New and concerning findings from environmental scientists about the impact of microplastics on crops and marine algae add to a growing body of evidence about the disruption caused to living systems by plastic pollution. The results, from a team led by Nanjing University professor Zhong Huan (鍾寰), are not definitive and require corroboration. However, analysis showing that plastics could limit photosynthesis (the conversion of sunlight into chemical energy) must be taken seriously. If the researchers are correct, and staple crops are being reduced by about 12 percent, there are huge implications for global agriculture and food supplies. That could inject new urgency into efforts to tackle plastic pollution.
There is no single route by which microplastic particles inhibit plants from growing. The overall effect is attributed to a combination of blocked sunlight and nutrients, and damage to soil and cells. That can lead to reduced levels of chlorophyll — the pigment enabling photosynthesis. When the researchers modeled the crop losses caused by an effect of that size, they found Asia was hardest hit, potentially contributing to food insecurity and worsening hunger.
The extent of the contamination of the Earth by microplastics has been widely documented. The tiny particles that are formed when plastics break down in the environment have been found in human semen, breast milk, brains, livers and bone marrow, and in remote areas, including the Arctic seas. The more than 500 million tonnes of plastics produced annually, most of which are dumped rather than recycled, leave their mark everywhere. Plastic is already understood to pose serious hazards to animals, including sea creatures, which can be poisoned and injured by it. It also ruins landscapes, with serious implications for the people who live in them and anyone trying to make a living from tourism.
However, there is still much to learn about the less obvious forms of damage caused by plastic pollution to humans and ecoystems. Links to strokes, heart attacks and preterm births are all cause for concern. One new study, presented at a conference in January, found that microplastic pollution was 50 percent higher in the placentas of babies born prematurely.
Talks in South Korea aimed at agreeing to a UN treaty on plastic pollution ended in failure in December last year. Almost all single-use plastics are made from fossil fuels, and fossil-fuel states and businesses oppose any limits on production. Record numbers of industry representatives at the summit meant that lobbyists outnumbered those attending for European governments. Perhaps as a result, although more than 100 countries supported a draft text including legally-binding reductions and the phase-out of some substances, no final deal was reached.
When talks reconvene in Switzerland later this year, those states must turn up with a plan. Under US President Donald Trump, the US is likely to ally itself with Russia and Saudi Arabia, meaning that making a deal would be even harder this time around. However, the enormous volume of plastic waste and the growing evidence of the range of harms it causes, mean action must be taken. Plastic would continue to have its uses, but the proliferation of single-use items, including packaging, is out of control. Just 9 percent of plastic gets recycled — and the recycling process itself can increase toxicity.
Fossil-fuel interests must be confronted over plastic pollution, just as they are challenged over global heating caused by coal, oil and gas.
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
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