Oceans of plastic - The Science Show. Robyn Williams: Plastic, it's everywhere, though you've stopped noticing.
Captain Charles Moore noticed it while sailing his ship across the Pacific, and the experience turned him towards science. So what happened out there on the sea? Research ship finds the world's oceans are 'plasticized' Expeditions to ocean gyres sometimes encounter 'ghost nets' - discarded fishing equipment that can tangle into a hazard for marine organisms.
A rainbow runner caught in the Pacific with a gut full of plastic particles. "Our consumption does have a life after our use that we have to take responsibility for," Eriksen says. The Algalita Marine Research Foundation and 5 Gyres' 2012 expedition is aboard the Sea Dragon, a 72-feet oceangoing yacht. Ocean 'garbage patches' are not visible by satellite and aren't floating islands. Rather, they are small bits of broken down plastic, spread across thousands of miles of open ocean. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Poses New Threat to Marine Life. Imagine a landfill twice the size of Texas, filled with junk, castoffs and other trash.
Now imagine it’s floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a swirling vortex of plastic and flotsam, stretches across a vast swath of the Ocean and has long been a concern of scientists worried about its effects on marine life. Captain Charlie and Our Plastic Ocean 05/21 by Mr Wayne. Lies You've Been Told About the Pacific Garbage Patch. Time has come to ban plastic grocery bags in Los Angeles. The City Council on Wednesday will consider whether to ban stores in Los Angeles from offering single-use plastic carry-out bags.
A ban would take some getting used to, but examples from other jurisdictions, including the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, show that it can be done and that shoppers and stores quickly adapt. A ban is the right move. The council should adopt it. L.A.'s sweeping ban not yet in the bag. A lobbyist representing a consortium of plastic bag producers was roaming the halls of Los Angeles City Hall this week, trying to torpedo Wednesday's anticipated City Council vote to ban the ubiquitous, flimsy flower that litters the urban landscape and fouls the seashore.
Naturally, environmentalists were in a tizzy, fearing the worst outcome while hoping for the best. Under the proposal by Councilman Paul Koretz, paper bags would also be banned, and Los Angeles would become a national leader in the proliferation of reusable bags. Ban on plastic bags at L.A. markets is approved. Los Angeles became the largest city in the nation Wednesday to approve a ban on plastic bags at supermarket checkout lines, handing a major victory to clean-water advocates who sought to reduce the amount of trash clogging landfills, the region’s waterways and the ocean.
Egged on by actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus and an array of environmental groups, the City Council voted 13 to 1 to phase out plastic bags over the next 12 months at an estimated 7,500 stores. Councilman Bernard Parks cast the lone no vote. "Let’s get the message to Sacramento that it’s time to go statewide," said Councilman Ed Reyes, who has focused on efforts to revitalize the Los Angeles River. Council members quietly backed away from a more controversial plan to also ban use of paper grocery bags, which was first proposed by appointees of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Wednesday’s vote kicks off a four-month environmental review of the bag ban, followed by passage of an ordinance putting it into effect. Hawaii will be first state to ban disposable plastic bags. As of July, 2015, Hawaii will become the first U.S. state to bar the "modern day tumbleweed" known as disposable plastic bags.
This month's move by Honolulu County bans non-biodegradable plastic bags at checkout, along with paper bags that aren't at least 40% recycled, reports MSNBC.com. Kauai and Maui counties already enforce bans, while Hawaii County's ban takes effect Jan. 17, 2013. Ship officer testifies captain ordered him to dump garbage on way to Mobile. 7 Dangerous Lies About Plastic. Photo Credit: NOAA Photo Library: fish1968 by LCDR Eric Johnson, NOAA Corps.
February 26, 2012 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. To receive a Ph.D in industrial chemistry in the United States, no American university requires candidates to take even a single toxicology class as part of their course work. Nearly everything we consume or even interact with these days is made of plastic. Taking tactics from Big Tobacco's playbook, the industry engages in bully tactics, politician buys and wide-scale misinformation campaigns meant to confuse the public and turn truth to speculation.
Because of slashed budgets to regulatory agencies, little private-sector money for watchdogging industry, and a lazy mainstream press that simply regurgitates its claims, the petrochemical industry goes largely unchecked. Lie #1: Plastics are safe. To date, we use over 248,000 chemicals in commerce and we don't know which ones are harmful or safe. Ocean Garbage Patches: A Scientific Sifting. From plastic-eating mushrooms to the aerodynamics of hockey gloves, a roundup of unexpected findings from the study of marine trash.
Our oceans are filled with trash. Oceanographers, environmentalists and biologists have been working for years to better understand the problem of, and solutions to, marine debris. In the current issue of Pacific Standard we highlight the problem of, and some possible solutions to, marine debris in “Swimming with Nurdles” (PDF). Add to that: Marine debris is easy to think of as an environmentalist’s problem. Future Ocean Habitats Built on Plastics? - Everyday garbage, not tsunami trash, is the bigger problem. A rusting Harley-Davidson from Miyagi prefecture, Japan, was discovered… (Peter Mark / Kyodo News,…) For months, West Coast residents have been bracing for an onslaught of items drifting toward us since last spring's tsunami in northeastern Japan, which swept apartment buildings, cars, even entire villages, into the sea.
Now we are seeing the first trickle of that debris. Scientists Predict Debris From Tsunami Will Reach West Coast In October. Research suggests ocean garbage patches may be bigger than once believed. Those huge floating garbage patches out in the middle of the ocean may be a lot bigger than anyone though. Researchers think there’s a whole lot more plastic in the ocean — most of it is just hidden from view. In Marvin Gaye Park in Washington, D.C., there’s a trash trap over the creek that skims the surface for floating trash. There’s a plastic water bottle, an ice cream container, a potato chip bag, a beer can. All in all, the trap catches about 800 pounds of trash a month. But over almost all the other streams in the area, there are no trash traps. Plastic in Our Oceans, Drones Track Eco-Criminals in Italy. Photo courtesy of NOAA Marine Debris Program. Download MP3 This Week: The Italian mafia is involved in illegal garbage dumping.
So the country is experimenting with small drones to track down the eco-criminals. How much plastic is in our oceans? Much more than previously thought, according to new studies. 7 Dangerous Lies About Plastic.