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Marine plastic (Where does all the plastic come from ? (A significant…
Marine plastic
Where does all the plastic come from ?
A significant percentage from ships
Sometimes whashed
Sometimes just thrown
Most of it comes from the land
Each of us produce more than 1500 pounds of trash a year
Every year, more trash slip through the cracks
Dealing with trash will be harder
Plastic trash making its way
To a storm drain
To sea
To rivers
To sea
In some cities
Moore's hometown of long Beach California
People are trying to capture trash in the rivers before it reaches the sea
Bane of the invironment is single serving throwaway containers
Charles Moore and scientists
Have invented a material
For all pratical purposes lasts forever
Use on products that we may only use for seconds
If we change what we do in single ways
We can reduce the threat plastic poses to the ocean
"OUT-OF-SIGHT SHOULDN'T MEAN OUT OF MINE"
Charles Moore
Was prompted to ask where plastic waste is comming from
Voyage accross the Pacific
North Pacific Gyre
What is it ?
Ordinarely sailors steer clear of
Because of poor winds
Bounded by a massive system of clockwise currents
Sits under a near permanent high-pressure system
Where it is ?
Halfway between Hawaï and the mainland
Problems
More trash had motored in the middle of a twice
Texas-sized collection zone of floating debris
Circulating winds broader debris from around
the Pacific Rim and they bring it to the center
= toilet bowl effect
But no exit
Certain may be there since th dawn of the plastic era
Plastic polymers
Do not biodegrade
Never go away
Saw trash
Almost of it was plastic
After consulting with scientists
Returns to measure the volume of plastic in the gyre area
Drags through the sea of fine mesh trawl net
The net is used by scientists to collect plankton
Results
= soup of plastic
Less plankton than plastic
The weight of plastic is greater than plankton
Number of plastic pieces is greater than number of plankton
Report
All the trash in the gyre reached
Reached Michelle Hester and her colleagues
Satellite tracking albatrosses
Start to relate the flight paths to plastic littered patches of ocean
Can tell where birds are foraging for food
Start overlapping where we know there is
A source of potion
And, where animals either are or are not
Tag birds
Indeed 70% of them actually went the garbage patch region
Questions
How wide scale is this ?
How extensive is it in the ecosystem beyond albaross chicks
Consequences on
Many habitats
Many species (Others species are
impacted by plastic pollution)
Many levels
In Midway Island (Pacific Ocean)
Albatross chicks
1st year of life
Waiting for parents to bring back food
Waiting to grow big and strong enough
To wander the seas
To fend for themselves
Die early
Skeleton
Stomach is full of plastic
ex
Bottle cap lid
Little grooves
Painted foam
Fishing lines
Industrial plastic = pellets
Used to make plastic harder
Look like fish eggs
Scooped up by parents albatross
Bring back to feed chicks
Consequences
Dying of dehydration
Sis malnutrition
Cause
They can't get enough food an nutrients
From multiple feeding
No food in stomach
For Michelle Hester and Hanna Nevins (scientists)
What you can find in a sea bird is disturbing
Albatross
Can live longer than 60 years
Recognize plastic as food