Shocking Photos: Bird Bodies Full of Plastic

Lighters, bottle caps, plastic bags and milk jugs. Fishing net, fishing line, zip ties, remnants of food containers. All of this and more floats in a massive vortex of trash in the Pacific Ocean – and in the stomachs of the birds who search for food amid the debris.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the size of Texas, and many of the particles of plastic contained within it are so small they can’t be scooped out of the water. But other pieces – colorful pieces that look like they might be food – get swallowed by albatross and other birds.

Photographer Chris Jordan traveled to the Midway Islands, near the center of the garbage patch, to photograph the bodies of albatross chicks that have been inadvertently killed when their confused parents fed them plastic. Jordan didn’t move a single piece of plastic – he photographed the carcasses exactly as he found them.

The photos are a disturbing reminder of just how much of an effect our throwaway society is having upon our fellow inhabitants of this planet. Head over to Planet Green to view the whole set of 30 photographs.

Link [Planet Green]

Great Pacific Garbage Patch Researchers Find Even More Plastic than Expected

Scientists with ‘Project Kaisei’, who spent three weeks gathering plastic debris from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, returned to the Bay Area this week with a rather horrifying sample of the trash that can be found floating in the ocean.

Chunks of styrofoam, cracked patio chairs, bleach bottles, tangled nets and old toys were among the junk they brought back – but the bigger concern is the amount of tiny, “confetti-like” pieces of broken plastic floating in the garbage patch 1,000 miles west of California.

From Mercury News:

“Marine debris is the new man-made epidemic. It’s that serious,” said Andrea Neal, principal investigator on the Kaisei, a 151-foot research ship on the trip.

Neal, a Santa Barbara researcher who has a doctorate in molecular genetics and biochemistry, said crews on the three-week voyage discovered tiny jellyfish eating bits of the plastic debris. The jellyfish are, in turn, eaten by fish like salmon or tuna, which people eat.

Because the plastic pieces contain toxic chemicals — and are believed to be able to absorb now-banned chemicals such as DDT and PCBs, which can persist in the environment for decades — state toxicologists have taken hundreds of the objects, along with more than 300 fish, to an environmental chemistry lab in Berkeley to see if any chemicals are moving up the food chain.

“Every day, every night, we’d pull up samples and pour the water through a sieve. It would be completely clogged with tiny pieces of plastic,” said Margy Gassel, a research scientist with the California Environmental Protection Agency. “It was so disturbing.”

The garbage patch is estimated to be twice the size of Texas, and scientists believe that the trash comes from storm drains and rivers in places like Japan and the Bay Area. It accumulates in a slow-moving zone in the Pacific Ocean. Most of the plastic fragments that make it up are too small to be visible from the air or from satellites.

Doug Woodring, one of the founders of Project Kaisei, believes that two possible solutions to keeping the problem from getting worse could be biodegradable plastics and specially designed storm drains that filter plastic debris from ocean-bound streams of water.

Stopping its spread is essential, but scientists aren’t even sure how to begin cleaning up what’s already collected in the garbage patch. The use of fine nets would likely result in the accidental killing of marine life. Hopefully, now that scientists are taking a closer look at the problem, a solution will be found soon.

Link [Mercury News]

Marine Scientists Studying Great Pacific Garbage Patch

The gigantic swirling mass of trash in the middle of the Pacific Ocean will finally get some much-deserved scientific attention as 30 researchers, technicians and crew members embark on a 3-week journey to study how much debris is collecting in the ‘Great Pacific Garbage Patch’.

The California marine scientists left the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, based at the University of California at San Diego, Sunday on a 170-foot ship called ‘New Horizon’.

From the Matter Network:

The focus of the study will be on plankton, other microorganisms, small fish and birds.

“The concern is what kind of impact those plastic bits are having on the small critters on the low end of the ocean food chain,” Bob Knox, deputy director of research at Scripps, said on Monday after the ship had spent its first full day at sea.

The 170-foot vessel New Horizon is equipped with a laboratory for on-board research, but scientists also will bring back samples for further study.

Besides the potential harm to sea life caused by ingesting bits of plastic, the expedition team will look at whether the particles could carry other pollutants, such as pesticides, far out to sea, and whether tiny organisms attached to the debris could be transported to distant regions and thus become invasive species.

The garbage patch is located about 1,000 miles off the coast of California and is estimated to be the size of Texas. Scientists believe it’s largely caused by trash that washes down storm drains and rivers from places like San Francisco and Japan, which is pulled together into one mass by ocean currents.

Also setting sail for the garbage patch is Project Kaisei, a nonprofit team that will be examining the largest area of the vortex with the intent of collecting and studying plastic and other debris. The Kaisei ship left San Francisco yesterday. Keep tabs on their progress at ProjectKaisei.org.

Link [Matter Network] + [Project Kaisei]
Photo credit: Hope for Gaia

Pacific Garbage Patch Cleanup to Begin Next Month

How many times have you read something about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, that huge swirling mass of plastic trash that’s currently floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and thought to yourself, “why hasn’t someone tried to clean it up?” Well, it’s just not that easy. It’s a huge, expensive task and extreme care must be taken to avoid harming wildlife in the process.

But, the good news is, an effort to retrieve and recycle the Texas-sized mass of junk will begin in earnest next month.

Charles Moore, an oceanographer who discovered the garbage patch in 1997, explains part of the challenge: the nearly microscopic size of much of the plastic rubbish makes it difficult to collect. However, that’s not stopping an expedition of scientists and conservationists from trying to collect the larger pieces.

From the Times Online:

Because of their tiny size and the scale of the problem, he believes that nothing can be solved at sea. “Trying to clean up the Pacific gyre would bankrupt any country and kill wildlife in the nets as it went.”

In June the 151ft brigantine Kaisei (Japanese for Planet Ocean) will unfurl its sails in San Francisco to try to prove Mr Moore wrong. Project Kaisei’s flagship will be joined by a decommissioned fishing trawler armed with specialised nets.

“The trick is collecting the plastic while minimising the catch of sea life. We can’t catch the tiny pieces. But the net benefit of getting the rest out is very likely to be better than leaving it in,” says Doug Woodring, the leader of the project.

With a crew of 30, the expedition, supported by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Brita, the water company, will use unmanned aircraft and robotic surface explorers to map the extent and depth of the plastic continent while collecting 40 tonnes of the refuse for trial recycling.

There’s simply no quick and easy fix for this tremendous problem, but Project Kaisei is a great start. Perhaps the next step should be putting a stop to the practices that caused this patch to accumulate in the first place.

Link [Times Online]

David de Rothschild’s ‘Plastiki’ About to Set Sail

David de Rothschild and a crew of scientists will be traveling 12,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean on the Plastiki, a boat made entirely from plastic bottles and recycled waste products. The Plastiki will set sail in April and travel through the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch, a mess of floating plastic twice the size of Texas located halfway between California and Hawaii.

From Green Upgrader:

“It is our aim to captivate, inspire and activate tomorrow’s environmental thinkers and doers to take positive action for our Planet and to be smart with waste, ultimately we hope to inspire people to rethink waste as a valuable resource. One person’s waste could be another person’s treasure.”

And how green is the boat? Their craft is a catamaran made from 20,000 plastic bottles injected with CO2 packed it into pontoons. The pontoons are strapped to a rigid plastic tube running the length of the hull, and they’ve assembled the whole thing without glues or resins, so when the trip is over, the entire boat is recyclable.

De Rothschild, who was EarthFirst’s #1 Hottest Guy in Green, is a British adventurer, environmental activist and founder of Adventure Ecology, an expedition and education group that raises awareness about climate change and environmental issues.

Check out the Adventure Ecology Plastiki website for more details.

Link [Green Upgrader] + [Adventure Ecology]

10 Steps to Protect Oceans from Pollution

One need only look at photos of the Pacific Ocean Trash Gyre to realize that we’re abusing the world’s oceans. For such an important part of our ecosystem (did you know that phytoplankton provide half the world’s oxygen?), we sure do treat it with very little respect. Oil, fertilizer, trash, toxic chemicals, invasive species – all of these things wreak utter havoc on ocean ecosystems and disturb the delicate balance that keeps every living thing on this planet alive.

When you think of all the things that are going wrong – from dead zones to overfishing – it can be tough to determine where we should even start in the battle to improve the health of the world’s oceans and protect them from pollution. The Practical Environmentalist has put together a list of 10 steps that don’t just explain the ways in which we can protect oceans, but what you personally as an individual can do.

Here are the first two, from the Practical Environmentalist:

1) Restore damaged ocean habitat

In areas that have been fished out or poisoned by industry, native species have often been wiped out. But, that doesn’t mean that Cod have been permanently wiped out in the Atlantic, or that scallops will never return to the Virginia fisheries. Jennifer Rich is planting sea grass in an effort to restore the scallop breeding grounds of her home state. She led a volunteer effort off the coast of Virginia to replant eel grass in environmentally damaged areas. Her effort is ongoing, and similar replanting projects could use your help. Wetlands and mangrove forests are especially valuable because they filter sediment, pesticides, and fertilizer runoff before they get to the ocean.

If you’d like to get your hands dirty in another way, plan a beach vacation off of the beaten path. Once a year, the Ocean Conservancy does a worldwide project to remove trash from the shore. Last year, volunteers cleaned up more than 30,000 miles of shoreline. In a single day, more than 7 million pieces of trash were collected for proper disposal. Check with your City Hall – many towns are happy to supply trash bins, rubber gloves, and even boats to anyone who wants to clean up local waterways.

2) Protect natural buffer systems.

Biosystems are nature’s utilities – they desalinate water, absorb carbon, liberate nutrients from the ground, and provide other services free of charge. The plants and animals that make up these systems are often treated as commodities, but killing the goose that lays golden eggs will only put food on the table for a day. Protecting biosystems can pay dividends for years to come.

Forests are an essential buffer for the oceans. Old growth trees neutralize the pH of rain and absorb harmful chemicals before they reach the ocean. Trees that grow in estuaries and along riverways are especially important, but those areas also face increased development pressure and they are easy for loggers to access. Shoreline habitat is being destroyed to build giant shrimp farms and resort hotels. Luckily, there are now sustainable forestry and aquaculture options available. Sustainable logging allows limited harvesting of resources without destroying the natural processes that we benefit from. The next time you buy lumber or land, do some research and check for certifications of sustainability.

Get the rest of the list at PracticalEnvironmentalist.com.

Who knew that kitty litter has an effect on water pollution? Lots of great tips here. Cliched as it may sound, each and every one of us is responsible for making personal decisions that determine the health of the entire planet and these steps are definitely a great way to make an impact.

Link [Practical Environmentalist]

The Impossible Task of Cutting Plastic Out of Your Life

Image via Algalita Marine Research Foundation

Plastic is a cancer on the environment and yet we just can’t get enough of it. Just try to get through one day without plastic – it’s impossible. Your shampoo is in a plastic bottle. Your car has plastic all over the interior. Open your fridge door – plastic. Turn on a light – plastic. Brush your teeth, have safe sex, wear a Hawaiian shirt – plastic, plastic and more plastic.

Though I was always aware of plastic being problematic for the environment, I never considered trying to dramatically reduce my use of it until I had a wake-up call a few months back. After discovering that I had several health problems related to high levels of estrogen, a female hormone, I started doing some research and learned about the connection between hormones like estrogen and compounds found in plastic, such as Bisphenol A (BPA). Tests have shown BPA to be an endocrine disrupter, and it’s linked to health issues like breast cancer, prostate cancer, infertility, early onset of puberty and insulin resistance. BPA is found in plastic water bottles, reusable food containers, baby bottles and canned food liners, among many other items.

That led me to examine how much plastic I’ve really been using on a daily basis. Once you start thinking about how much plastic is in your life, it can be overwhelming. It’s everywhere, and health effects are far from the only dangers of the petroleum-based material. From the raw materials used to create it to where it ends up when we no longer want it, plastic has an incredibly large, negative footprint on the earth. Cradle to Cradle it’s not.

Plastic begins its life as petroleum, which is drilled and transported to refineries. Then the crude oil and natural gas is refined into ethane, propane and thousands of other petrochemical products. Ethane and propane are “cracked” into ethylene and propylene using high-temperature furnaces, and then a catalyst is combined with them in a reactor, resulting in what’s called ‘fluff’ – powdered polymers. The fluff is combined with additives in a blender, fed into an extruder where it’s melted, allowed to cool and then fed to a pelletizer that cuts it into small pellets. The pellets are shipped to manufacturers who then process it into various products (Source: ReachOutMichigan.org).

As you can see, the production of plastic is yet another way in which we’re dependent on foreign oil, and oil drilling is hard on the environment. Plastic also clogs our landfills. It can take 200 to 400 years to degrade, and only 3% of plastic waste is currently recycled, partially due to the fact that facilities to recycle most types of plastic simply don’t exist in most cities (Source: Learner.org). Consumers have little choice but to throw their plastic waste in the trash.

Ocean Gyres: The Pacific Gyre is top center. Image via Wikimedia Commons

As if that weren’t bad enough, then there’s the plastic that ends up in our oceans. The swirling vortex of plastic trash in the Pacific Ocean, known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, is a prime example of how our love affair with plastic is damaging the environment. The trash gyre takes up an astonishingly large area of the Pacific Ocean – twice the surface area of the continental United States. It’s essentially the world’s largest garbage dump, and it’s held in place by swirling underwater currents. It stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the coast of California, across the northern Pacific nearly as far as Japan. Researchers have called it ‘plastic soup’, and includes everything from footballs and kayaks to children’s toys and shopping bags.

Plastic is believed to account for 90% of the trash in oceans, and it’s been known to kill marine life. The UN Environment Program estimates that plastic debris causes the death of more than 1 million seabirds each year, along with 100,000 marine mammals. Entanglement or ingestion of plastics have been known to cause death or suffering to at least 267 different species including turtles, seabirds, seals, sea lions, whales and fish.

Motivated by all of this knowledge, I set out to reduce the amount of plastic that I used in my daily life as much as possible. It didn’t take long to discover that cutting plastic out of your life in this day and age is virtually impossible. You’d have to totally change practically every facet of your life in order to avoid it. I began my quest to reduce my plastic use mainly concerned with plastics that come into contact with my food and drinks, as well as the products I apply directly to my skin, like lotion. It wasn’t too hard to replace my food containers and cups with all glass and ceramic, but then I started thinking about all of the plastic that surrounds me every day and how hard it would be to totally avoid it.

One thing I realized early on is that attempting to avoid plastic can either be really cheap or really expensive. If you go the cheap route, you’re bound to be living a pretty primitive existence, because finding alternatives to plastic for everyday items isn’t always possible. If you try to replace everything you own that’s made with plastic, you’re going to get frustrated fast because often, alternatives just aren’t out there.

You can get wooden or cloth kids toys instead of plastic, replace your toothbrush with a wooden one, buy staples in bulk (and use glass containers to house the items), only wear natural fabrics and replace cheap fixtures around your house with vintage glass or ceramic. But, you’ll have to forgo sunglasses, electronics and those little plastic pumps on your liquid hand soap. Forget medical or dental work – plastic abounds. Want to paint your house? The paint cans are plastic. Switching to tap water instead of bottled? You’ll have to drink it straight from the faucet, because filters are encased in plastic. Better switch to an entirely whole foods diet, because one stroll through the grocery store will show you that most items are encased in plastic bottles, bags, wrap or mesh.

Christine Jeavans with some of her plastic purchases – Image via BBC News

One woman in the UK is attempting to go without plastic for the entire month of August, and will be documenting her journey on the BBC News website. Christine Jeavans has resolved not to purchase anything that contains plastic or is packaged in plastic, and in preparation for this, she has kept all of the plastic she used in the previous month – totaling 603 items. Included in that total were 67 food packaging bags and films, 13 yogurt cups, 10 milk bottles and 120 disposable diapers. Once faced with all of this plastic, Chris was more resolved than ever to change her lifestyle. She’ll be updating her blog with her progress throughout the month.

I’m still sorting through my own attempts to reduce the amount of plastic I use, with mixed results – but hoping to do better going forward. While I can’t yet replace all of the plastic items in my home with longer-lasting, safer alternatives, I will definitely be far more conscious of what I purchase in the future. I’m already avoiding food with unnecessary packaging and thinking about where each item I purchase will end up when I’m done with it.

Luckily, the world at large is beginning to wake up from our decades-long plastic nightmare. Many new companies are offering plant-based packaging that breaks down when composted. Biodegradable packaging can be seen on everything from take-out containers to personal care products, and biodegradable options are available for items like trash bags and packaging tape.

There’s no doubt that plastic has revolutionized the way we live, and greatly sped up the advancement of modern civilization. But, times are once again a-changin’ – and we’ve got to find a better way. We’re a long way away from completely cutting plastic out of our lives – and it may never happen. But with the green revolution fueling sustainable technology like never before, we’re sure to see more ways that we can cut back.

Perhaps more companies will soon discover the merits of the Cradle to Cradle design philosophy, and we’ll soon have a wealth of materials that are even better than plastic that don’t harm the earth. And perhaps we can all be a little more conscious about the life cycle of every item we purchase – especially plastic – for our health and for the earth.

It’s Mind Blowing Time: VBS.TV Visits the Garbage Filled Pacific Ocean Gyre

Excuse my language, but holy fracking shite! I’ve been aware of the global tragedy that is the Pacific Ocean Gyre for a while now, but I REALLY didn’t ‘get it’ until I watched this 12 part video from VBS.tv- TOXIC: Garbage Island. In short- humans have created a toxic wasteland of plasticized stew the size of the continental United States.

Stop whatever you are doing right now and go watch them.

Link [VBS.TV- TOXIC- Garbage Island Part 1]