The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, West Side Story hits theaters: 5 Things podcast
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
NOW reporter Christine Fernando explains how wildlife is adapting to ocean litter. Plus, at least 53 people are dead after a truck carrying migrants crashed in Mexico, national correspondent Trevor Hughes reports on men or the lack thereof in the abortion fight, Starbucks workers vote to unionize in Buffalo and 'West Side Story' hits theaters.
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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and this is 5 Things you need to know, Friday, the 10th of December, 2021. Today, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, plus tragedy in Mexico, where dozens of migrants are dead after a truck crash, and more.
Here are some of the top headlines:
- A British court has opened the door for Julian Assange to be extradited to the United States. The appellate court overturned a lower court ruling that found the WikiLeaks founder's mental health was too fragile to handle the American criminal justice system. Today's ruling will likely be appealed.
- Former Georgia Tech and Denver Broncos wide receiver, Demaryius Thomas, has died. The four-time pro-bowler was 33.
- And jurors were sent home yesterday in the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell after an attorney on the case got sick. The trial may resume today.
A giant patch of garbage in the Pacific Ocean has become a floating plastic habitat for a variety of Marine animals. They're not just surviving, but building communities and even thriving, as NOW reporter Christine Fernando explains.
Christine Fernando:
The floating plastic habitat is located in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. And so that's also called the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. So it's about the size of Texas. And according to recent studies, it contains about 79,000 metric tons of plastics and waste. That includes fishing nets, bottles, but also micro plastics, which are tiny fragments of plastics. So a lot of people might think that it's this giant floating plastic island, but really a lot of it is these micro plastics that you can't even really see. The concentration of plastics in that area is a lot higher than in other areas. It's definitely not a plastic island, like some people might expect it to be there.
There hasn't been a ton of research done on it yet, so they're still looking at the extent of the coastal creatures that have colonized this area. And they do have a count of it, but that's coming out in future studies. So they haven't completely published yet how many that they have counted, but there's still a lot of counting to be done, for sure.
The US is one of the worst, if not the worst offender, when it comes to plastics, according to recent reports. I think there's almost twice as much as China, is the amount of plastic that we produce. Plastic waste. So if things continue to go like this, there's going to be more plastic waste in the ocean. It's going to increase substantially and that has, obviously, a huge effect on marine populations.
Taylor Wilson:
You can read Christine's full story by subscribing to Paste BN for unlimited access at just $4.99 a month. Check out a link in today's episode description.
At least 53 people are dead after a cargo truck carrying some 200 people crashed in Southern Mexico yesterday. The vehicle was carrying Central American migrants - mostly Guatemalan and Honduran - north, and survivors said there may have been up to 10 children on board as well. The truck tipped over and crashed into the base of a pedestrian bridge. The tragedy is one of the worst single day death tolls for migrants in Mexico, since the 2010 massacre of 72 migrants, by the Zetas drug cartel. First responders said many survivors fled into surrounding neighborhoods, out of fears of being detained by immigration agents. The Mexican government continues to try and appease the US, by stopping walking caravans and reinstating policies to allow Central American migrants to remain in Mexico.
But that has not stopped the flood of trucks and buses that stack, sometimes hundreds of people at a time, inside. Authorities say that in this case and others similar to it, trucks often cannot deal with the weight of people inside, leading to accidents. Authorities previously, in October, found nearly 700 migrants in six cargo trucks in Northern Mexico heading for the US.
Roe v. Wade, and the future of legal abortion in the United States are in the biggest jeopardy in a generation. And activists worry that the Supreme Court will soon pave the way for major abortion repeals. And states nationwide are asking a new question. Where are the men supporters? National correspondent, Trevor Hughes reports.
Trevor Hughes:
You've got a situation right now where abortion rights activists across the country are worried that the Supreme Court is going to overturn Roe v. Wade. Now in the United States, popular support is in favor of abortion access. And so the women who have been pushing for this, who are fighting this, are growing frustrated that there's a lot of men out there who are just staying silent, who are not speaking up on behalf of their partners, not speaking up on behalf of women that they know who have had abortions. And men who are not speaking up and saying, "Hey, Americans should be treated equally and should have the right to control their own body." And so for whatever reason, men have largely stepped back from this fight over the past 10, 20 years. And there's a growing concern that if the court overturns Roe v. Wade, there's going to be a need for a legislative push at state levels, at Congress. And those pushes will really only move if large numbers of men show up in support.
Abortion rights activists make the argument that men played an important role in helping women secure these rights. And they also point out that these are the rights that should be enjoyed by all Americans. But it was the medical community before Roe v. Wade, before abortion was legalized nationally, the medical community, doctors who at the time tended to be overwhelmingly male, who had seen the consequences of illegal abortions of improperly performed abortions, and really wanted to make sure that their patients were getting the best healthcare they could. And they felt the best way to do that would be to make sure that women were getting these services provided by actual doctors.
Taylor Wilson:
For more from the ongoing abortion fight, search abortion on USATODAY.com.
Starbucks workers at a store in Buffalo have voted to unionize.
[Starbucks workers chanting.]
The move marks a first for the coffee giant and the latest sign that the labor movement is stirring. The National Labor Relations Board said that workers voted in favor at one of three Buffalo locations, where elections were held, another rejected the union and another has not yet been determined. If the Labor Board certifies the results and one or more of the stores unionizes, they would be the first Starbucks-owned stores in the US to be represented by a union. The company has actively fought unionization for decades, saying its stores work best when it works directly with employees. The Buffalo union elections come amid labor unrest all over the country. Cereal workers at Kelloggs are on strike and rejected a new contract earlier this week. Thousands of workers went on strike at John Deere earlier this fall. And the US Labor Board recently approved a redo of a union vote at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama, after finding the company pressured workers to vote against the union. Labor shortages and a changing landscape, due to the pandemic, have given workers a rare upper hand in wage negotiations.
West Side Story is back.
Rachel Zegler as Maria:
Tonight, tonight. The world is full of light...
Taylor Wilson:
The movie is the latest version of the 1957 musical, and a 1961 film adaptation, and its director, Stephen Spielberg's, first try at a movie musical. The story follows teenagers in New York City who fall in love, despite affiliations with rival street gangs who are racially divided. Rachel Zegler and Ansel Elgort star, along with Rita Moreno, who was in the 1961 movie. Our film critic, Brian Truitt, says this latest version, "deals with problems of representation from past efforts, redefines characters, puts that Spielbergian blockbuster spin on legendary musical numbers, and gives needed sociopolitical context to the central conflicts." He gives it 3 1/2 out of 4 stars.
Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us on whatever your favorite podcast app is, including Apple Podcasts, where we ask for a five star rating and review, if you have a chance. Thanks as always to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show. And I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things, from Paste BN.