There have been protests in Lebanon since the middle of July. The immediate precipitate for the protests is garbage: it has been piling up in many areas of Beirut since the only landfill for the city was closed since it was filled to capacity. This part of the protests is called the “You Stink” movement. But, as is usually the case with large protests, there are deeper causes, fundamentally rooted in the gridlock of Lebanese politics. Lebanon is running short of cash and may not be able to pay the salaries of its workers and may not even be able to service its international debts. The collapse of such an important country in the Middle East would be highly destabilizing to the region.
Speaking of garbage, researchers are in the Pacific Ocean to assess the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a concentration of garbage that some believe to be twice the size of the state of Texas. According to the Guardian:
“More than five trillion pieces of plastic, collectively weighing nearly 269,000 tonnes, are floating in the world’s oceans, causing damage throughout the food chain, new research has found.
Data collected by scientists from the US, France, Chile, Australia and New Zealand suggests a minimum of 5.25tn plastic particles in the oceans, most of them “micro plastics” measuring less than 5mm.”
The researchers are exploring ideas on how to capture the plastic and remove it from the oceans. Eventually, that plastic will somehow end up in the food chain unless it is removed.
World Politics News 
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