The world’s oceans are in danger. As I sit at my computer today, there are still barrels of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate that would make the Exxon Valdez seem like a puddle under an old Chevy. Why BP is still in charge of this environmental disaster that will affect seafood, fishing, shipping, and many other industries of the still shaky American economy is unfathomable to me. Why this is not the first thing on every news story and email blast is beyond me. Still we sit and hope that it somehow will not affect us personally as we fill our gas guzzling SUV’s and “like” the Boycott BP page on Facebook. Since every potential answer put up by BP has failed, we don’t really have an answer. While at the same time, BP is committed to cleaning up as much of the oil as it can-while trying to salvage it. Help from other countries stand by to try and clean up the ever expanding oil slick, but BP holds them at bay while they try to separate the crude from the water so they can at least sell something from this-I mean, it IS their oil after all, right? They even have refused hair and fur mats to aid in the clean up that cost them nothing to employ. Now the latest: clean up the oil by burning it off. WHAT? If any of you can remember Saddam Husein setting alight the Afghan oil fields as he retreated several decades ago, then you know what we are in for. We are going to trade one pollution for another. But then, there is no global worming or build up of greenhouse gases from emissions anyway, right BP? The entire problem and the lack of anyone in government doing anything substantial just shows how much power and money oil companies (and Haliburton) have over the country.
So, as tar balls and oil slicks roll up on to the beaches and we bury our heads in the sand, the rest of the world’s oceans are suffering from a completely different kind of pollution. I have written before about the Great Pacific Gyre and its swirling plastic that is destroying fish and wildlife and killing great patches of ocean. Sadly, it is now becoming apparent that this mass is worse. First off, the Pacific gyre is actually two separate whirlpools in separate parts of the Pacific. Why would all this plastic end up just in the Pacific? Good question! It hasn’t. Turns out there are gyres in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans as well. In total, there are estimated to be 5 gyres on the planet. That is, in fact, the name of a very important site that you should visit called 5 Gyres. It is a great site that interactively shows the basic locations of the sites and describes the problem and the research. Everyone should take a minute to check out this site and at least raise your awareness of the issue. Here is a video to show the growth of the problem, thanks to our disposable lifestyle.
Maximenko’s Plastic Pollution Growth Model from 5 Gyres on Vimeo.
But there is hope. There is a grassroots movement to clean up plastics from the beaches. All across America, there are great people organizing beach clean ups and trying to reduce the use of plastics. One blogger at The Daily Ocean has committed to spend 20 minutes a day over 365 days to pick up trash at her local beach. She chronicles what she finds and how much she picks up. In turn she has inspired great clean up events, like Blogger Beach Clean Up Day. What? You don’t love anywhere near the beach? Even the Great Lakes is an issue, but for those of us who want to help the world’s oceans without the work, there is a solution. Enter United By Blue. This great company sells organic cotton t-shirts and beautiful jewelry with the noble mission of cleaning up the world’s oceans. The designs are great ocean inspirations, like the fish pendant and the plastic jellyfish tee that shows how plastics can look like a fish food source. For every item that you buy. their crew picks up one pound of trash from a local beach. Now that is a gift that keeps on giving. Check out the video below and think about the oceans when buying your next gift!
As the plastics break down into smaller pieces, they are eaten by fish and animals that usually feed on plankton. The biggest problem about all this pollution is that we do not know the long term effects of the damage. Just like we never knew about the damage of mercury to the fish population until it was too late, we may not realize the extent of the damage until the ecosystem of the world’s oceans are damaged beyond repair.
