Plastic can be found in increasing quantities atop the highest mountain peaks to the darkest depths of the ocean’s trenches. Its effects are pervasive, devastating natural ecosystems, and pose lethal threats to wildlife, while microplastics are even being found in unborn babies, with the consequences as of yet unclear. Over recent years, the predicament of plastic waste has intensified with a surge in usage and production. Since the turn of the millennium, global production of plastics has soared, reaching approximately 400 million metric tonnes annually by 2021.
Continue readingSharing a love for cycling
Author: Suzanne Maas
It’s not even a stereotype — the Dutch are practically born on a bicycle. I received my first two-wheeled friend as a birthday present when I was just three years old, and I have never looked back. From age ten onwards, I cycled to school and everywhere else on my own, and when I was a student, I used to spend one and a half hours every day cycling to my university campus in Utrecht. I only learned that cycling is not such an obvious choice as a mode of transport once I started travelling to other countries, and that hard truth particularly hit home when I moved to Malta seven years ago. Cycling changed from lifestyle to a research interest.
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