It seems that the arctic ocean is filled with plastic even though there are no major cities throwing out garbage.
The plastic comes on ocean currents and it will continue to build up year after year.
http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=1&at=dt0
Even inaccesible oceans are at risk.
Who knows what the impact will be. That of course is the point. We have no idea what will happen because of all the plastic we have so carelessly thrown away.
I can understand some plastic getting into the oceans, but have never been able to understand why hundreds of tons of it does.
Surely that is more than just 'litterbugs' at work? Is it?
I can understand why if someone throws a plastic container down in some countryside somewhere, it can eventually end up in drainage ditches, then rivers, then the oceans. Could that account for the sheer mass of plastics found in large bodies of water?
But I wonder....is there somewhere, some policy of actually dumping garbage into the ocean?
Obviously there has to be a clean-up operation started. We can't go on like this.
If ever I find ANYTHING dumped in my neighbourhood I pick it up and bring it home to dispose of it sensibly. I think it would also be a great idea for schools to get involved in litter picking projects. At least it might inspire our children to not treat the planet as badly as the last generation! And it would get the children outside and exercising.
Quote:But I wonder....is there somewhere, some policy of actually dumping garbage into the ocean?
There are places that dump garbage in the ocean. Even if they have stopped now they dumped so much and it is still there in the ocean
The other thing about plastic garbage coming from cities is the sheer volume of it. If a city has a million people and only 1% litter, that is still 10,000 pieces of litter. Most litterers are repeat "offenders" so the number would be higher. I don't even know what percent of the population actually litters. It could be much higher and it might be more often.
However it happens there is a large amount of litter in the ocean. We need to take the problem seriously.
I don't know how this plastic is getting into the ocean either. Somebody has to be dumping it. I know it is harming the life in the ocean. I have seen the results of what it does.
Plastic is being thrown out every where. Everything you throw out eventually ends up in the ocean. It washes into small brooks and then rivers. Small rivers flow into bigger rivers and then into the ocean. It takes time and the plastic may be broken into small bits, but it ends up in the ocean in the end.
I would love to suggest for some country to take action and get those plastic out from the ocean. But the ocean is really huge, it would I think be impossible to collect all those plastics around the ocean. I've seen a lot of affected aquatic creatures who's either have eaten plastic or has been harmed because of those garbage in the ocean.
This has to be a global initiative. We all have to stop our plastic from reaching the ocean and we all have to work on the cleanup.
We have to stop some of our use of plastic. Micro beads of plastic are a serious problem. They are in cream cleansers for sinks and bathtubs. They are in our face washes and shower products. The very fine beads of plastic and in the cleanser so when we use them they go down the drain and eventually end up in the ocean. They are so fine they are eaten by small sea creatures who are eaten by bigger sea creatures. The fine plastic beads are passed up the food chain to us. Who knows what effect they will have on those who eat them.
It is a giant experiment and the whole planet is the lab and we are some of the lab animals. We have done this to ourselves so if the results are bad we have no one to blame, but ourselves.
I have no idea how we are going to clean up this mess. I don't think anyone knows.