Oceans Need to Breathe, Too

There's a collection of trash in our ocean two times the size of the continental United States, and it's rapidly growing. It's up to 10 meters deep, with ninety percent of that believed to be plastic. This "plastic soup" is held in place by underwater currents. It stretches across the northern Pacific, "from about 500 nautical miles off the Californian coast, across the northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan (The Independent)."

Plastic is so difficult to break down that Tony Andrady, a US-based Research Triangle Institute chemist, says all ocean plastics made in the past 50 years are still out there somewhere. "The UN Environment Programme estimated in 2006 that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic (The Independent)." And due to those plastics, more than one million seabirds and one hundred thousand marine mammals are killed each year. 

Sure it effects marine life, but it also effects you and those you care about. Plastic nurdles are used for making the plastics you know in your daily life. Every year, millions of these nurdles are accidentally released into the environment and are making their way to our oceans. During their travels, these nurdles (and many other plastic wastes) absorb man-made chemicals that are bad for your health. When these nurdles and other plastic wastes make it to the ocean, they enter our food chain. "What goes into the ocean goes into these animals and onto your dinner plate. It's that simple," said Dr. Marcus Eriksen, Research Director for the Algalita Marine Research Foundation. 

Check out this story for more details. And this one. 

Want to get involved? 
  • To start, ditch the plastic shopping bags and get yourself some reusable ones. Your local grocery store probably sells them, but if you want something fancy, give these a try. 
  • Stop bagging produce. It seems like the norm to bag up your apples, oranges, and avocados, but you don't have to. If you still really want to bag up your produce, pick up some reusable ones! Like these
  • Instead of using plastic wrap to wrap your left overs, try using a more sustainable wrap like Bee's Wrap. It's made with bee's wax and cotton, and is completely reusable! After use, just wash it with cool water. 
  • Be conscious of packaging. When you can, try to pick food that has little to no packaging. Packaging is very wasteful and contributes to your overall footprint. Usually local products will have less packaging, so check out your local farmer's market. With the packaging you can't avoid, recycle and reuse what you can. 
  • Get yourself a refillable water bottle. Water bottles are one of the largest pollutants in the world. According to Recycle Across America, Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic water bottles every HOUR. And a very large percentage of those water bottles end up in our oceans. Maybe you want to try these recycled glass bottles instead?
The Ocean Clean Up is doing something about this issue. They are currently on track to perform the largest clean up in history. They have developed a technology that is estimated to clean up 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (the section of the garbage patch that stretches from California to Hawaii) in a 5 year period. Check out their site for more information and the opportunity to donate to their vision. 

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