{"id":222869,"date":"2022-10-31T12:00:08","date_gmt":"2022-10-31T12:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=222869"},"modified":"2022-10-28T04:43:59","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T03:43:59","slug":"will-the-lettuce-outlast-all-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2022\/10\/will-the-lettuce-outlast-all-this\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the Lettuce Outlast All This?"},"content":{"rendered":"

27 Oct 2022 – <\/em>No. No lettuce, no matter how British it may be, could outlast such a steady depletion of the very foundation of life.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

One third of all plastic waste ends up in soils or freshwater. Most of this plastic disintegrates into particles smaller than five millimetres, known as microplastics, and these break down further into nanoparticles. Credit: UN Environment<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Now, new facts about such depletion come to add to the already reported ones regarding the unstopped, man-made dangers threatening the present and future of indispensable natural resources.<\/p>\n

These are some of the biggest reasons explaining how the web of life is unrelentlessly agonising:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Poison<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A recent scientific study<\/a> by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP<\/a>) reveals the following:<\/p>\n

\u2013 The millions of tons of plastic swirling around the world\u2019s oceans have garnered a lot of media attention recently. But plastic pollution poses a bigger threat to the plants and animals \u2013 including humans \u2013 who are based on land.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Very little of the plastic we discard every day is recycled or incinerated in waste-to-energy facilities. Much of it ends up in landfills, where it may take up to 1,000 years to decompose, leaching potentially toxic substances into the soil and water.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Researchers in Germany are warning<\/a> that the impact of microplastics in soils, sediments and freshwater could have a long-term negative effect on such ecosystems. They say terrestrial microplastic pollution is much higher than marine microplastic pollution \u2013 estimated at four to 23 times higher, depending on the environment.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Fragments of plastic are present practically all over the world and can trigger many kinds of adverse effects.<\/p>\n

\u2013 One third of all plastic waste ends up in soils or freshwater. Most of this plastic disintegrates into particles smaller than five millimetres, known as microplastics, and these break down further into nanoparticles (less than 0.1 micrometre in size). The problem is that these particles are entering the food chain.<\/p>\n

2. Sewage<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Sweage is an important factor in the distribution of microplastics. In fact, between 80% and 90% of the plastic particles contained in sewage, such as from garment fibres, persist in the sludge, says the study.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Sewage sludge is often applied to fields as fertiliser, meaning that several thousand tons of microplastics end up in our soils each year. Microplastics can even be found in tap water.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Moreover, the surfaces of tiny fragments of plastic may carry disease-causing organisms and act as a vector for diseases in the environment.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Microplastics can also interact with soil fauna, affecting their health and soil functions. \u201cEarthworms, for example, make their burrows differently when microplastics are present in the soil, affecting the earthworm\u2019s fitness and the soil condition,\u201d says an article<\/a> in Science Daily about the research.<\/p>\n

3. Toxic<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In 2020, the first-ever field study to explore how the presence of microplastics can affect soil fauna was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society<\/a>. The paper notes that terrestrial microplastic pollution has led to the decrease of species that live below the surface, such as mites, larvae and other tiny creatures that maintain the fertility of the land.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Chlorinated plastic can release harmful chemicals into the surrounding soil, which can then seep into groundwater or other surrounding water sources, and also the ecosystem. This can cause a range of potentially harmful effects on the species that drink the water.<\/p>\n

\u2013 When plastic particles break down, they gain new physical and chemical properties, increasing the risk that they will have a toxic effect on organisms. And the larger the number of potentially affected species and ecological functions, the more likely it is that toxic effects will occur.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Chemical effects are especially problematic at the decomposition stage. Additives such as phthalates and Bisphenol leach out of plastic particles. These additives are known for their hormonal effects and can disrupt the hormone system of vertebrates and invertebrates alike.<\/p>\n

\u2013 In addition, nano-sized particles may cause inflammation, traverse cellular barriers, and even cross highly selective membranes such as the blood-brain barrier or the placenta. Within the cell, they can trigger changes in gene expression and biochemical reactions, among other things.<\/p>\n

4. Pests<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Should all this not be enough, please be reminded that:<\/p>\n

\u2013 Up to 40% of food crops are lost due to plant pests and diseases every single year, according to the world\u2019s top food and agriculture organisation.<\/p>\n

This is affecting both food security and agriculture, the main source of income for vulnerable rural communities, FAO<\/a>warned<\/a> on the occasion of the International Day of Plant Health<\/a> on 12 May 2022.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Two main factors, among several others, appear behind the increasing expansion of plant pests and diseases. One is that climate change and human activities are altering ecosystems and damaging biodiversity while creating new niches for pests to thrive.<\/p>\n

\u2013 The other one is that international travel and trade, which has tripled in volume in the last decade, is also spreading pests and diseases.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Such pests and diseases cause massive crop losses and leave millions without enough food.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Desert locust<\/a>, fall armyworm<\/a>, fruit flies<\/a>, banana disease TR4<\/a>, cassava diseases<\/a> and wheat rusts<\/a> are among the most destructive transboundary plant pests and diseases.<\/p>\n

5. The Market Lords<\/strong><\/h3>\n

All the above shocking facts<\/a> should pose several tough questions.<\/p>\n

For instance: if food production \u2013and food health\u2013 are so endangered, why discard as much as 20% of all of it just because they are not \u201cnice\u201d enough for selling them in the supermarket?<\/p>\n

Why are all these special deals offering two or even three products while paying the price of just one? Aren\u2019t such marketing techniques the major cause why up to one third of all food is lost and wasted?<\/p>\n

By the way: all grown-in-soil food should by nature be taken as biological and ecological. In addition to sunshine, all food needs soil, water, and air to grow, right?<\/p>\n

But being the soil, the water, and the air so highly contaminated, why sell them at double price just because the market lords brand them as biological and ecological?<\/p>\n

_____________________________________________<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Baher Kamal, <\/em>a member of the <\/em>TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment<\/a>, <\/em>is an Egyptian-born, Spanish national, secular journalist, with over 45 years of professional experience \u2014 from reporter to special envoy to chief editor of national dailies and an international news agency. Baher is former <\/em>Senior Advisor<\/a> <\/em>to the Director General of the international news agency IPS (Inter Press Service)<\/a> and he also contributed to prestigious magazines such as <\/em>TRANSCEND Media Service<\/a>, GEO, Muy Interesante, and<\/em> Natura, Spain<\/em>. He is also publisher and editor of<\/em> Human Wrongs Watch.<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 human-wrongs-watch.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One third of all plastic waste ends up in soils or freshwater. Most of this plastic disintegrates into particles smaller than five millimetres, known as microplastics, and these break down further into nanoparticles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":186511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[952,519,401,1472,1119,894,1102,1685],"class_list":["post-222869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","tag-agriculture","tag-ecology","tag-environment","tag-microplastics","tag-plastic-pollution","tag-pollution","tag-public-health","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}