Passersby in Beijing during winter or early spring might happen upon groups of residents playing fetch with birds. The players blow plastic beads into the air through carbon tubes for the birds — often from the migratory wutong species — to catch and return, in exchange for a treat. It’s a Beijing tradition dating back to the Qing Dynasty, which ruled between the 17th century and early 20th century.
It’s a beloved century-old Carnival season tradition in New Orleans — masked riders on lavish floats fling strings of colorful beads or other trinkets to parade watchers clamoring with outstretched arms. It's all in good fun but it's also a bit of a “plastics disaster,” says Judith Enck, a former Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator and president of the advocacy group Beyond Plastics. Carnival season is at its height this weekend.
As the city of Tampa heads into Gasparilla season with Saturday’s Children’s Gasparilla Parade and next weekend’s big Parade of Pirates on Jan. 27, environmentalists are getting ready for the cleanup aftermath: piles of beads tossed from parade floats that land on the streets and at the bottom of Tampa Bay. The plastic beads that land in the waters of the bay, tossed by boaters and paradegoers .
(FOX40.COM) — Dozens of people made their way to the shore lines of Lake Tahoe on Monday not to take a dip or take pictures, but to conduct a rapid clean up of thousands of plastic beads that were spread across the the beach near Incline Village, according to Incline Village Parks and Recreation. While […]