REGULATING AND REDUCING POLLUTION - Marine Pollution: What Everyone Needs to Know - page 224

and biomass and leave no visible, distinguishable, or toxic resi-
due. The only standard for biodegradation of plastics in the
marine environment requires that within six months it must
have disintegrated into pieces smaller than two millimeters
and that biodegradation must have progressed so that 30%
of the carbon has been converted into CO 2 . Bioplastics can be
manufactured from corn or sugarcane. Green chemistry may
also be able to design less toxic or persistent compounds to
replace ones currently in use.
Since climate change is such a major threat, are there any
effective national and international policies to curb it?
It is recognized that climate change is the biggest threat to
the world's oceans (to the land, wildlife, agriculture, and to
human health) yet there have been no effective policies estab-
lished largely because of expense. A possible way of dealing
with it would be by establishing a carbon tax, but people in
developed countries will likely have to modify their lifestyles.
The countries that are the most responsible for carbon emis-
sions (e.g. United States and Europe) over the years are not
the same ones that are bearing the brunt of the effects (e.g.
coastal low-lying countries like Bangladesh and small island
nations). China has become a major emitter. Countries will
have to agree on who is responsible for curtailing how much
of their emissions. Meanwhile, global emissions during the
first decade of this century grew nearly twice as fast as during
the previous 30 years. Within the United States (apparently not
so much elsewhere), powerful moneyed interests such as oil
companies are promoting the idea that climate change is con-
troversial within scientific circles. This is not the case—97%
of climate scientists agree that it is happening and that we are
responsible for it. The controversy exists in politics not sci-
ence, but the media feel obligated to provide equal time for
the deniers and skeptics as if they had as much credibility as
the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association