This Brilliant Teen Has A 10-Year Plan To Clean Up The Pacific Ocean When diving in Greece, Boyan Slat discovered that there was more plastic than fish in the water. The 19-year-old was not only inspired to take action, but he has come up with plan to clean up half the garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean -- in just 10 years. With millions of tons of plastic making its way into the oceans, the environmental activist devised a feasible and efficient way to extract it from the water using "the currents to [his] advantage" by attaching a floating structure to the sea bed to capture the waste. Watch Slat explain his idea in the video above. "I don't really view my age as a disadvantage to get these things done. For more information, check out Slat's website and visit theoceancleanup.com. [h/t Elite Daily] Follow HuffPost Teen on Twitter | Instagram | Tumblr | Pheed | Tavi Gevinson Tavi Gevinson -- author and editor of Rookie Magazine who got her start as a fashion blogger -- discusses how there really aren't any set of rules to feminism and growing up. video Jack Andraka
8 things you should know about plastic in the ocean When you hear the words “Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” chances are you’re picturing a thick, floating isle of mucked-up rubber duckies and soda rings and tractor tires jutting from the deep blue ocean like some dystopian fjord. Er, at least, I was. But it’s not one humongous island or solid “patch,” really, at all. Turns out, when it comes to plastic gunk in the ocean, there’s a sea of misconceptions and unresolved research. Here’s what you need to know about plastic in the ocean: 1. Relax: Our oceans aren’t uniformly made of plastic soup. 2. “You can read varying accounts of the problem and how big it is and how scary it is,” says Sea Education Association principal investigator Kara Lavender Law. Part of the reason for that is the bulk of the data around ocean plastics comes from what we can trawl from the water’s surface. Marine debris research is a nascent field, and industrial plastic production didn’t even begin until after World War II. 3. 4. … Even ones hyped at TED conferences.
SOS Grand Bleu, protection des dauphins et des mammifères marins. Boyan Slat Pollution : du plastique disparaît mystérieusement de la surface des océans Une nouvelle étude a mis au jour une nouvelle surprenante. 10.000 à 35.000 tonnes de débris de plastiques flotteraient actuellement à la surface des océans. Soit bien moins que ce les chercheurs pensaient trouver, suggérant ainsi qu'une partie d'entre eux disparaîtrait… Avez-vous déjà partagé cet article? Partager sur Facebook Partager sur Twitter Le septième continent, ça vous parle ? Un problème de taille Andrés Cozar et ses collègues du Centre Supérieur de la Recherche Scientifique, en Espagne, ont voulu en savoir plus sur cet inquiétant phénomène du plastique : les courants marins transportent les matériaux abandonnés vers différentes régions subtropicales, créant de véritables continents. Pour comprendre l'étendue du problème, les chercheurs ont parcouru le globe à bord du Malaspina, en 2010, collectant des échantillons à la surface de l'eau et mesurant les concentrations en plastique. Micro-particules ou voyage en profondeur ? Comment ? Impact inconnu
Expédition 7e Continent - le continent de plastique Apply to be an Ambassador! | Akshaya Pātra USA About Youth Ambassadors Akshaya Patra is looking for driven, motivated youth activists, like you, who are passionate about creating a more just world for themselves and others. This is a voluntary role which is open to junior or high school students living anywhere in the United States. As a Youth Ambassador you will develop new skills while working to expand the reach of Akshaya Patra. As a Youth Ambassador, you will: Use Virtual classrooms to learn skills in public speaking, networking, donor cultivation, and fundraising;Make presentations and enroll new donors;Help Akshaya Patra build a grassroots movement in the US. Qualifying Graduates will receive: Community Service credit, references, and letters of recommendation;An invitation to participate in a Service Trip to Akshaya Patra's school meal program in India in summer of the year the $1,800 goal is reached. Program Expectations: Program Commitment: Time Commitments: Applying: ShareThis Copy and Paste
Europe’s plastic bag rule is a breath of fresh air Plastic bags are the worst. They’re made of oil, they’re filling up the oceans, they’re showing up in sea turtles, they’re killing birds and plankton, too, and they’re even threatening human health, as plastic works its way up the food chain to the top predator: us. That’s why the European Union worked so hard on a new compromise aimed at cutting Europe’s throwaway plastic bag use by 80 percent over the next decade. E.U. governments unanimously approved the measure last Friday, reports Newsweek. Yes, that’s right. The original proposal’s outright ban on so-called oxodegradable bags was downgraded to appease the U.K., a country that remains displeased with the binding elements of the agreement. Under the new proposal, E.U. states can opt for mandatory pricing of bags by 2019, or binding targets to reduce the number of plastic bags used annually per person from 191 now to 90 by 2019 and 40 in 2025. What to do about this oceanic mess? Celebrate the progress, but beware of complacency.
11 pays signent la déclaration "Because the Ocean" au Pavillon Tara A la veille de l’ouverture officielle de la COP21, les représentants du gouvernement et de la société civile se sont retrouvés ce soir lors de l’événement Because the Ocean, événement de haut niveau tenu au Pavillon Tara « Océan & Climat ». Alors que le monde espère la conclusion d’un accord fort sur le climat à l’issue de la COP21, l’Océan -élément vital de l’équation- est souvent oublié. Parce que l’océan est le moteur le plus important de notre machine climatique, responsable de la moitié de l’oxygène que nous respirons; il nous a silencieusement préservés de conséquences beaucoup plus graves et rapides du changement climatique en absorbant 90% de l’excès de chaleur et 25% du carbone que nous produisons. Romain Troublé, Secrétaire Général de Tara Expéditions Ce soir, 11 Etats ont signé la déclaration « Because the Ocean” qui soutient: 1) Un rapport spécial sur l’océan par le Groupe d’experts intergouvernemental sur l’évolution du climat (GIEC) Ont signé la déclaration : Oslin B. Dra.
Zika Virus Rumors and Theories That You Should Doubt Mounting evidence points to Zika. The outbreak of microcephaly began in northeastern Brazilian cities where doctors had already seen thousands of people with “doença misteriosa” — the mystery disease — which was later proved to be caused by the Zika virus. Although there is no rapid test for Zika, the symptoms are easily recognized — a rash, bloodshot eyes, fever and joint pain, in large numbers of patients who are almost never dangerously ill. Although they initially misdiagnosed it, Brazilian doctors knew for months that they had a large outbreak of an unusual disease on their hands. The same thing happened on Yap Island in Micronesia in 2007 and in French Polynesia in 2013. Within weeks after the “mystery disease” appeared, doctors began noticing an uptick in adult paralysis — Guillain-Barré syndrome, an auto-immune disease that can be triggered by viral infections. About a year after the outbreak began in northeast Brazil, cases of microcephaly began appearing among newborns there.
Here’s all the plastic in the ocean, measured in whales Let’s see how closely you know your marine doom-and-gloom: Just how much plastic can be found in the oceans? A) A lot. B) A whole helluva lot. C) Both A and B. D) All of the above. While those answers are all FINE, now we can get a little more specific thanks to a study by the 5 Gyres institute. This was actually less plastic than the researchers expected to find at the surface, but they suspect the missing plastic is likely being eaten by organisms, or otherwise mulched by the gyres, and sinking deeper into the oceans.