Plastic pollution and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
75The Garbage Patch
Garbage Patch photos
Plastic at sea links
Marine pollution
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Plastic pollution is a threat to sea creatures
Plastic is something we all use and so very many things are made of it or packaged in the material, but unfortunately a vast amount of it is getting thrown away in an irresponsible way and is becoming an ever greater danger to the environment. Plastic bags blow about and litter the countryside, plastic bottles and other objects wash up on the tides having become part of the flotsam, landfill sites contain increasing amounts of plastic.
But perhaps something a lot of people don't realise is how dangerous to wildlife the plastic that pollutes the sea is. Marine turtles, many of which are already endangered, mistake plastic bags bobbing about on the waves as jellyfish, and if they swallow them they can die because the plastic cannot be digested and can block the poor animals' digestive systems. A similar thing happens if sea birds mistake plastic items for food and feed this junk to their chicks.
I have actually seen examples of this at a gull colony on the Island of Flatholm in the Bristol Channel off the coast of South Wales. Gulls scavenge rubbish tips on the mainland and bring food back for the baby birds. I saw plastic toy fried eggs, bits of broken plastic dolls and other toys as some of the stuff the parent birds wrongly identified.
If the chicks swallow this rubbish it can kill them just like the turtles. Rare and already endangered marine birds like many of the albatross species can fall victims to this.
There exists an area in the oceans known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, the Eastern Garbage Patch and the Pacific Trash Vortex that has been created by the accumulation of plastic and other debris carried on the currents and held there in the North Pacific Gyre. It is so big that it is said to be nearly twice the size of the state of Texas.
As some of the plastic disintegrates over time and smaller particles of plastic become smaller still they eventually become small enough to be eaten by marine life and thus, in turn, are eaten by larger animals and so it enters the food chain.
Meanwhile worldwide very tiny granules of plastic are becoming a constituent of sand.
Another problem floating plastic in the sea can cause is it can be used as a base for some invasive species to attach to and then get carried to other parts of the world on the tides.
So how does all this plastic get in the sea to begin with? People carelessly throw plastic litter on beaches. Others throw plastic refuse out of boats and ships. More plastic debris washes down the rivers and into the sea. Wikipedia says that 80% is from land-based sources and the remaining 20% is plastic thrown away at sea.
Adventurer and enviromental campaigner David de Rothschild is sailing a raft called the Plastiki built from plastic bottles to raise awareness of the problem of pollution for plastic and to suggest that we need to recycle the material. He will be passing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch en route from San Franciso to Sydney in Australia.
I believe that as many people as possible do need to be told about this fantastic mess that endangers life. We all need to think about what happens to the plastic we throw away. I know it really saddens me to think it could end up killing a turtle or a baby gull or albatross.
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Comments
Thanks for posting, Tony! It horrifies me too!
Excellent treatment of an important topic. Here in Florida we often see birds and other wildlife in distress caught by senseless plastic discards and struggling for their lives.
Thanks for posting, Jerilee! It is so horrible to think that plastic is killing so many animals and birds and in the most terrible way!
The solutions are for people to stop throwing plastic away but to recycle it so we need far more places that do that. Where I live they have made a start and people can put plastic in the special containers for it but sadly lots of places don't have them and loads of people can't be bothered anyway and then there's those that just throw plastic away on the streets and in the countryside.
David de Rothschild is showing that plastic can be recycled to make a boat to sail the ocean. So many other things could be made from plastic that instead ends up killing a turtle or baby bird!
If people would be more responsible and think before they chuck plastic away and try using a lot less it could make so much difference and save the lives of so many marine animals.
I really hate those plastic garbage bags with a passion and think they're one of the worst inventions EVER. I try to pick them up when I see them but they're just everywhere. You should see (some of) the Caribbean Islands - it's pretty bad there because of the island breezes and of course they all end up in the ocean. I just find it so amazing that in this day and age, with everything we know, people still litter.
Yes, we get terrible winds and storms here in winter and I have seen plastic bags whirling around in the air and blownig about.
Climate change is nonsense; here's something undeniable that man is doing to the planet. We can all get behind this cleanup.
Toxic plastic pollution is a current and future killer of many species on the planet. Much of it is not re-cycled and winds up in landfills. As the oil demand for transportation goes down, it will go up in making more toxic plastic.
As long as profit stays more important than the environment, the inhabitants, including us will suffer for it.
We can buy glass, cardboard and metal containers to combat the rise of plastic. Wax paper could easily replace plastic for meats and many foods. In the end, it is up to us.
Thanks for your feedback, Nicomp and Tom! I agree with you both.
One big problem is bottled water comes in plastic bottles and in places like where I live everyone drinks bottled water because the tap water is full of fluoride! The answer to that is to get the powers that be to stop using fluoride - easier said than done!
I can remember the days when drinks including beer, pop and milk all came mainly in glass bottles and people took shopping bags out to the shops. Bottled water didn't exist. It is a shame we can't return to those days.
Excellent hub on a very important subject! I always pick up plastic when I see it lying about, too. I also remember the glass bottle days, and although I remember the distinct sense of relief when dropping a bottle and realizing it was plastic and wouldn't shatter, it may be better than dealing with plastic!
Thank you for posting!
We are such litter bugs
Thank you for posting too, Ethel!
I read about this a while back. Is Rothschild the right oil heir, who refused to go into Oil after sailing his yacht through this? May not be, but there is certainly a very rich man who has turned his back on his fathers oil business to concentrate on raising awareness. Good, but very sad, hub.
Yes, David is from the Rothschild banking family.
Arrhhh..... Banking, thats it. Well it is very commendable. Bard, do you know whether there are any plans afoot to attempt to clean this mess up? Or would that be a wasted effort, e.g. are we still polluting in this fashion? Please excuse my ignorance on this subject - at least I recycle my plastic ;-)
Well, as I see it the efforts has to be made worldwide for people to be disposing of plastic in a more responsible way and to cut down using it as well otherwise it just keeps adding to the mess. Beach clean-ups are one thing people can do and in fact that has just been done on the island I live on by volunteers.
As I see it David de Rothschild's Plastiki mission is raising awareness of a big problem that many people simply do not realise exists!
If the money of the world was not spent on the military and war machine and space projects including the madness of Nasa bombing the moon on 9 October that money could go towards cleaning up the mess people have made of the planet. Well, that's what I think!
Your ideals sound perfect, but you and me both know that a world without war will not exist unless the human race exterminates itself. Which I guess we are doing. I have often thought about doing some voluntary conservation work, thats something that I will pursue once I have found a job which pays the bills. Anyway, I dont want to waste any more of your time Bard, I will let you get on with your many diverse interests and hobbies ;) thank you for taking your time to respond.
You know I didnt even have a clue about the Island of plastic or the garbage patch until I was watching I think it was "Knocked Up" the movie. In it they have a over pretective mother talking about the things in the enviroment that are going to harm her children such as petifiles and so on. She made a quick referance to the Island in the pacific twice the size of texas made of plastic. I thought Yea Rite. So doing what I do. I got on line to look. It was kind of hard to find which suprised me. Something like this should be known by everyone, instead its known by very few. My point is, I am an average American well I used to be, not caring where my soda bottle went or wawa bag was thrown but ill tell you one thing I care now. If it took me two seconds on the internet to change my view. Imagine what it would do if the entire world knew. The thing about pollution is that its got to get real bad before anyone takes notice to make it better; sad I know, but unfortunately its true with most people. Thank you for letting people know about the Island of plastic I hope you get the word out someone needs to.
Thank you for posting, Ryoder!
It scares me greatly to consider what all our one time usage of plastic (and how it is being disposed of) is doing to marine life. We use plastic, it breaks down into tiny pieces, it is ingested by marine life, we eat marine life = we are eating plastic. Great hub, gets me thinking for sure.
Thank you for posting, Jennshon4! It scares me too that this insanity is going on daily and most people know nothing about it! Sand is becoming made up in part of plastic. There is more plastic than plankton in some places in the ocean! Species of wildlife are being wiped out and die horrible deaths because of plastic! Yes, it is scary and very sad!
Thanks for this Bard. I've blogged on this problem too and it really is serious. The garbage dump is not the size off Texas and still growing and since it is in international waters, no governments are willing to take responsibility for it. Ships dump waste overboard and a platic bottle that is dropped into a storm sewer in San Francisco ends up in the Pacific gyre in about two weeks. The situation is ghastly and really attention must be paid. Good work!
Thank you, Robie2! It is getting bigger all the time and people really need to know about this! I agree with you totally: "it really is serious."
oops-- just came back and saw the big typo in my previous comment-- that should have been "the garbage dump is now the size of Texas" I should proofread my comments-- sorry Bard:-)
I got your meaning anyway and besides some sources say it is NOT the size of Texas but nearly twice its size! So you would have been right if they are correct! lol
It's tragic how we choke up all of Nature's arteries with stuff like plastic! To think those chicks die because of it! Man really is the aberration in Nature, isn't he?
Humans are the odd one out here when it comes to species, yes! No other species of life is capable of causing as much damage to the environment and other life forms as humans can and do and no other species of life is so out of balance with the rest of the natural world!
Hi Bard - I'm the Aussie film-maker preparing to swim across the Pacific and through the Garbage Patch. Thanks for spreading the word.
Thanks for posting and good luck!
tony0724 says:
4 months ago
Bard I was well aware of this , and It just makes me sick to my stomach ! Thx for posting this and I hope people do all they can to do their part . We really need to find an alternative to plastic .