US plastics and recycling troubles will worsen

Significance The bill contains pledges to study the problem of plastics needs versus environmental risks posed, but few solid commitments to policy change adequate to meet the plastics waste crisis, either for the United States or globally. Impacts Proliferation of microplastics will continue, with as yet uncertain science available on their health impacts. If Donald Trump wins the 2020 election, any federal action on plastics mitigation is even less likely. More countries will consider limiting or refusing to import other countries’ waste In countries that once exported waste, demand will grow for new home-grown waste-management, including enhanced recycling.

COVID-19 immunity certificates: science, ethics, policy, and law

There is much discussion of adopting COVID-19 immunity certificates to allow those proven to have antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 to resume normal life and help restart the economy. This article points out issues that must be considered before adopting any such program. These issues fall into six categories: the uncertain science of COVID-19 immunity; the questionable quality of COVID-19 antibody tests; practical problems with issuing such certificates; deciding how the certificates might be used; ethical and social issues they would raise, especially fairness and self-infection; and potential legal barriers. It does not ultimately take a position on whether some narrow COVID-19 immunity plans should be adopted, concluding that the answer depends on too many currently unknown conditions. But its seventh part makes recommendations to decision-makers who might consider implementing such programs.

Peacebuilding

Peacebuilding—helping societies make the transition from civil violence to a durable peace—has been the UN’s principal security activity since the end of the Cold War. Although peacebuilding methods have been refined over years of trial and error, it remains an uncertain science, yielding mixed results. Nevertheless, for all its shortcomings, the international peacebuilding ‘project’ remains one of the most remarkable exercises in collective conflict management the world has ever witnessed. This chapter identifies the principal features of the UN’s peacebuilding operations, examines the record of peacebuilding since the end of the Cold War, and describes some of the main issues and controversies surrounding these missions.