400 whales stranded on New Zealand beach

[Catherine]

I watched the video and it linked me to a number of other videos on the same subject.
I think I understand the garbage "island" better now. I can see why it is so hard to clean up.  The biggest danger is from the plastic that has broken up into smaller particles.  We don't even know how it will effect our health when we have those particles in our bodies. There is a certain irony in the fact that we have created a giant science experiment in which we are the test subjects.

Something we don't talk about enough is how much of our oxygen actually comes from the oceans.
This  link puts it  in very simple terms.

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&...B-unc2LTRw

I think we know this is serious.  I wonder how well the phytoplankton do in the areas of the garbage islands.
I wonder what our pollution is doing to the phytoplankton?

We need to be planting trees anyhow, but we can't plant enough trees to make up for the loss of oxygen if anything happens to the phytoplankton.
The loss of food from the ocean is a whole other issue.

Still I tend to agree that sonar may be more the cause of whale beachings.

The sonar is way overused. People out fishing for the fun of it are using sonar to find fish.
It is like light pollution. A bit of artificial light is not a problem, but we have whole areas of the planet that never know darkness anymore. Whole areas of the oceans are never silent because we use so much sonar.

The whales are a warning to the rest of us. We are barely talking about climate change. We have no global plan to save the oceans. I don't think we even realize we need one.


I think this is the most recent link.

http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=1&at=dt0

I hope this is the end of this crisis...for now.

This is worth reading.
http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=1&at=dt0

He was one of many dedicated volunteers. We can be proud of them.