Disposal dilemma

WAR IN UKRAINE HAS IMPACTS ON TERRACE COMMUNITY

Casualties mount as the war begins its second month

By Jakob Nacanaynay

HAWKEYE STAFF

As conflict rages on in Ukraine, the reverberations are being felt in the Terrace community.

The war in Ukraine has concerned ELL (English Language Learning) teacher Michelle Tessier having students whose families are personally affected.

“I have a Ukrainian student,” Tessier said. “His town in Ukraine is near the Black Sea which is where some of the heaviest violence is going on right now. They are very worried for the family they left behind and friends.”

Tessier, having students from Russia, also makes it a point to not make assertions about Russian people as a whole.

“Putin is one man,” Tessier said. “He does not necessarily represent the views of the people. I’ve heard, even locally now, that people are boycotting Russian restaurants even though it’s the Russian people, so I am concerned. I watched what happened when we had the Muslim ban and I am worried for the Russian population, and I am extremely worried for the Ukrainians.”

One of Tessier’s students, Liia Shaibova, has a glimpse of both sides of the war having a Russian family while also having friends in Ukraine.

“[My friends] for now they’re fine,” Shaibova said. “Sometimes they hear airplanes and they hide in basements. They’re really scared.”

The war in Ukraine has led to record numbers of refugees fleeing to neighboring countries on a magnitude unseen in Europe since WW2. As of March 9, two million people in total have emigrated from Ukraine. About 1.5 million fled to Poland, with Hungary, Slovakia and Romania also taking a significant number of refugees.

Shaibova has stated she is against the invasion of Ukraine, but some of her family in Russia continue to support Putin.

“My family–my grandmas, they are with Putin, the president,” Shaibova said. “I tried to talk to both of them because I said ‘this is terrible’ and she believes the news… Russian news is not always true.”

Since the start of the invasion, Russian authorities have been cracking down on the press and anti-war protesters. On March 4, a new bill was signed into law in Russia that makes it illegal to use the word “war” or “invasion” to describe the situation in Ukraine, punishable by up to 15 years. According to COVD-Info, a human rights media project based in Russia, 13,022 people were arrested on arbitrary charges for protesting against the war in Ukraine as of March 6.

“At first, [some of my family] didn’t believe that the war just began,” Shaibova said. “They didn’t believe in this because on the news it says ‘no, it’s not war.’ Then, the news said that now in Russia it’s illegal to say or write ‘war’. So now they use other words to describe it.”

In response to the invasion of Russia, the global community has united to put economic pressure on Russia and supply Ukraine. On Feb. 27, Russian banks were cut from SWIFT, an international banking messaging system. Switzerland froze Russian assets, breaking a long tradition of neutrality. On March 8, President Joe Biden announced the U.S. would shut down all imports on Russian oil. Companies from McDonalds to Disney have stopped doing business in Russia. The rouble, Russia’s official currency, has since plummeted in value to ¾ a cent.

The sanctions on Russia have come at a cost for American consumers with Tessier noting, “We’re feeling it in our 401ks, our stocks. Gas prices are very high right now and they are going to continue going up, so we feel that pain,” Tessier said.

The Ukrainian forces in the capital of Kyiv have managed to keep Russian forces in the outskirts of the city, but heavy tolls have been inflicted on multiple fronts. In addition to Kyiv, the cities of Kharkiv, Sumy and Mariupol have faced heavy shelling. Temporary ceasefires have been called to allow civilians to escape.

“I don’t believe it will be another Afghanistan, but it will go on into guerilla warfare and it could potentially go on for much, much longer than anybody would want it to.” Tessier said. “I’m hoping that the economic sanctions will have the Russian government outside of Putin begin to reassess what would be helpful for them.” 5,000 miles away, in Terrace, Tessier encourages reaching out to help each other as the war continues.

“I think as individuals, we can support our Ukrainian community and Russian communities here at our school by reaching out. You can tell from the emails that I’m getting back that it’s [the families] it’s warming their hearts; it makes them cry to know that they’re being supported and it’s important for me, as an ELL teacher, to support my families. I think that if we did that as a building to our families, to let them know that we’re here, that we understand the pain that you’re going through, that would be a step towards helping our community.” H

COVID COVERINGS: HOW DO WE SAFELY DISPOSE MASKS?

By Annabelle Westby

Over the past two years, mask requirements have fluctuated based on the research that has been done on COVID-19. In the beginning, we were told not to wear medical-grade masks, as they needed to be conserved for healthcare workers. Then, as COVID began getting worse again, we were told to wear a medical-grade disposable mask, as they were better at filtering the virus. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC) the best thing we can do is wear KN95 masks, which are different from N95’s in their fit and breathability. However, these are classified as disposable, because we use them once and then throw them away. Not only is this expensive, it is also incredibly wasteful and bad for the environment.

The general disposable masks that we use, the ones most commonly seen around the school are not paper. According to the surgical mask manufacturer Strapking, their surgical masks have three layers; inner, middle and outer. The inner and outer layers are made of spunbond polypropylene, which is a thermoplastic polymer, and the middle is made of meltblown polypropylene.

Spunbond polypropylene is what lines the bottom of couches, and is commonly used in clothes. Melt-blown polypropylene is used because it has excellent filtration and shielding capabilities. Neither of these things break down fully because they are made of a kind of plastic, and have been known to release microplastics, that linger for hundreds of years after use.

According to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, disposable masks cannot be recycled for multiple reasons. The first reason is that they are made of synthetic materials which cannot be reprocessed. Disposable masks have to be sifted out of recycling by hand. For the same reason, if they are left on the ground or flushed down the toilet, they won’t break down and therefore will stay on the ground to be picked up, or stuck in the septic system.

Since they can’t be recycled, the alternative is the garbage. However, there is a huge environmental impact that comes along with simply disposing of them like garbage.

As is common knowledge, the massive accumulations of trash in landfills contributes heavily to climate change, as they don’t break down the same as recyclable products, and often release hazardous chemicals and microplastics. Masks have been known to do the same thing because they are made of plastics.

So, it seems that until scientists can find a way to make biodegradable masks, disposable masks will have a negative environmental impact.

Masks have become a huge part of our lives, and there are things we can do to minimize the damage their disposal is causing to the environment. According to ScienceDaily’s Elvis Genbo Xu and Zhiyong Jason Ren, mask-only garbage cans could be set up to dispose of them separately from other trash. We could also make stricter rules on guidelines for mask disposal. People could use cloth masks again, or create a biodegradable disposable mask.

Cloth masks, however, are not recommended because they don’t filter as well as surgical masks. None of these are perfect solutions, especially as we currently use 129 billion masks globally every month.

One issue with getting rid of all of the disposable masks and switching to the available biodegradable masks is the price. One mask costs $35, and they are single use. With the normal disposable masks, they come in packs of 100 for $9.98 on Amazon.com. Clearly, the more eco-friendly option is far less available to the general public due to its price, so most people won’t be able to use them.

What should the average person do in this situation? It seems that it’s too complicated to make that kind of decision.

There’s an option to buy biodegradable masks and spend tons of money. KN95’s are ideal for protection, but they harm the environment. This is another situation where the pandemic complicated people’s efforts to stop climate change.

If there is concern about the environmental impact of mask usage, there are a variety of different things people can do every day to lessen their carbon footprint. Simple things like composting and using less plastic are realistic and easy things to do. Monitoring electricity and water usage is also a viable option. Going so far as buying an electric car or putting solar panels on houses is out of range for most people, but for some it’s a step that could be taken.

The reality is, the general public doesn’t have much say in climate change, as it’s the responsibility of fossil fuel giants and corporations to use and invest in healthier alternative energy sources. We can still do what we can to lessen impact, and those help, but they aren’t enough to stop the progression entirely. This doesn’t mean we should give up, it just means that we can’t fix everything, and we also can’t take responsibility for everything, NICO FRANCOIS | HAWKEYE either. H