As summer vacationers flock to the beaches to enjoy the sun, saltwater and sand between their toes, some disturbing facts linger: Each year an estimated 14 billion pounds of trash are dumped into the world's oceans. Plastics now make up 90 percent of all floating marine debris, and most of it originates from land.
Plastic bags, bottle caps, cigarette butts, food packaging and other waste ends up choking, poisoning or blocking the digestive tracts of sea birds, turtles and other marine animals who mistake it for food. Shrimp and fish ingest particle-sized plastic bits that resemble plankton. According to researchers at the Algalita Marine Research Foundation in Long Beach, California, there is some level of plastic in all of the seafood we eat.
Petroleum-based plastic contains suspected hormone-disrupting chemicals that leach out into substances it comes in contact with. It also absorbs toxics such as PCBs and pesticides, and can transport these chemicals via sea currents to shores where they are leached out again. And the problem isn't getting smaller: Algalita researchers are currently studying a "garbage patch" in the Pacific Ocean that is twice the size of Texas and growing by the minute.
So what can we do to help?
• Pick it up. If you walk or exercise outdoors and/or at the beach, bring a trash bag with you and pick up litter along the way. Streets and storm drains empty into rivers and streams that lead to our coasts, so every piece of litter counts.
• Avoid plastic disposables. For picnics, bring food and water in reusable containers and avoid plastic bags and wraps of all sorts, which blow away easily in the sea breeze. If you must use plastic disposables, see "Picnic Perfect Plastics" for suggestions.
• Volunteer for a Coastal Cleanup Day. International Coastal Cleanup Day is September 15, 2007. Find one in your area.
• Support responsible tourism. Cruise ships alone dump 90,000 tons of sewage and garbage into our oceans daily (see "Ecotravel").
• Get educated and involved. Check out these organizations for more information:
Algalita Marine Research Foundation, www.algalita.org
Surfrider Foundation, www.surfrider.org
Ocean Conservancy, www.oceanconservancy.org
Oceana, www.oceana.org
Greenpeace, www.greenpeace.org
See Also:
© The Green Guide, 2007
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