Iceland supermarket vows to eliminate plastic on all own-branded products!

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Talk about positive action!

Iceland has become the first major retailer to commit to eliminate plastic packaging for all its own-brand products.

The supermarket chain, which specialises in frozen food, said it would go plastic-free within five years to help end the “scourge” of plastic pollution.

The current plastic packaging would be replaced with paper and pulp trays and paper bags, which would be recyclable through domestic waste collections or in-store recycling facilities.

The supermarket recently carried out a survey in which 80% of 5,000 people polled said they would endorse the move to go plastic-free.

Read the entire story here.

As you can see from what I collected below Slide Ranch on Monday, the US would be wise to follow suit.

The road to get to Slide Ranch directly has been closed for some time and only recently opened to one-way traffic. It has been over 2 years since I have picked up this area.
What you see below is a tiny fraction of what is down there. I was short on time and could only do a quick sweep of a small portion of the beach.

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Slide Ranch and the southern Marin Coast

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Coho salmon return to Lagunitas Creek to spawn

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It rained really hard the past two days, enough to raise the level of local creeks permitting the return of our beloved Coho Salmon to complete the next phase of their journey, spawning.

The following still images show what are likely two very large male salmon jousting to assert dominance in order to determine which of them will spawn with the nearby females.

If you go out to see the salmon, and I strongly encourage you to do so, please observe a few simple suggestions to ensure the fish are not disturbed and you are comfortable.

  • Wear warm clothing with layers, ideally in muted colors to blend in with the greens and browns alongside the creek. Wear rubber boots or sturdy hiking shoes.
  • Bring binoculars, polarized glasses to see through the water from a distance
  • Leave your pets at home, if they must join you, please keep them on a leash
  • Stay on the road, away from the creek. do not go down to the creekside, disturbing the fish
  • Keep your voices down, the fish can hear you.

Be patient as you walk along the creek and you will see the magic of these fish returning to the creek where they likely hatched 3 years ago, to lay eggs, fertilize them, then die.

The best places to easily view spawning coho are the Leo T. Cronin viewing pools in Samuel Taylor Park, Devils Gulch, both on Sir Francis Drake Blvd.

Be sure to wait a day or two after heavy rains to let the silt settle so you can clearly see the fish.

For similar amazing footage of coho spawning on Lagunitas, go here.

Stop the pebble mine in Bristol Bay Alaska – save Alaska’s greatest sockeye salmon run, go here.

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If you have a large screen, click the white rectangle-ish shaped icon to fill your screen with fish.
 
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The Washington Dept. of Ecology completed the final environmental assessment of a proposal to use the pesticide imidacloprid to control burrowing shrimp.

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The supplemental environmental review found:

 

  • Significant impacts to sediment quality and benthic invertebrates.
  • Adverse impacts to juvenile worms and crustaceans in the areas treated with imidacloprid and the nearby areas covered by incoming tides.
  • Concern about non-lethal impacts to invertebrates in the water column and sediment.
  • New information shows a risk of impacts from imidacloprid even at low concentrations.
  • Likely indirect impacts to fish and birds if food sources are disrupted.
  • Little known direct risk to fish, birds, marine mammals, and human health.
  • Increased uncertainty about long-term, non-lethal, and cumulative impacts.
  • Continued knowledge gaps about imidacloprid.

Read more here.

This matters to everyone, not just Washingtonians. Nearly a quarter of the oysters grown in the US are grown in Willapa Bay and Grays Harbor.

These oysters are shipped all over, including to growers on Tomales Bay.

Read more about imidacloprid, the neurotoxin Washington growers want to spray in local waters to kill native shrimp here.