… California outlawed microplastic beads in personal care products and banned single-use plastic grocery bags. Three years ago, California enacted the most far-reaching legislation anywhere to cut plastic pollution at the source and hold producers responsible for the plastic they create. Senate Bill 54 (Allen, 2022) was a monumental bipartisan accomplishment. … This globally significant step in the right direction could be reversed if Gov. Newsom and his administration fail to meet this week’s deadline to adopt the carefully crafted regulations that will keep the state on track to meet the law’s ambitious goals….Microplastic particles are found everywhere on Earth – in our food and drinking water, on top of the highest mountains and at the bottom of the deepest ocean trenches….
–Written by Julie Packard, executive director of Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Wendy Schmidt, president and co-founder of Schmidt Family Foundation and Schmidt Ocean Institute