Whose Getting Hurt?

MARINE LIFE - "The very thing that makes plastic items useful to consumers, their durability and stability, also makes them a problem in marine environments. Around 100 million tonnes of plastic are produced each year of which about 10 percent ends up in the sea. About 20 percent of this is from ships and platforms, the rest from land." 
(Source: Greenpeace International @ http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/pollution/trash-vortex)

HUMANS - "Many fishermen believe that the toxic chemicals in the ocean are killing much of the fish population. One of the most harmful chemicals in the ocean is lead. Lead can cause many health problems. It can damage the brain, kidneys, and reproductive system. Lead can also cause birth defects for people. It has been shown to cause low IQ scores, slow growth, and hearing problems for small children. House and car paint and manufacturing lead batteries, fishing lures, certain parts of bullets, some ceramic ware, water pipes, and fixtures all give off lead.'

Many things found in the ocean may cause seafood to be dangerous to human health. The effect on humans from contaminated seafood may include birth defects and nervous system damage. Medical waste found in the ocean is being tested to see if swimmers have a chance of developing Hepatitis or AIDS. Other waste has been known to cause viral and bacterial diseases. This type of pollution can be stopped by watching what pollution we are letting into the ocean. People are trying to decrease the amount of waste in the oceans by recycling as much garbage as they can so there is a smaller amount of very harmful materials in the ocean." 
(Source: Ocean Pollution at http://library.thinkquest.org/CR0215471/ocean_pollution.htm) 

PRIMARY CHILDREN - For an educational resource for primary children about plants and animals, changing habitats and protecting biodiversity  checkout:
EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED by The State of Queensland (Department of Education and Training) 2009. (There's another game for kids further down this site...)

SECONDARY SCHOOL - Check out this website by Carly B. a psych student with an obsession for the animal kingdom. Psychedelic grasshoppers, hairless guinea pigs and foxes on stilts...the animal kingdom rocks!

AUSTRALIANS - "Australia's oceans hold 4,000 fish types of 22,000 known worldwide. They are home to the largest area of coral reefs and 30 of the world's 58 seagrass species. With so much at stake, Australia's oceans need to be managed." Check out Marinebio's list of: 
AUSTRALIAN MARINE SOCIETIES

WILDLIFE - "Nature Stuff" by Mark David is about the Australian Wildlife you've probably met on land. What you should know about living with your locals, from noisy miners to huntsman spiders!

How Does it Happen?

• Stormwater runs off the land, carrying pollution from our streets and fields into our rivers and out to sea....  Learn more at STORMWATER.ORG.AU (A great website "supported by the Burnett Mary Regional Group and NQ Dry Tropics, through funding from the Australian Government's Caring for our Country").

• Toxic Waste - from (legal and illegal) farm chemicals and heavy metals from factories 
• Wastewater - run off from rainwater, from industrial and domestic sources
• Boat Pollution - engine exhausts give off excess gasoline and ships leak oil (or have major spills)
• Agriculture - pesticide run off, even fertilizers you use in your own garden
• Land Clearing - water (previously used by native plants) rises with salt, increasing salinity and seeping into rivers and water supplies
• Cars - car smoke mixes with regular rain to make acid rain in our oceans

The Impact of Landclearing in Australia by Bush Heritage Australia

PRIMARY CHILDREN: Check out this INTERACTIVE GAME - Help Drainman Save Thunderburg! (stormwater.org.au)

Awareness Survey

Question: Have you ever heard of any enormous accumulation zones for plastic debris (also known as trash vortexes) in our oceans, namely, one called The Great Pacific Garbage Patch?

Result: Out of 30 Students and Staff at ACU only 2 admitted to having heard of trash vortexes in our worlds oceans...

One of the two people who had heard of this environmental catastrophe, D. McNamara, heard about it through a book and had also seen an interview with the founder of Clean Up Australia Day. I questioned him further...

Q: "How did you find out these places existed?"

A: "I read about it in a book and I also remember watching an interview with the guy who started Clean Up Australia Day. You see he went sailing around the world and came across one of these rubbish places. He said 'you know when people throw stuff away...yeah well I know where away actually is'. So he started, I think his name is Kiernan or something, Clean Up Australia Day because he found one of these places. Also he talked about how most of the rubbish comes from shipping containers. Apparently hundreds of containers fall off ships every year and they're filled with foam so they dont sink, but then they're not on the surface either. I think that's what Kiernan bumped into out there in the ocean"

---Clean Up Australia Day is a not-for-profit Australian Environmental Conservation Organisation founded by Ian Kiernan in 1989.
He later approached the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with an idea to take his clean up concept global. A Clean Up the World weekend is now held on the 3rd weekend in September each year with more than 35 million people from over 120 countries participating each year!

What Can We Do?

Remember that stormwater drains flow straight to our waterways. Don't throw any litter in the street or gutter because it might end up in the ocean or on the beach. Stormwater drains flow straight to our waterways.

If you go fishing, make sure you take all your rubbish home with you. That means all your bait bags and lunch wrappers and cans as well as any snagged line and worn-out gear like old nets.

Don't wash your car or do a grease and oil change on the road or driveway because the detergent and oil will wash down the stormwater drain and flow into the ocean untreated, poisoning marine animals and plants.

Create less rubbish in the first place. Don't buy products that are 'overpackaged' -wrapped in individual packs or several layers of plastic. Buy products in biodegradable packaging. Re-use your plastic shopping bags, or take cloth ones to the shops.

Tell your friends and family - or anyone you see littering - about the dangers of rubbish to marine animals and encourage them to do the right thing with litter.

If you see a stranded or injured marine mammal, bird or fish, report it and tell us about any dead animals too.

(Australian contacts about injured marine life are difficult to find, not all have been confirmed, websites are linked)

Queensland 1300 130 372

Victoria 1300 94535 (1300 WILDLIFE)

New South Wales 1300 094 737 (1300 WIRES)
Western Australia (See1300 WIRES ???)

Tasmania 0427 942 537 (0427 WHALES) If a seal, dolphin or whale is washed ashore

South Australia 1800 065 522 (Pollution reporting is 131 555)

Join a Coastcare group. As part of a team you can do even more to look after your coastline. Plenty of environmental projects need to be done. The more people helping the more can be achieved.

(There are around 2000 Coastcare groups around Australia. If you're looking to volunteer, visit http://www.coastcare.com.au/ )

(Sources: Coastcare. Queensland Govt. Environment and Resource Management, Beach and Ocean Litter: What You Can Do. Marine Debris and Litter Coastcare factsheet undated. Tropical Topics - An interpretative newsletter for tour operators Department of Environment . Our Sea, Our Future: Major findings of the State of the Marine Environment Report for Australia Compiled by Leon P. Zann of Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority for Department of Environment, Sport and Territories, Canberra 1995.)

50 Ways to Keep a Clean Marine Environment 

Actions you can take at home, when fishing or boating, provided by the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation. Google this title for an inclusive PDF of all 50.

 "Listen up kids, were leavin the 'burgs

and headin for the trash islands.

It's a bit warmer,

but land grows as fast as ours shrinks..."

 Don't Buy or Drink Bottled Water

Tapped is a documentary which 'examines the role of the bottled water industry and its effects on our health, climate change, pollution and our reliance on oil.' [View Online]

Tapped presents information about the unethical activities of corporations engaging in the rush for 'blue gold' (such as Nestle, Coke and Pepsi) and the effects on community's where they acquire water. It addresses the way their advertising leads the public to believe bottled water is 'cleaner', 'purer' and 'healthier' for you and that tap water is somehow dirtier despite [00:51:00] the failure of self regulated industries to regularly test the quality of their bottled water (for previously exposed contaminants such as bacteria, arsenic, toluene, styrene DNOP (di-n-octylphthalate) and BPA (bisfenol-A)) as regularly as municipal/tap water is tested. The high rates of cancer and birth defects amoung residents living in the polluted vicinities of plastic bottle manufacturing sites is revealed and the pollution incurred by our environment after we have used the product...including beaches where coral, shells and rock have been replaced by layers of plastic. In specific relation to this site this documentary features [01:00:00] footage of the accumulation of plastic in the North Pacific Gyre, the  Eastern Garbage Patch - a phenomenon that is repeated in the North and South Atlantic, the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean.

A bottle bill, or container deposit law, requires a refundable deposit on beverage containers to ensure that the containers are returned for recycling. In Australia, South Australia was the first state to enact a bottle bill/container deposit legislation in 1975. The Northern Territory enacted a bottle bill and ban on single-use plastic bags in 2011.

For more information on the benefits of bottle bills as well as current and proposed laws around the world visit The Bottle Resource Guide and build your case for a deposit law in your state legislature with a Bottle Bill Toolkit.

[00:55:00] If all bottles are recyclable and not all of them are being recycled where do they go?

With consideration of the effects on peoples health and our environment, I feel it would be better to not purchase plastic drinking water bottles at all. Why financially support such unethical industries? A (BPA free) re-usable drinking water bottle for drinking water on-the-go is an ideal option.

5 Reasons Not to Drink Bottled Water

Bottled Water - Ethical Consumer Guide

 

HEALTH vs $$$$$ - Biodegradable Plastics

"The reason traditional plastics are not biodegradable is because their long polymer molecules are too large and too tightly bonded together to be broken apart and assimilated by decomposer organisms. However, plastics based on natural plant polymers derived from wheat or corn starch have molecules that are readily attacked and broken down by microbes."

Plastics can be produced with starch and even bacteria...unfortunately these alternatives (PLA & PHA) are "significantly more expensive to produce and, as yet, [are] not having any success in replacing the widespread use of traditional petrochemical plastics."

"Indeed, biodegradable plastic products currently on the market are from 2 to 10 times more expensive than traditional plastics. But environmentalists argue that the cheaper price of traditional plastics does not reflect their true cost when their full impact is considered. For example, when we buy a plastic bag we don’t pay for its collection and waste disposal after we use it. If we added up these sorts of associated costs, traditional plastics would cost more and biodegradable plastics might be more competitive."

(Sources: Australian Academy of Science: Making packaging greener – biodegradable plastics)

Quotes

'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children'. ~ Native American Proverb.

'We never know the worth of water till the well is dry'. ~ Thomas Fuller, Gnomologial, 1732.

'Economic advance is not the same as human progress.' ~John Clapham, A Concise Economic History of Britain, 1957.

 'Till now, man has been up against Nature; from now on he will be up against his own nature.' ~ Dennis Gabor, Inventing The Future, 1964. 

Check Your Choices @ Home

What chemicals are in your household products?

How environmentally friendly are your choices of: dishwashing and laundry liquids or powders, disinfectant (white vinegar is a natural disinfectant for kitchen benches and a great window cleaner), shampoo and conditioners, body lotions, deodorant and toothpaste (organic products are great for your health). Check the fine print on labels when purchasing.

How much food packaging do you throw out weekly? 


There's simply no need to use plastic bags anymore, one carry bag will last you as long as it takes the billions of tonnes of oil based plastic bags to break down in our environment...so get some!!

Do you shop at the supermarket more than markets? Chances are your spending hundreds on the advertising packaging of heavily processed foods..which aren't good for your health. See if you can go a single week without purchasing one plastic packaged food...not easy! Set yourself a limit to one or two and will find yourself forced into eating food that is much better for your health...now who'd want that!

Biodegradable plastics are available but many companies are failing to take the option because of $$$$. Question whether the milk or softdrinks you buy are made from biodegradable plastic, choose glass instead -it's recyclable. Many coffee cups which are made from cardboard are lined with plastic/polymer substances too. It would seem our fast-food-takeaway-throw-away culture combined with over-production is not helping :/

If only we could boycott these companies to let them know we won't buy their products at all unless they switch to ethical alternatives....

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Yes, there is an area in the middle of the Pacific Ocean referred to as a "Garbage Patch". The accumulation of plastic and debris in this area has been researched by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation foundation since 1999. You can find information about it on the website - http://www.algalita.org/ both in the Research section and also in the 2008 Gyre Voyage blog on the home page.

It is not something that can be cleaned up. In fact, most of the debris is small and spread out over the surface of the ocean. There are debris under water and on the surface. Objects do not pile up on top of it, rather, they become submerged. While we do see buoys, television tubes and soap bottles, etc, they are not piled up in a group for photographing.

The majority of the debris consists of small plastic fragments and broken objects just below the surface.

The concept of a "trash island" to describe this phenomenon was originally coined by Pravda and picked up by other European media, who showed artists drawing of a mountain of trash. This is not an accurate depiction. The enormous accumulation zones for plastic debris are better described as "trash vortexes," and except for fishing buoys do not appear above the ocean surface. They are also referred to as the "Eastern and Western Garbage Patches," although we prefer vortex because the word "patch" does not do justice to their more or less million square mile size."–
Wow. Let us repeat that very last little bit: "More or less million square mile size."

.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is really, truly unconscionable.Whether it actually exists is largely questioned by some, while others feel its existence is indisputable. Either way, it blows our minds that nearly every single article Algalita have come across in their research states that "There's nothing we can do about it now…" (Eriksen, October 19, 2007).

What kind of asinine, uncaring and lazy response is this?

An article from the San Francisco Chronicle states:"Ocean current patterns may keep the flotsam stashed in a part of the world few will ever see, but the majority of its content is generated onshore, according to a report from Greenpeace last year titled "Plastic Debris in the World's Oceans."

.

.

This is just totally unacceptable. We can no longer, in good conscience, continue to write off this horrendous creation and let it continue unabated. To that end, a website has begun with the hope to evolve into the official, leading source of information, activism and action against this atrocity. In the coming months, they plan to raise funds to start dismantling this floating island of trash, generate significant publicity, donate hundreds if not thousands of hours and dollars, to turn the tides on this.The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.com will serve as the central focus on what we hope grows into a massive wide effort to eradicate this abysmal by-product of our global industries.

What are Nurdles??

-A nurdle, also called a pre-production plastic pellet or plastic resin pellet, is a plastic pellet typically under 5mm in diameter. Approximately 60 billion pounds (27 million tonnes) of nurdles are manufactured annually in the United States alone.

In the ocean, plastic breaks down into tiny nurdles that absorb 'persistant organic pollutants' (POPs) making them highly toxic to marine life that consume them.

And the Environmental Impact...
Nurdles are a major contributor to marine debris. During a three month study of Orange County beaches researchers found them to be the most common beach contaminant. Nurdles comprised roughly 98% of the beach debris collected in a 2001 Orange County study. Waterborne nurdles may either be a raw material of plastic production, or from larger chunks of plastic that have been ground down.

Nurdles that escape from the plastic production process into waterways or oceans have become a significant source of ocean and beach pollution, frequently finding their way into the digestive tracts of various marine creatures. Nurdles also can carry two types of micropollutants in the marine environment: native plastic additives and hydrophobic pollutants adsorbed from seawater. Concentrations of PCBs and DDE on nurdles collected from Japanese coastal waters were found to be up to 1 million times higher than the levels detected in surrounding seawater.

Sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nurdle

.

.

-Dr Richard Thompson at the University of Plymouth is leading research into what happens when plastic breaks down in seawater and what effect it is having on the marine environment.
He and his team set out to out to find out how small these fragments can get. So far they've identified plastic particles of around 20 microns - thinner than the diameter of a human hair.

Dr Thompson's findings estimate there are 300,000 items of plastic per sq km of sea surface, and 100,000 per sq km of seabed.
So plastic appears to be everywhere in our seas. The next task was to try and find out what kind of sea creatures might be consuming it and with what consequences.
Thompson and his team conducted experiments on three species of filter feeders in their laboratory. They looked at the barnacle, the lugworm and the common amphipod or sand-hopper, and found that all three readily ingested plastic as they fed along the seabed.
"These creatures are eaten by others along food chain," Dr Thompson explained. "It seems an inevitable consequence that it will pass along the food chain. There is the possibility that chemicals could be transferred from plastics to marine organisms."

Sourced from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6218698.stm

.

Care for fish and chips anyone....?


More on PLASTICS IN OUR OCEANS