AKA trash vortexes, these accumulation zones for human material waste obviously affects marine life in many frightening ways.... If you think it's easy to 'look the other way' while marine life suffers deformity and death....consider the way plastics break down into toxin absorbing 'nurdles'. These highly toxic man-made krill like particles are ingested by feeders from top to bottom -infecting the entire food chain from sand worms to sharks and YOU.

We must consciously begin to reduce our output and impact. How much food do you buy comes with plastic packaging? Do you use plastic bags? Shipping containers fall off ships regularly all around the world...do you buy local or imported goods? How can we get companies to change the packaging materials they use? Seek alternatives and tell your friends....

"In Australia around 1 million tonnes of plastic materials are produced each year and a further 587,000 tonnes are imported. Packaging is the largest market for plastics, accounting for over a third of the consumption of raw plastic materials – Australians use 6 billion plastic bags every year!

Plastic packaging provides excellent protection for the product, it is cheap to manufacture and seems to last forever. Lasting forever, however, is proving to be a major environmental problem. Another problem is that traditional plastics are manufactured from non-renewable resources – oil, coal and natural gas." (Source: NOVA Science in the News. Making Packaging Greener: Biodegradable Plastics. Published by the Australian Academy of Science)

- S. Innes

Friday, October 10, 2008

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)

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