So, there's apparently research coming out now about microplastics being found in people's bloodstreams and the possible negative effects of that and I feel the need to get out ahead of the wave of corporate sponsored "be sure to recycle your bottles!" or "ban glitter!" campaigns and remind everyone: It's fishing nets. It's fishing nets. It is overwhelming fishing nets It always has been fishing nets. Unless regulations are changed, it will continue to be fishing nets. The plastic in the ocean in largely discarded nets from industrial fishing. The microplastics are the result of these nets breaking down. The "trash islands" are also, you guessed it. Mostly fishing nets and other discarded fishing industry equipment. Do not allow them to continue to twist the story. Do not come after disabled people who require single use plastics. Do not come after people using glitter in art projects and makeup. These things make up a negligible amount of the issue compared to corporate waste, specifically in the fishing industry. Do not let them shift the blame to the individual so they can continue to destroy the planet and our bodies without regulation.

This post is awesome, but remember that though much of the the blame is on corporations, we can still help.

Petition against plastic fishing nets

Petition against driftnets

Petition to penalize UK boats for dumping fishing gear (WARNING: graphic animal injury/death imagery)

Evolutionary biologist here! What they say is 100% true. 'Survival of the fittest' only refers to how successful an organism is at enduring their environment long enough to reproduce, and is not at all tied to the idea that those who are the 'best' are the only ones that survive. Evolution does not care if you keel over dead the second you give birth to a baby, it only cares if that baby survives long enough to breed again. What is the 'fittest' is almost entirely environmentally subjective; that's how you have creatures like horses that are basically living trainwreaks still roaming about vs something that people think would be better suited to filling their ecological niche. No genology or phenology has inherent worth over the other, all that matters is if they were capable of passing their genes on to the next generation

You know what gives us a huge evolutionary advantage, past our high cognitive ability? Our intense social bonding. Humans are outstandingly social creatures, and that has magnified all of our successes as well as our downfalls. The trait that made us the fittest for our environment wasn't just sheer dumb luck (though it was certainly partially attributed to that in some cases), it was love. We wouldn't be where we are if we didn't care enough about each other to value each life as highly as our own, and anyone who tells you otherwise is a fucking idiot.

Via @gendernewtral

THINGS THAT MAKE ME EMOTIONAL BECAUSE YES.

It's the history of our species, that we care for eachother. Human infants are born 3 months premature by the standards of most of the animal world. Why? Because the human pelvis didn't translate to upright walking very well. The pelvic opening became smaller, sampler than the head of an infant. So small that the evolutionary solution was to give birth to our young while their bones are still soft and can squish out the opening.

And the thing about premature births? They take a lot of care to keep alive and healthy. Yes, even human infants that are born early on purpose. Our species is FOUNDED on care and caretaking.

The bone and fossil records of homosapiens going all the way back Australopithecus show that bones were healed, time was taken to mend. It predates humanity as we know it and is CRITICAL to our survival still.