If you lived in Kenya, you’d think twice before heading to the store without your stack of reusable shopping bags. The East African nation has made a big push for its citizens to reduce or eliminate plastic bag usage by making the production, sale or use of any single-use plastic bags punishable by four years in jail or up to a $38,000 fine. More than 40 other countries already have similar laws prohibiting or taxing plastic bag users including China, Rwanda and the United Kingdom. One major problem with the plastic bags is they take lots of energy and oil to produce, but are only used once before ending up in a landfill. Since plastics can’t biodegrade, they will last centuries underground. Some estimates say they can take between 500 and 1,000 years to break down. A third of all plastic bags are also ending up in our oceans. The bags are broken down into micro plastics…
This one dietary change could help America reach greenhouse-gas emission goals
For many Americans, the idea of giving up meat is unfathomable or even alien. What’s the 4th of July without a hamburger? But a new analysis of beef consumption in the States shows that our carnivorous habit is holding us back from reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Conducted by a team of scientists from Oregon State University, the study states that if more people switched to a plant-based diet, America could still come close to meeting the greenhouse gas goals set by former President Barack Obama in 2009 — even in the face of current president Donald Trump backing the nation out of the Paris Climate Accord. If every American were to replace the beef in their diets with beans — even while continuing to eat chicken, pork and dairy products — the country could reach 46 to 74 percent of the previously set 2020 target. This is true even without any changes to the current energy infrastructure…