Birds Choking from Plastic Beer Rings, Sperm Whales Dying Because of Plastic in its Gut. It's Only a Matter of Time Until We Sit Down to Eat a Fish Meal and Discover Plastic In It!

A sperm whale that washed up on a beach in Spain had 64 pounds of plastic and waste in its stomach

The discovery has prompted authorities in Murcia, Spain, to launch a campaign to clean up its beaches. "The presence of plastic in the ocean and oceans is one of the greatest threats to the conservation of wildlife throughout the world, as many animals are trapped in the trash or ingest large quantities of plastics that end up causing their death," Murcia's general director of environment, Consuelo Rosauro said in a statement.

From article, (When a young sperm whale washed up on a beach in southern Spain, scientists wanted to know what killed it. They now know: waste -- 64 pounds of it. Most of it plastic, but also ropes, pieces of net and other debris lodged in its stomach.

A sperm whale's diet is usually comprised of giant squid. But the 33-foot long mammal that washed up on the beach of Cabo de Palos on February 27 was unusually thin.

The necropsy results, released last week, listed just some of the items scientists found stuck in its stomach and intestines: plastic bags, pieces of net, a plastic water container.

Officials said the whale died of an abdominal infection, called peritonitis: It just couldn't digest the waste it had swallowed, causing its digestive system to rupture.

 Around 150 million tons of plastic are already floating in our oceans -- with an additional eight million tons entering the water each year, according to the World Economic Forum.

A report, released last month, found 70% of marine litter is non-degradable plastic. And that figure is expected to triple within a decade.

Plastic has been found to choke marine wildlife, and has also entered the ocean food chain -- exposing marine life to toxic chemicals that can end up in the food on our plates.)

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Tesla Model Y News Seems To Indicate November 2019 as a Start Date of Production.

Tesla targets November 2019 for start of Model Y production: Reuters, citing sources

Tesla is targeting November 2019 as the start of production for its Model Y sport utility vehicle, with production in China to begin two years later, two sources told Reuters this week, shedding some light on the electric vehicle maker's next project that could tax its resources and capacity.

 From article, (Tesla is targeting November 2019 as the start of production for its Model Y sport utility vehicle, with production in China to begin two years later, two sources told Reuters this week, shedding some light on the electric vehicle maker's next project that could tax its resources and capacity.

Reuters has learned the Silicon Valley company led by Chief Executive Elon Musk is accepting preliminary bids for supplier contracts on the Model Y, a compact crossover companion to the Model 3 sedan. Tesla has given suppliers scant details about the program and had not provided a production time frame, but has now indicated the vehicle would begin to be built at its Fremont, California, plant in November of next year, the two sources with knowledge of the supply chain said.

With a new car model, automakers normally choose parts suppliers two to two-and-a-half years before the start of production. At about one-and-a-half years away, a November 2019 start date for the Model Y would be considered "aggressive, but possible," said one of the sources. A shorter timeline is potentially feasible, the source said, as the Model Y will be built on the same platform as the Model 3.

Tesla is known for its aggressive timelines and high risk-tolerance in order to get cars to market quicker. To save time and cost, Tesla made the risky bet to skip a pre-production testing phase for the Model 3 in order to advance straight to production tooling, which is harder to fix if problems arise, as Reuters first reported last year.

The Model Y is just one of many projects in the pipeline for Tesla, which also launched a Tesla Semi and a new Roadster in recent months. It is spending to build out its Gigafactory battery factory in Nevada, where battery module assembly issues have contributed to Model 3 delays, and also expects to build a factory in China in the near future.

Musk said in February that capital investments related to the SUV would begin toward the end of 2018. Tesla has said its current factory in Fremont could produce 10,000 vehicles a week - what the company hopes it will build in the Model 3 alone some time in 2018 - without the need for a new building, although some in the industry believe there is not enough room at the plant to support that volume.

Any major Model Y program would likely require a new facility, although low volume of the Model Y could be built on the existing Model 3 line, the sources said.)

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