New research on drinking water demonstrates that microplastic particles are found in tap water all over the world. “The US had the highest contamination rate, at 94%... Lebanon and India had the next highest rates. European nations including the UK, Germany and France had the lowest contamination rate, but this was still 72%” (The Guardian, September 5, 2017). Microplastics have been found in well water, bottled beers, honey and sugar.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the move toward world peace appeared to take a positive turn. Although there have been conflicts around the globe since then, the major world powers have been at relative peace with each other—at least until very recently. According to the head of NATO, “The world is more dangerous today than it has been in a generation” (The Guardian, September 8, 2017).

In the past few weeks, thousands around the globe have been traumatized by powerful hurricanes in the Atlantic and typhoons in the Pacific that have caused tremendous devastation and suffering.