That plastic? Not a come from away issue
Plastics in the ocean is a global problem, but the bits floating around Newfoundland and Labrador? That's a very local problem.
The Telegram's Juanita Mercer dove into a study of 60 years of data on plastic pollution along the province's coast.
Researchers found that most of that trash was from N.L.
“We’re a net exporter, so that was a shock,” Max Liboiron, an associate professor of geography at Memorial University, and a co-author of the report said.
One researcher looking at fishing gear found that plastic from N.L made its way to Europe.
Another interesting tidbit? While plastic bag bans are a popular public policy, it may be a cigarette filters that cause more problems for our shores.
A home at last
When someone is lost in our rural areas, its members of volunteer search and rescue organizations who come out in the cold, heat, rain, snow or dark to help first responders look.
One such organization in Cape Breton has been bringing people home for 51 years, but it didn't have a home base of its own.
The Cape Breton Post's Sharon Montgomery-Dupe introduces us to Cape Breton Search and Rescue, which has conducted close to 800 searches since it was founded in 1969.
Vehicles and equipment are kept at two different properties and in volunteers' cars, Montgomery-Dupe reports.
“We don’t have a central place to gather and roll (out) from,” search manager Amanda Donovan explained.
Co-ordinating a home base before even beginning the search can slow down the response.
Check out the story, photos, video and an infographic on Cape Breton Search and Rescue.
United in grief
Not all search and rescue missions end with a happy reunion.
Community journalists cover the tragic, as well as the light-hearted in the course of their work.
SaltWire's Allison Jenkins went to Northport, P.E.I., to report on how West Prince communities are supporting the families of two teen boys lost at sea.
The loss of two teenagers, and the near loss of a third, has brought the communities of West Prince together, says a local mayor.
"Wendy McNeill, mayor of the Rural Municipality of Northport, says the support has been overwhelming for the families of Ethan Reilly and Alex Hutchinson, whose small boat capsized off the northwestern shore of P.E.I. last week," Jenkins writes.
“It’s very heartwarming, it’s very humbling,” McNeill told her. “And even those words don’t seem like the right words. It’s actually unbelievable. It’s un-describable."
Read more about how West Prince residents are coping with this sad event.
