Friday, July 3, 2009

One very big reason to stop using plastic, it also happens to be twice the size of the continental United States.



"Disturbing and alarming," writes Dr. William Babibineaux in response to Project Earth H2o's recent article.

Initially, we posted this article on our Twitter and Facebook page. However, due to an overwhelming response from outraged and some disbelieving readers, we are compelled to once again draw attention to what is by far one of the single-most, highly unknown environmental atrocities on our planet.

If you were to take a boat trip just 500 nautical miles off the beautiful shores of California you will eventually stumble upon what can only be described as a “plastic garbage soup” floating and swirling in the currents of the Pacific Ocean. Scientists have said that this “soup” is twice the size of the continental United States and is growing at an alarming rate. In fact, it is expected to double in size within the next 10 years if consumers don’t do something to curb their plastic use. This floating garbage soup stretches across the Northern Pacific, past Hawaii and almost as far as Japan. Scientists estimate that over 90% of this floating garbage soup is plastic.

“According to the UN Environment Program, plastic debris causes the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year, as well as more than 100,000 marine mammals. Syringes, cigarette lighters and toothbrushes have been found inside the stomachs of dead seabirds, which mistake them for food.”¹

A study of 560 fulmars from eight countries revealed they had ingested an average of 44 plastic items. The stomach of one fulmar that died in Belgium contained 1,603 separate scraps of plastic. However, Birds are not the only ones to suffer. Turtles, whales, seals and sea lions have all eaten plastic. But the most sinister problem may be a hidden one at the other end of the food chain.

Plastic is believed to constitute 90% of all garbage floating in the oceans. The UN Environment Program estimated in 2006 that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000pieces of floating plastic.

“Dr Eriksen, of the UN Environment Program, said the slowly rotating mass of garbage-laden water poses a risk to human health, too. Hundreds of millions of tiny plastic pellets, or nurdles – the raw materials for the plastic industry – are lost or spilled every year, working their way into the sea. These pollutants act as chemical sponges attracting man-made chemicals such as hydrocarbons and the pesticide DDT. They then enter the food chain. "What goes into the ocean goes into these animals and onto your dinner plate. It's that simple." ¹

“The only way to deal with the growing threat plastic poses to wildlife and the environment is to curb our consumption and to no longer treat plastic as an innocuous disposable commodity. Indeed, there is now a case for it to be treated as a potentially toxic waste product with the stiffest sanctions for its desultory disposal,” says Steve Connor

Awareness is the beginning to solving any problem. At first I was astonished at the number of people who were simply unaware of this extremely large problems existence. But, this is not something an industry that is making $100’s of billions of dollars producing and selling these products wants us to know. The bottled water industry is making over $100 billion worldwide and over $16 billion in the United States each year selling us filtered tap water in plastic bottles that is only meant to be used once then thrown away. The only sustainable thing they are providing is profit…for them.

There is power in numbers. Simple adjustments in our daily behavior can create positive change. For more information please visit the referenced articles below.

Don’t follow, Lead! Get Informed! Get Project Earth H2o!

Brian Denton
Founder

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¹ The world's rubbish dump: a garbage tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan, By Kathy Marks, Asia-Pacific Correspondent, and Daniel Howden

²Why Plastic is the scourge of Sea Life, by Steve Connor