内容摘要：The Ashaninka started expanding efforts beyond their territory in 2007, founding the Yorenka Atame, or Knowledge of the Forest Center, close to the nearest town, Marechal Thaumaturgo, a three-hour boat trip from Apiwtxa. There, the Ashaninka created a project integrating crops and forest preservation, a small factory to process fruit and a venue for events with non-Indigenous allies.

The Ashaninka started expanding efforts beyond their territory in 2007, founding the Yorenka Atame, or Knowledge of the Forest Center, close to the nearest town, Marechal Thaumaturgo, a three-hour boat trip from Apiwtxa. There, the Ashaninka created a project integrating crops and forest preservation, a small factory to process fruit and a venue for events with non-Indigenous allies.

With less than 10% of the world’s plastics being recycled, Petgas’ idea is that rather than letting discarded plastic become waste, it can become productive again as fuel.Petgas developed a machine in the port city of Boca del Rio that uses pyrolysis, a thermodynamic process that heats plastics in the absence of oxygen, breaking it down to produce gasoline, diesel, kerosene, paraffin and coke.

Carlos Parraguirre Díaz, chief technology officer at Petgas, said that in a week, the machine can process 1.5 tons of plastics and produce 356 gallons (1,350 liters) of fuel.The process does require propane to initiate the heating, but once the pyrolysis begins, the gas it produces is used to keep it going, according to the company. And using fuel it produces does throw off carbon dioxide, but the company says its net impact is less than comparable fuels because their fuel is lower in sulfur.Parraguirre Díaz said that the machine shows that “we can transform that (plastic) into a product that’s useful and has high value in the world economy.”

“In place of having a dump, it’s as if we dug into the earth and found hydrocarbons that can be used by our community,” he said.Global plastic production, already exceeding 400 million tons annually, could surge by 70% by 2040 without policy changes,

. China was by far the biggest exporter of plastic products in 2023, followed by Germany and the United States.

Many plastics are used for packaging. Every day, the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped into the world’s oceans, rivers and lakes.A pod of Beluga whales swim through the Churchill River, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, near Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A pod of Beluga whales swim through the Churchill River, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, near Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)A beluga whale blows air out as it swims through the Churchill River, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, near Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

A beluga whale blows air out as it swims through the Churchill River, Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, near Churchill, Manitoba. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)But it’s not just her, she said. When she brings her customers into the water, inches from the whales, they also feel better.