As I am typing this,
the nearest land is 94 Nautical miles away. But wait, what is this
huge piece of fish net doing here floating arouind? And Hey, what is
that plastic bag doing there floating around? And mhh, that
definitely looks like a tube of toothpaste or the likes floating out
there. It is unbeleable that we humans have such a big impact on the
environment, even so far offshore. The dolpins give us a decent sent
off, and what do we sent? Plastic waste, and lot's of it. Time to do
some research on this... DNews has a good youtube video on this. Also Plasticbank.org has good information. Apparently plastic waste into oceans is a
massive problem. How does it get there? Waste from passing ships
(mainly big ones) and waste that enters from the land, either wind
blown, or via sewages and overflows. A piece of plastic that enters
the sea will float around for 1000 years, photo degrading in ever
smaler particles. That is, if it is not snagging up a turtle, or get
stuck in the stomach of some animal or such like.
Most of the plastic
ends up in large plastic “islands” called gyers.
Because the
ocean rotates around these points the plastic waste ends up floating
around there. There are 5 such gyres around in the world. There is
even a charity organization called “Five gyres” that raised
awareness of the issue, conducts research to document the extend of
the problem, and lobbies to get laws implemented to reduce plastic
waste. What can I do you ask? Consider:
- Minimize plastic consumption, and if you use it, ensure it is properly disposed off.
- Donate to “Five Gyres”,
- Pick up five pieces of plastic every time you are outside,
- Make others aware of the issue
- make sure that any sanity products you buy do not contain plastic micro beads, that are DESIGNED TO FLUSH INTO THE OCEAN! And in doing so, end up in fish, and back onto our dinner plates
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