there are countries that are still seeing a rise in cases and some countries seeing another spike or outbreak.

The UK has had just over 300,000 confirmed cases of the Coronavirus and a confirmed 43,230 deaths (although both numbers could be much higher). The government response has been condemned for not being quick enough or not showing enough leadership through a crisis that has seen the UK be one of the worst affected in the world. Even as lockdown restrictions are eased there are fears that there could be further outbreaks. …

The modern economic system is a take-make-waste linear model: we take raw materials, make something that can be sold on, and then let it go to waste. It’s the reason plastic is littered across almost the entire planet and why landfills are filling up so rapidly to the point we’re running out of space for them. Capitalism in its current form requires that this process continues for growth, regardless of the social and environmental consequences.

Transitioning to a circular economy is the start to addressing some of the consequences of the current system. We can change the way we look at waste products, whether that’s energy, water or waste material. Waste in one form can be a resource still be a resource. Take food waste for example. …

As protests and riots continue into their third week in the USA and continue in cities around the UK and in Europe, calls to defund, dismantle and even abolish the police force have gained increasing traction. Typically, Conservatives on each side of the Atlantic have either ridiculed or been heavily critical of this idea, whereas those who position themselves beyond the centre-left welcome the idea of police reform that goes as far abolishment of the current system.

To many in the USA, many see the police as an oppressive force as opposed to one that is to “protect and serve” the people living within the precinct or county; the police are there to enforce the law but they are no longer serving the community as a whole, just those of a certain socio-economic status or skin colour. The police response to the protests has only added to those viewpoints with the unprovoked assault of peaceful protestors, the wide use of tear gas (a weapon declared illegal in war) and the use of rubber bullets that have led to a number of people with permanent injuries like loss of sight. …

The murder of George Floyd well over a week ago now has sent shockwaves across the USA and now parts of Europe. Protests have run for 8 days and nights straight across all 50 states in the USA and are now beginning to grow in number across cities in the UK and Europe. Communities have been pushed to a breaking point with the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmed Aubrey at the hands of the police in recent weeks, with no sign of backing down.

Rather than address the American protests, President Trump has taken the authoritarian steps of quashing any kind of protest, leading to widespread reports of violence by the police force against peaceful protestors as well as the media reporting on the protests. The use of teargas and riot police looks reminiscent of measures used at the beginning of the Syrian Civil War and even more recently in Hong Kong with the authoritarian Chinese State looking to assert influence over the former British colony. There are a number of police officers at various ranks supporting the peaceful protests and the cause, but there are still many who have no intention of de-escalating the situation. …

The growth of South Korea over the six decades following the Korean War has been nothing short of remarkable. After the war ended South Korea was one of the poorest countries on the planet, but rapid industrialisation and an extreme focus on economic growth allowed it to become one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world.

At the start of this year, and for the first time in seven years, South Korea was ranked the second most innovative country in the world — the previous six years they were number one — according to the Bloomberg Innovation Index. …