by WorldTribune Staff, December 15, 2021 247 Real News
There are downstream consequences to mass hysteria that those fully engaged in the lunacy do not take into account. Here is one such consequence that literally embodies the word “downstream.”
News item:
There was a nearly 9,000 percent jump in global face mask litter last year, with mask mandates the main driver.
From a Dec. 9 Australian Broadcasting Corporation report:
Disposable face masks can take hundreds of years to break down and threaten to entangle wildlife, litter our beaches, block sewers, and pollute the food chain.
In the face of alarming pollution anecdotes, researchers have provided hard evidence of the massive global growth of this new form of litter.
The University of Portsmouth’s [UK] Keiron Roberts and colleagues compared the growth of mask litter in 11 different countries and found a big increase occurred between March to October last year.
“There was this massive jump, almost 9,000 percent jump,” Dr. Roberts said.
Researchers: It was always a no-brainer but now it’s confirmed:
This is when they discovered mask pollution increased most dramatically following mask mandates, which were encouraged by the World Health Organization to stop the airborne spread of coronavirus.
“This might be stating the obvious, but it’s the first time we’ve been able to evidence it,” Dr. Roberts said.
Long-term damage to the planet is inevitable:
While disposable face masks might seem to be innocent tissue-like objects, the truth is they’re a new form of plastic pollution that environmental scientists are increasingly worried about.
Not only is face mask litter potentially contaminated with coronavirus, but masks are made of long-lasting plastic materials that don’t break down.
They can smother plants, entangle or choke animals and potentially cause blockages in the sewerage system.
A recent study showed disposable masks can contain dangerous chemical pollutants and tiny plastic fibers and particles that can accumulate in the food chain.
“We’re only just starting to understand the impacts of what microplastics do in the environment. So this going to be a very long legacy,” Dr. Roberts said.
A report from last December warned of just this scenario:
“These masks will take as long as 450 years to break down, slowly turning into micro plastics while negatively impacting marine wildlife and ecosystems,” OceansAsia asserted. “The report used a global production estimate of 52 billion masks being manufactured in 2020, a conservative loss rate of 3%, and the average weight of 3 to 4 grams for a single-use polypropylene surgical face mask to arrive at the estimate.”
Environmental activist Dave Ford stated in an August 2020 article published at Scientific American:
“The practical problems with gloves and masks finding their way into our rivers and oceans is that they can easily be mistaken for jellyfish, a favorite food of sea turtles. Because of their elastic components, masks also have increased risks of entanglement for a wide variety of fish, animals and birds.”
It’s a very good question to ask emotionally wrought progressives still masking up to buy toilet paper at the supermarket: Why don’t you care about the brown boobie?
Here on #AscensionIsland we suffer from the same plastic pollution issues found all over the world.
Brown boobies like to line their nests with plastic and last week we found our first face mask also in the seabird colonies. Dread to think how much litter is in our oceans 🙁 pic.twitter.com/mOV53NM8NO— Laura Shearer (@LimpetLaura) November 21, 2021
Even the coronavirus social coercion regime’s own people acknowledge it. A Johns Hopkins University economist issues a warning…. the costs involved are enormous:
The world uses 1.5 trillion face masks each yr. According to @UNEP, 75% of these masks will end up in landfills & oceans. The “pollution” cost associated with face mask disposal will cost the world a whopping $40bn. Looks like face masks are, among other things, big polluters. pic.twitter.com/ekI9gbRGHI
— Steve Hanke (@steve_hanke) November 29, 2021
Unfortunately for the rest of us, the ultimate result of all this makes for an ideal situation for progressive establishment folks still happily enthralled by coronavirus hype after two long years. They get to create a new problem to declare a catastrophe about as they wallow in their current global apocalypse. Satisfaction is guaranteed. The purpose-driven lifestyle for materialistic cosmopolitans will always have a loud drum to bang.
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