"Waiter...There's A Fly In My Plastic Soup"
by John Laumer, Philadelphia 
on 03. 8.08
No one to blame for this but ourselves. Four fifths of the plastic detritus floating over 2.5 million square miles of ocean surface arrives there from land-based run off: from stormwater, in other words. Litter. Who thinks of littering this way? We should.
Plastic contamination in the world's oceans is worse than previously imagined and no amount of technology can clean it up, according to Charles Moore. The oceanographer returned February 23 from a five-week odyssey in the Pacific Ocean with samples showing 48 parts plastic for every part of plankton."We are damned to a future of pollution by plastic," said Moore, who has spent more than a decade investigating Pacific plastic pollution. "There's no evidence it will end in a millennium."... A plastic "graveyard" double the size of Texas swirls in the Pacific Ocean between San Francisco and Hawaii.
See also: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch: "Out of Sight, Out of Mind ...
Via::CNET, "No tech cure for oceans 'damned' by plastic", Image credits::Algalita Marine Research Foundation, various images of plastic residue from gyre samples
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- What Would Einstein's Tailor Do? Choosing Simplicity in Your Lifestyle and Your Activism
- 6 Ways to Make Reusable Bags Work for You
- How Wetlands are Good For Your Health, Good For The Planet
- 6,000 Plastic Bottles + Some Dedicated Villagers = New Schoolhouse in Guatemala
- Focus on Focus Earth: Global Warming and Hurricanes: What's the Connection?
- Pre-Valentine's Romantic Gesture Warning: Are You Unwittingly Destroying Natural Habitats?
Comments ()
