Tippets: Guinness’s Fishy Recipe, Plastics Out to Sea, Ruling on Habitat Destruction, Op-Ed on Bristol Bay

November 11, 2015 By: Erin Block

  • The classic two century-old recipe for Guinness called for sturgeon bladders as a refining agent. Recently the company announced that in light of a growing vegetarian and vegan market they are shifting mechanical filtration. Via Gizmodo.
  • A new study published in the journal Nature finds that fibers from outerwear fabric are washing off and flowing out to sea where fish then ingest large quantities of these microscopic plastic particles. “Studies showing high quantities of synthetic microfibers in wastewater effluent and the unanswered questions around what harm they are doing to the ecosystem and public health has spurred the outdoor apparel industry to look inward.” Via Outside.
  • Three companies have been found guilty of 20 counts of destroying land and key salmon and char habitats on the British Columbia coast, through logging activities carried out in 2010. Fisheries experts say the damage could take centuries to repair. Via Vice News.
  • Michael J. Kowalski, the former chief executive of Tiffany & Company, writes an op-ed on the fight to protect Bristol Bay and the larger issue of the human and environmental cost of irresponsible mining. Via The New York Times.