Thousands of negotiators from countries worldwide are meeting in Ottawa this week to draft the first global treaty aimed at halting soaring plastic pollution. The talks, the fourth of five meetings of the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for Plastics, present a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Inger Andersen, the executive director of the U.N.'s Environment Program. 

The hoped-for treaty aims to limit plastic production by 2040, said Reuters. If agreed, it could be the "most significant deal" on climate-warming emissions since the 2015 Paris Agreement. 

How bad is it? 
Plastic production currently accounts for 5% of all global carbon emissions, according to a report by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. And the industry is on an "exponential growth trajectory," said The Guardian. The report's "stunning" estimates suggest that the industry could account for 20% of the world's carbon footprint by 2050. 

The report makes clear that plastic production is a "wrecking ball for our climate," said Neil Tangri, the science and policy director at the environmental justice group Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives. It provides the "strongest evidence to date on the need to stop and reverse the expansion of plastic production." 

What are the challenges? 
Countries became divided on the treaty's scope during previous talks, said Reuters. Participants are now under pressure to find common ground, with negotiators in Ottawa facing a difficult task. Participating nations must decide whether the agreement should focus on health (both human and the environment), limiting plastic production, restricting chemical use, or "any combination of the above," said The Associated Press. 

The greatest challenge is resistance from major oil- and gas-producing and -exporting countries. Known as the Like-Minded Countries, Saudi Arabia, Iran and China have all opposed plastic production caps, and their resistance could limit the scope of the agreement. "Production is at the center of everything," Björn Beeler, an international coordinator for the International Pollutants Elimination Network, said to AP News. "And it's going to get supercharged. It's not about oceans. It's more about oil."

The internet is awash with speculation about the metaphors and coded references to Taylor Swift's personal life in her latest album. But Swift is not the only artist releasing songs "laden with popcorn-chewing subtext," said Laura Snapes at The Guardian. The likes of Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter have also had hits that appear to play into the current trend of gossip as "pop's driving engine." 

'Tension between authenticity and credibility' 
"Knee-jerk responses" to albums like Swift's "The Tortured Poets Department" may say "more about our culture of misogyny" than songwriting, said David Robson at the BBC. Writers, poets and musicians have been producing works about lost love for thousands of years, but some critics have raised concerns about a tension between "authenticity and artistic credibility" and suggest that an "overreliance on personal experience devalues the writer's creative talent." These accusations often seem sexist, Robson said, given that they are "leveled at women more than men." 

While Swift is the "queen of Easter eggs," and there will "undoubtedly" be people "scavenging for tidbits of celebrity gossip," her music will "ultimately transcend such low-level, insipid chatter," said Olivia Petter at The Independent. All the same, it leaves "pop in a tricky spot," said Snapes. "Too much gossip and you date your work; too little and fans lose interest." 

'Vicious cycle' 
Prior to our age of almost "limitless information" on the internet, fans were generally left guessing what artists were saying through their songs, said Bootle. Now, artists such as Swift have "captivated an audience who desire personal information and self-narrative and an idol to worship as well as an artist to engage with." But we are caught in a "vicious cycle" in which the "role of celebrity and artist is blurred" and gossip "automatically translates into more fame and more clamor for stories on the next album." 

This is not to say that pop stars "should avoid writing about their personal lives," said Snapes. "The most resonant pop steers between the two impulses." Swift's latest album has a "handful of moments like this," and those are the ones that "resound with real emotional truth." Perhaps, for pop music more widely, that is a "testament to leaving the picture incomplete."