I’m not a fan of The News (on television and radio). Much of it is prurient. Most of it is bad. You get the beginning of a story but not the end. It adds nothing to the sum of human happiness. It was only by chance therefore that I came across the following happy ending.
Last year, as you may remember, seabirds were dying in their thousands on West Country beaches. The cause turned out to be a chemical called PIB (polyisobutylene) discharged by boats. (What they were doing with it and why they got rid of it, I don’t know.)
The Devon Wildlife Trust, RSPB and RSPCA among others launched themselves at the problem and over 25,000 people signed petitions (me among them and maybe you too), and in October last year the International Maritime Organisation changed the chemical’s classification so that it can no longer be discharged at sea.
As the latest DWT magazine says, ‘Change in pollution legislation often comes very slowly, while international change only moves at the speed of a glacier. However, this time things were different . . . Campaigning for wildlife really does bring results.’
 |
 |
| The DWT article, with some delightful pictures of guillemots, one of the birds worst hit by the PIB pollution |
No comments:
Post a Comment