World's Largest Garbage Dump - In The Pacific Ocean

I recently watched a program on the Ellen DeGeneres Show which discussed the level of plastic being dumped in our oceans.  Certain breeds of Albatross in the Pacific Ocean are realizing huge losses (up to 40%) of young hatch-lings because the parent Albatross cannot differentiate things like bottle caps, lighters, etc. from live prey.  They consume the plastic products and then regurgitate them into their young offspring as if it were food.

Of course, the plastic is not digestible, which results in the bellies of many baby Albatrosses becoming full of plastic, which, in turn, causes them to starve to death.

A garbage dump the size of Africa currently resides in the Pacific Ocean.  This dump is created by the currents and winds, which causes toxic cocktails of plastic and chemicals to end up in a portion of the ocean where currents and winds are typically calm.  Plastic and chemicals of all types end up in this portion of the ocean.

As shown in the above video, dangerous chemicals like DDT and PCB's adhere to the surface of pre-consumer plastic pellets, resulting in concentrations of these poisons up to a million times that found in ambient seawater.  These pellets look very similar to actual food and several varieties of sealife ingest them,  thereby swallowing the poison as well.

If you follow the sea food chain, you can quickly surmise where many of these poisons may end up: in our own bellies.

Please watch the above video and google the phrase "plastic in oceans" to find more disturbing articles on this subject.

If, after you've done a little research, you're a little peeved, then go to MORELINX on this site and send a note of concern to your Congress person or to the President.  This is another major example of man's folly and steps need to be taken to clean up our oceans and cease the dumping of garbage into our waters. 

This story really gets my angst up!!  How about you?

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Drowning In An Ocean Of Plastic

Comments

[Darren Garmer]

Something needs to change, just opening my sons christmas present created five times more plastic trash than needed. We need to think more on a global level as humans living on a planet, out of sight out of mind is the reason we are in this sitaution in the first place. For some insane reason our view of the planet is based on our own neighborhood, look outside the box and realize that unless major shifts in awareness happen big business will just continue to lift the carpet and sweep the trash under it. Down size packaging, recycle everything possible and caring about the planet and all species of life here before they all die should be our focus!!