HAPPENING TODAY 

PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT TO CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK AND WATCH THE VIDEO. 

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50002132/#50002132

This is happening right

now and demonstrates

the urgent need for

each one of us to

become consciously

aware of how our 

plastic debris is 

destroying our oceans

sustainability and 

killing our marine life.

A report that aired on November 28th 2012 on NBC' Nightly News broadcast hosted by Brian Williams shows just how much plastic waste from Japan's Tsunami is impacting the Kamilo Beach in Hawaii and killing our marine life with a 10 mile stretch of 3 to 4 inches of debris.  

It is important to note that even though this debris is coming from a Tsunami the same thing is happening all over the world on other beaches that is related to human consumption and our disposal habits of plastic waste. This does not need to be happening for each and everyone of us can take small or large steps in our everyday lives to stop the pollution of our oceans and the killing our marine life that will have an impact.

After watching the video if you want to lean more about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and Gyres scroll down the right side of the blog to Archives and click on the post titled Distributions of Plastic Waste In Our Oceans.    

UPDATE

Scientist Discover There Is 

More Plastic Waste In The Oceans

Than Previously Thought 

There is much more unrecorded plastic
deeper in the ocean-not just on the
 waters surface.

On April 27th 2012 researchers
announced that they had "found
that there is far more plastic in
the world's oceans than previously
thought". Oceanographer Giora
Proskurowski of the University
of Washington while on a research
cruise in the Pacific Ocean noticed
that the "wind was pushing the
lightweight plastic particles below 
the surface". 
In 2010 a research team took water samples from different depth in the North Atlantic Ocean and using a “mathematical model to match historical weather data, collected by satellites, with previous surface sampling” they were more accurately able to estimate the amount of plastic in the oceans. What they discovered was “that there was much more unrecorded plastic deeper in the ocean-not just on the waters surface” by an average factor of 2.5 and in high winds by a factor of 27; which is well above previous estimates that were just collected from the surface of the water.
Proskurowski went on to say that "the scope of the problem is not just at the very surface but goes down to 20 meters or so, and that plastic is distributed throughout this layer".

The importance of these findings only
demonstrates how much more our oceans and marine life wild-life are at risk than previously thought. In addition, the plastics that are deep in the oceans are acting "as a carrier for bacteria spreading it across the oceans".


The entire article can be viewed at:
  
 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2136334/Scientists-warn-far-plastic-waste-previously-estimated-deeper-ocean.html

o                                                         

o                                                          

STEPS YOU CAN TAKE TO CUT PLASTIC WASTE

Please feel free to add to the list.

·        Let recycling become second nature. If your community currently does not offer pick-up recycling programs for #1 and #2 plastics contact your city or town hall to request one. It will make a world of difference in reducing our consumption of plastics waste.

·        The best solution to plastic bag waste is to bring your own bags when you shop not only to the grocery store but the drugstore or mall. There are many choices out there such as cotton, canvas, or even hemp bags and then there are the ultra-light compact Chicobags that you can throw in your car or purse so that you will always have one handy to use.

·        Use reusable cotton mesh produce sacks instead of the flimsy plastic produce bags.

·        You can also recycle plastic bags and use them to knit many items

·        Use alternatives to plastic water bottles.  Kleen Kanteen and SIIG water bottles are safe stainless steel bottles that are available in many sizes.

·        Use recycled or biodegradable compostable garbage bags.

·        When storing leftovers, packing lunches or foods to go use containers that come in endless different sizes and shapes instead of plastic baggies or foil.

·        Request that you favorite take-out place not include the plastic utensils when they pack your food. On the same note request they do not put a plastic lid on your soft drink and then you won’t need a plastic straw.

·        Take your reusable coffee tumbler with you when get coffee to-go.

·        If you get a daily newspaper request that it not be wrapped in plastic when delivered. Better yet if you have internet access cancel your subscription and go online for your news (that will help to save trees).

·        Ask your dry-cleaners to eliminate the plastic wrap on your clothes.

The following suggestions which are worth noting came from an article written by Kimberly Amaral:

Educate others about the problem of marine debris, enhancing "voluntary compliance through awareness."

Get involved – Locate or start a coastal cleanup in your area

http://www.whoi.edu/science/B/people/kamaral/plasticsarticle.htmlhttp://www.whoi.edu/science/B/people/kamaral/plasticsarticle.html

Suggestions From The Aqua Rescue-Program On What You Can Do To Protect Marine Animals

·     Be responsible with your litter: recycle and dispose of trash properly, including fishing line, cigarette butts, six-pack rings, plastic debris, and metal cans. 

• Participate in beach, stream, and roadside cleanups, even if it’s just one day a year.
• Keep a proper lookout when boating; sea turtles like to bask in the sun at the surface of the water, and can be slow to get out of the way of an approaching vessel, putting them at risk of boat strike injuries.
• Never release balloons. Balloons can fall into bodies of water, where animals confuse them for food or become entangled in them. 
• Dispose of oil and other hazardous materials properly, and never pour anything down storm drains. These connect directly to the waterways that lead to the ocean
• Use fertilizer for your lawn and garden sparingly, as these pollutants wash into waterways and out to sea.
• Keep your distance when you come into contact with a marine animal. All marine mammals and sea turtles are federally protected, and humans should remain 100 yards away from the animals. If an animal appears sick or injured, notify the appropriate authorities.
• Never feed wild animals. Human-fed marine animals change their normal wild behavior and run a greater risk of being injured by boats, becoming entangled in fishing gear, or ingesting dangerous items.

           www.aqua.org/care/rescue-program

What You Can Do To Help Protect The Oceans

• Mind Your Carbon Footprint and Reduce Energy Consumption.
• Make safe sustainable seafood choices – reduce the demand for overexploited species by choosing seafood that is both healthful and sustainable.
• Use Fewer Plastic Products.
• Help Take Care of the Beach – Clean up after yourself
• Don’t Purchase Items That Exploit Marine Life - Certain products contribute to the harming of fragile coral reefs and marine populations. Avoid purchasing items such as coral jewelry, tortoiseshell hair accessories (made from hawksbill turtles), and shark products.
• Be an Ocean-Friendly Pet Owner - Read pet food labels and consider seafood sustainability when choosing a diet for your pet. Never flush cat litter, which can contain pathogens harmful to marine life.
• Support Organizations Working to Protect the Ocean
• Influence Change in Your Community
• Travel the Ocean Responsibly - Practice responsible boating, kayaking, and other recreational activities on the water. Never throw anything overboard, and be aware of marine life in the waters around you.
• Educate Yourself About Oceans and Marine Life  - All life on Earth is connected to the ocean and its inhabitants
• Think before you do anything that could affect the ocean (if I do this, what will happen).
• Fish for recreation and let the fish go back into the ocean; take a picture as a trophy instead of a fish.
• Take a trip to the beach and look at the wildlife, so then you can have something personal you want to protect.
• Remember you can always get involved in a cleanup team if you live on a coast.
•  

http://ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/take-action/10-things-you-can-do-to-save-the-ocean/

 

What Has Been Accomplished So Far!

The following are only a few of the things that have been done to protect our oceans and marine life. Feel free to share with others any additional ones that you maybe aware of in a reply:

1972 – Marine Mammal Protection Act was the first act by Congress to call specifically for an ecosystem approach to natural resource management and conservation. MMPA "prohibits the taking of marine mammals, and enacts a moratorium on the import ,export, and sale of any marine mammals, along with any marine mammal part or product within the United States”. It was signed into law by President Richard Nixon on October 21, 1972.

1978 – New Zealand’s Parliament passed a Marine Mammals Protection Act.

1988 -The Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act (MARPOL) made it illegal “for any U.S. vessel or land-based operation to dispose of plastics at sea”. It was part of the Annex V international treaty.

Annex V – An international agreement adopted by countries “representing at least half of the shipping fleet tonnage in the world”… “Prohibits the dumping of plastics anywhere in the oceans”

2000 – President Bill Clinton signed an Executive Order 13158 on May 26^th 2000 which brought together “diverse sites and programs” that created a framework of “national system of MPA’s (National Marine Protected Areas) to improve conservation of the nation’s marine ecosystems, cultural resources, and fisheries”.  

Plastic Industry – Is reclaiming plastic pellets that are lost in production and investigating ways to create degradable plastics.

Researchers – Are working with two types of plastics, photodegradable and biodegradable – neither type solves the problem for they still breakup into smaller pieces that can be consumed by marine life who mistake them for food.

16 states have passed laws that six-pack holders must be biodegradable

Beach cleaning – Is being done by coastal cleanup volunteers who collect trash on the beaches and remove it from the marine cycle.

There has been an effort in recent years to educate consumers on the affects of plastics to the ecosystem but more needs to be done.

More consumers are becoming aware of the need to recycle but again more recycling needs to be done.

References: 

 http://www.mpa.gov/resources/publications/factsheets/

HEALTH AFFECTS

 OF

 PLASTICS ON HUMANS 

In an early post I mentioned that we would discuss the affects that plastics have on humans but since this blog is mainly to talk about the influence that plastic pollution has on the oceans and marine life I will only address the subject briefly. Worth noting though is that there is a growing body of literature that suggests that the chemicals that are used in the manufacturing process of plastics are toxic.
A process known as Biomonitoring (“measures concentrations of environmental contaminants in human tissue”) has shown that “phthalates and BPA, as well as other additives in plastics and their metabolites, are present in the human population and that these present a  potential health risks to humans. “Body burdens of chemicals that are used in plastic manufacturing have also been correlated with adverse effects in the human population, including reproductive abnormalities" (e.g. Swan et al. 2005; Swan 2008; Land et al. 2008). In addition there is some evidence of an association “  between urinary concentrations of some phthalate metabolites and biological outcomes (Swan et al. 2005; Swan 2008) such as, “anogenital distance, penile width and testicular decent in male offspring (Swan et al. 2005; Swan 2008). Adults can also be affected negatively by phthalate metabolites in semen quality and free testosterone levels .

When it comes BPA urine levels have shown a "significant relationship between urine levels of BPA and cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and abnormalities in liver enzymes"(Stahlhut et al. (2009). It is worth noting however, that the majority of the studies have used “laboratory animals as model organisms” (Talsness et al.2009), to determine the “potential adverse health effects of these chemicals” (Talsness et al.,2009), that “the half-life of BPA is longer than previously estimated, and the very high exposure of premature infants in neonatal intensive-care units to both BPA and phthalates is of great concern” (Calafat et al. 2009). For additional information on the affects of plastics you can visit the follolwing web-site:

http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/364/1526/2153.abstract

WHICH IS THE BEST SOLUTION ? 

PHOTODEGRADABLE - BIODEGRADABLE - 

OR  RECYCLING 

All plastics share the same chemical structure which makes most of them impervious to disintegration. In recent years there has been a lot of research done on the photodegradables, and biodegradables plastics and a popular misconception about them is that they are the answer to our plastic waste. Scientist however, believe that the degradable's are not the final answer to the problem.
While it is true that photodegradable's do break down in sunlight it is also true that they only break down into smaller pieces. In addition they do not degrade indoors or in a landfill, if covered up, however, they are do have some "value in Reducing Litter". Biodegradable's while having a use in medical procedures -sutures in the body for example- are mostly "still in the experimental and development stages". 
What concerns most scientist is just how "effective all the techniques are, but also about how much reside remains after degradation takes place". The General Accounting Office "reported last fall that no standards for such products exists"...."Of particular concern,the agency reported, was uncertainty about "the rate of degradation and the safety of the end products."
In contrast recycling is seen by many scientist as being "a more effective strategy" to combating plastic waste even if it is still in its infancy stages but it is worth noting "that not all can be successfully melted down and recast" for "coloring dyes, once in the plastic, cannot be removed".
References: Stevens, W.K., Degradable Plastics Show Promise in Fight Against Trash   
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/11/science/degradable-plastics-show-promise-in-fight-against-trash.html? 

MAIN SOURCE

OF

PLASTIC POLLUTION

YouTube Videos: Plastic Bottles & Ocean Pollution and How plastic bags hurt marine life. 

The main source of plastic waste is single use plastics and disposable plastics. In this post I want to discuss two main types of single use disposable plastics which are polluting our oceans and killing marine life every day. Plastic bags and plastic water bottles.

Plastic Bags

It is estimated that discarded plastic bags kill many of the 100,000 marine animals that die each year from plastic waste. Either by becoming entangled in them or by ingestion, where they clog "their intestines" leading to a slow death by starvation.  

In her article on Plastic Bag Pollution 
Sharon Jacobsen relates that each 
year "around 500 billion plastic bags
are used worldwide" and of that
total "100 billion are consumed
in the United States alone", and
that plastic bags "are among the
top 12 items of debris most often
found along coastlines". To put
these figures into some perspective
that would mean that a family of four would use "332" plastic bags each year.
The following video will illustrate these points and and make suggestions
on what can be done to cut down on plastic bag use:

How plastic bags hurt Marine life

    

To find out more information on how plastic bags are polluting our marine systems visit the following site:
http://www.endangeredspeciesinternational.org/plastickills.html
Reference: Jacobsen, Sharon. Plastic Bag Pollution at: 

www.googobits.com/articles/1604-plastic-bag-pollution.html

Plastic Water Bottles

Image provided by village coach fitness 

It is estimated that  

American's purchase

"34.6 billion single-

serving plastic water

bottles each year".

Hundreds of million

of these, almost eight

out of ten, end up 

either as litter or in
our oceans, streams,
and waterways. "That's
877 bottles wasted
every second", which
can have a devastating affect on our oceans and marine life as the following video demonstrates.

Plastic Bottles & Ocean Pollution 

It is worth noting however, when choosing a reusable plastic water bottle it is imperative that you educated yourself on which type of plastic water bottle you should be purchasing. For plastics water bottles are not only dangerous to the oceans but to human health as well.  A topic that I will address in a later post.

Reference: http://www.container-recycling.org/facts/plastic/bottledwater.htm
     

DISTRIBUTION OF PLASTIC WASTE IN OUR OCEANS

AND

THE GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH

Videos:

 What is a Gyre? and The Great Pacific Garbage Patch 

80% of the plastic litter found in the oceans today comes from the land of countries throughout the world. As this waste enters the ocean it is transported by major ocean systems from one country to another by what is known as a gyre.

  

Today there are five
major gyres in the 
oceans. Of these the
these the North Pacific
Gyre has the distinction
of being the largest
ecosystem on Earth
with the largest collection of man-
made marine debris
Often described as being twice the size of the state of Texas this debris is often referred to as the:
      Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

        California's plastic
        waste ends up on 
        on Japan's shore
        line and Japan's
        plastic waste ends
        up on California's
        shore line. 
       

        

PLASTIC WASTE AND

 THE MARINE FOOD CHAIN

Video: Marine Food Life Web from uTube 

Drawing courtesy of yankeefleet.com

Discarded plastic human

rubbish that makes it's

way to the ocean is 

poisoning the marine

food chain. In marine

environments plastics

disintegrate into

smaller pieces even

down to the molecular level. As these plastic particles photograde down to the zooplankton size they are consumed by jellyfish who are in turn consumed by smaller fish. larger fish, and right on up the food chain to humans where it can cause disruption of the endocrine system, suppress the immune system, and decrease reproductive rates. 

Toxic additives used in manufacturing the plastic material when exposed to water leak into their surroundings making plastic ocean waste more deadly than it would be on land.   Floating plastic debris can also absorb pollutants such as PCBs, DDT and PAHs. 

Marine Life Food Web

The problem is that the plastic waste that enters the ocean in one country is distributed to other countries in the world where it is ingested into other marine food chains which ultimately affects all humans worldwide.  

PLASTICS ARE FOREVER

The problem that stems from plastics is that almost all of the plastics that are in use today the Earth cannot digest.

     Plastics create toxic pollution at
    every stage from "manufacturing,
    use, and disposal.
    
     : http://plasticpollutioncoalition.org/

Plastics are poisoning  the ecosystem, 

the marine food chain, which in turn affects human health.

Mass Prouduction

Mass production of plastics begin in the 1940's and since then they have become an essential part of society's around the world. This inexpensive lightweight material has unlimited uses and next year it is estimated that over 300 million tons will be produced worldwide. 

As new uses for plastics are found and production increases so does the threat to marine life and our oceans. Almost 90% of all the trash on the oceans surface are plastics but unlike the other trash they are not biodegradable. As the plastic breaks down into larger pieces they are often mistaken for food by birds and have even been found in the stomachs of dead sea lions, dolphins,sea turtles, and whales.

Over a longer period of time plastics will break down into smaller pieces reverting back to their original form of plastic pellets commonly known as nurdles that look like fish eggs. Attracting toxic chemicals like DDT and PCBs these nurdles in essence become a poison pill to marine life and have even been found inside plankton the keystone of marine food throughout the oceans.

Oceans of the World