Degrading our planet, one nanoparticle at a time
This year, India and the United Nations (UN) are jointly hosting the global World Environment Day celebrations, with ‘Beat Plastic Pollution’ as the central theme. There is no reason to celebrate, really. Recently there was alarming news of how we are ingesting plastic nanoparticles in the food that makes it to our tables. It’s time to fix the problem but where do we even begin?
Image by : Mohamed Farag/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
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Every human activity, from farming to construction (and yes, shopping) affects the environment. Termed ‘ecological footprint’, it measures the demand that a nation’s consumption and waste makes on the biosphere (it is measured in global hectares units). China leads the list of resource guzzlers, followed by the US and India, due to their large populations. Surprisingly, when ecological footprint was measured per person (an indicator of the demand that a citizen places on his nation’s resources and waste), Qatar came on top, followed by Luxembourg and UAE! Simply put, we are all in it together, and must shoulder the blame gamely.