World Water Day 2023
ASHLAND, WIS. – Northland College’s Mary Griggs Burke Center for Freshwater Innovation shared World Water Day with Dr. Sherri Mason, Director of Sustainability at Penn State – Behrend. She has contributed to water science work in the Great Lakes region and its worldwide effect. Among Mason’s endless compilation of relevant facts was the item an average person uses for only 12 minutes but can impact the rest of their life. The item? A plastic bag. “The Perils of Plastics,” presented by Mason, provided a gut-wrenching truth and responsibility we have burdened ourselves with. We have created this responsibility to somehow fix our worldwide plastic dilemma. To comprehend the danger we face with plastics, we need to understand “it starts from the moment that it’s coming out of the ground,” described Mason. Plastic is a synthetic polymer, and it often comes from hydrofracking, a method often associated with natural gas production. Realistically, hydrofracking produces “wet gas” w...