Category Archives: Ocean Keepers

Scientists Recommend Classifying Certain Plastic Waste As Toxic Trash

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PLASTIC WORLD 3

An international group of scientists think it is time to consider categorizing some plastic waste as toxic according to a recent LA Times article. Considering the damage to the environment and the health hazards posed by plastic debris and plastic pollution, many believe this is about time.

The throwaway mentality of all things plastic including single-use plastic bags and bottles has burgeoned into an ecological disaster of monstrous proportions in the last 30 years. The tide of plastic debris that has spread throughout the world’s oceans and across every continent poses health hazards to wildlife, marine life and the world’s populace.

It isn’t just the plague of plastic choking the seas as far as the Artic, or the enormous costs of cleaning up our coastlines reaching $500 million annually on the west coast alone. It is having to deal with the unintended consequences of mindlessly tossing vast quantities into the environment without recycling.

Scientists, researchers and marine biologists have found:

  1. Mutant fish with toxins stored in their fats thought to be caused by two General Electric manufacturing plants along the Hudson River that produced PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) from 1947 to 1976.
  2. One third of the fish caught in the English Channel have plastic contamination.Researchers estimate that fish living at intermediate depths in the North Pacific swallow as much as 24,000 tons of plastic debris a year.
  3. Science Daily found BPA, or Bisphenol A,(used as a hardener in polycarbonate plastics and as the lining in food and beverage containers) has been linked to childhood obesity, along with adverse effects on the heart and kidneys of adolescents.
  4. The National Academy of Sciences just published a study conducted by Washington State University and recently reported on Fox News . The study found compelling evidence that Bisphenol A may negatively impact women’s reproductive systems, cause chromosome damage, birth defects and miscarriages.

Plastics do not biodegrade; they photodegrade, breaking down into smaller particles and microscopic bits in the oceans. These plastic bits and their chemical compounds find their way into the food chain as they are ingested by over 180 known marine species.

Degrading plastics leach toxic chemicals such as bisphenol A into the seas. Smaller fish and crustaceans mistake the plastic debris for food are then eaten by larger and larger species. Estimates are there are six times as much photodegraded plastic is in the oceans than is plankton!

Scientists are now calling for a similar approach to fighting plastic debris and pollution as has been used in the past to fight fluorocarbons and refrigerants worldwide. In particular, they want to classify PVC, polystyrene, polyurethane and polycarbonate as the most hazardous/toxic plastics.

The U.S. could take lessons from many countries when it comes to managing plastic trash, especially Japan where 77% of its plastic waste was recycled in 2010.

It should also be noted that Canada, the European Union, and China have banned BPA in some uses. The World Health Organization calls Bisphenol A a particularly dangerous chemical also linking it to cancer and birth defects.

A complete report on the damage done to the environment, entitled Plastic Debris in the World’s Oceans, has been put together by Greenpeace. The 44 page report details the scale of contamination along with workable solutions.

Poll: Is There a Plastic Bag Ban Coming to a City Near You?

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Cities across the country are resorting to bans as a way to reduce the impact and harmful effects of single-use plastic bag. Los Angeles joins San Francisco, Toronto, Westport, Connecticut and the State of Hawaii, all with single-use bans in place.

In May 2012, Los Angeles became the largest city in the nation to approve the banning of single-use plastic bags at supermarket checkout lines. The ban will be phased in over the next 16 months. Shoppers will need to bring reusable bags or purchase paper bags for 10 cents each.

Cities that have instituted these bans have seen a dramatic decrease in the damage single-use plastic bags cause our environment. How do you feel?

More & More Reasons to Say No to Plastics

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There are more and more reasons to Say No to Plastics. Most single-use plastic bags are used an average of 12 minutes by U.S. consumers, yet their real life span, unless recycled, is many hundreds of years. The plastic trash building up in our oceans is a ticking time bomb.

The statistics below are from a recent Huff Post Green article which asks, “Did you just eat a plastic bag?” For a more complete look view it here.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency reports the following data on plastic products in the American municipal waste stream for 2008 alone:

1. Plastic Plates and Cups: 780,000 tons were produced, and all 780,000 tons were discarded.
2. Plastic Trash Bags: 930,000 tons were produced, and all 930,000 were discarded.
3. Plastic Bags, Sacks and Wraps: 3,960,000 tons were produced. 9.8% was recovered (390,000). 3,570,000 tons were discarded.
4. “Other” non-durable goods including plastic disposable diapers, footwear and clothing: amounted to 4,810,000 tons produced with all 4,810,000 tons discarded.
5. PET Bottles and Jars: 2,680,000 tons were produced, 27.2 % were recovered (730,000 tons) and 1,950,000 tons were discarded.
6. HDPE (white translucent homopolymer bottles): 750,000 tons were produced, and 29.3 % (220,000 tons) were recovered. 530,000 tons were discarded.
7. “Other Plastic Packaging” including coatings, closures, lids, caps, clam shells, egg cartons, produce baskets, trays, shapes, and loose fill: 3,720,000 tons were produced. 3% (110,000 tons) were recovered, and 3 Million 610 Thousand Tons were discarded.

 

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Obama Policies Destroying Gulf Marine Environment; Rank Stupidity on Massive Scale

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This one makes my blood boil.

The Obama administration’s policies to permanently destroy the Gulf oil industry along with thousands of much needed jobs in this country is also causing irreparable damage to marine ecosystems. What we’re dealing with is irrational hatred of anything not perceived as green according to the Book of Obama.

Make no mistake, Obama and his team of radical progressives are incapable of making any decision that isn’t submerged in rank ideological stupidity. Team Obama talks green but then adheres to policies that destroy the environment.  Team Obama  supports industries they like and have decided will be the winners of the energy race.

The reality is they hate anything that competes with their vision of windmills for as far as the eye can see, electric cars and solar energy for everyone regardless of the costs, ergo their war against oil, gas, and coal.

The focus and raison d’être of this blog is common sense environmentalism.  The consequences of the government dictated dismantling of oil platforms in the Gulf is destroying tens of thousands of fish and their ecosystem of artificial reefs that grew as a result of the huge platforms in the Gulf.

According to FrontpageMag:

”"

The most prolific marine ecosystem on earth is being systematically destroyed on orders of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Where the BP oil spill failed miserably, Obama’s Dept. of the Interior now triumphs.

[…]

Dismantling their production platforms could cost oil operators “$6 billion to $18 billion in lost future production,” according to a report by Mark Kaiser and Allan Pulsipher of the Louisiana State University Center for Energy Studies.

The federal government, however, is unmoved by such projections. Production? Costs? Profits?—come on! Where’s the federal “environmental expert” affected by such stuff?

So let’s try this: the most prolific and “diverse marine ecosystem” ever recorded by marine scientists was created by the “facilities” the U.S. Dept. of the Interior is hell-bent on dismantling (offshore oil platforms). Acting as artificial reefs over the past half century, the natural beauty, teeming fish life, coral colonies, and “bio-diversity,” created by these structures is amply documented in several studies commissioned by none other than the U.S. Dept. of the Interior.

One recent report by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Minerals (a division of the U.S. Dept. of the Interior) boasts that “fish densities are 20 to 50 times higher at oil and gas platforms than in nearby Gulf water, and each platform seasonally serves as critical habitat for 10 to 20 thousand fishes.”

In fact, “villainous” Big Oil produces marine life at rates that puts to shame “wondrous” Earth Goddess Gaia. “The fish Biomass around an offshore oil platform is ten times greater per unit area than for natural coral reefs,” found Dr. Charles Wilson of LSU’s Dept. of Oceanography and Coastal Science (emphasis added). ”Ten to thirty thousand adult fish live around an oil production platform in area half the size of a football field.”

I look for and support common sense energy policy and environmental solutions. This policy lacks common sense and good stewardship of the earth’s marine environment. This is wonton destruction on a grand scale!

Accidentally drop your boat anchor over coral off the Florida coast and you’ll be fined up to $25,000 pursuant to federal regulations. Catch and keep a Gag Grouper, Amberjack or more than 2 Red Snapper per fishing trip in any U.S. federal waters and you’ll be fined $600 per fish, pursuant to federal regulations.

Yet endangered coral in the Gulf of Mexico is being blown up, blow-torched, and winched out of the Gulf by the ton to bleach in scrapyards — as mandated by federal regulations. Tons of Red Snapper, Grouper, Amberjack and thousands of other “endangered” or “threatened” fish species are being dynamited in the Gulf of Mexico and left as shark-chum—as mandated by the same federal regulations. Most of these “facilities,” you see, are “dismantled” with explosives detonated around their legs below the Gulf floor.

I once called Barack Obama the worst pResident for the environment ever. These federally mandated regulations prove this beyond a doubt.

For more read here.

HOW TO SWITCH FROM PLASTIC BAGS TO REUSABLES

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Earth Day 2012 is a great time to step back and finally stop using those plastic bags you know are so harmful to our environment. Convenience is no longer a reason to justify using a product that essentially lives forever, never biodegrading.

Plastic manufacturers estimate that the average person in this country uses 500 plastic grocery bags per year! This is a stunning number to say the least considering the amount of time each bag is used to carry something.

Now that you’ve made the decision to stop using plastic bags you will need to determine how many reusable bags are right for your family. A minimum of 4 or 5 reusable bags per household vehicle is a good starting point.

Most grocery, drug, and big box stores sell them for 99 cents apiece, a small investment that brings exceptional benefits for the environment.

Consider a small foldable reusable bag to take with you in your purse. It will come in handy for quick trips to the store.

The hardest part of switching from plastic to reusable bags is remembering to bring your bags when you shop! It may take several weeks for you in integrate this new habit into your shopping routine and life style.

Purchasing a Bagnesia steering wheel wrap to trigger your memory to bring those bags with you before you shop will make the switch infinitely easier. Don’t get discouraged and don’t give up. We all forget.

Here’s a great tip. Make sure you put your reusable bags back in your car as soon as your groceries are put away. Trust me, the likelihood you will remember to take your bags with you (the ones you left in the kitchen on a table or on a chair), is remote.

Once you start using reusable bags you will find yourself wanting to do more. You will need to establish new routine for handling all that plastic you bring home with you from the grocery store. All those plastic bottles, egg cartons, plastic wrap from food stuffs, packaging surrounding batteries and other hard goods need to be collected and recycled.

I keep a separate bin for collecting the plastic trash that comes into my home every time I shop. I have a plan in place for recycling the plastic trash and keeping it separate from the trash collected by the city.

The last part of your new program concerns recycling all that plastic trash you and your family will collect every week. If your city or town has a separate collection program for plastic in all its forms, great. If not, consideration will have to be given to bringing back the plastic for collection at a recycling point.

Publix has plastic collection bins in front of their stores, but only for certain kinds of plastic.  Harry’s (Whole Foods) has the best plastic collection program allowing for all types of plastics including plastic bottles.

PLASTIC TRASH IS A BIGGER PROBLEM THAN GLOBAL WARMING

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Plastic is a bigger danger than global warming, or at least it is in the immediate sense, considering it is snuffing out the lowest common denominator in the food chain, says Neil Seldman, a waste recycling expert and president of the Institute for Local Self Reliance, an organization with a long track record of promoting sustainable communities.

Forget the hokum about global warming. Plastic pollution can be seen everywhere. This problem is here now not some place in the distant future.

The vast amount of plastic trash that enters the oceans is a real problem, a problem that grows ever omnipresent on a hourly basis.

Plastic pollution is destroying the world’s ocean ecosystems. The real problem with all the plastic entering the oceans is the fact that it never degrades. It photodegrades into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic particles.

Billions upon billions of smaller and smaller plastic pieces have now become part of the food chain finally absorbed within zooplankton.

The oceans are constantly in motion.  Areas called gyres pull in waste from one part of the world and bring to other side of the world. As the plastic photodegrades into barely visible pieces, plankton have plastic debris in their bodies. Zooplankton are at the core of the marine food chain.

This situation is so dire that we have places in the oceans where plastic debris outnumbers plankton.

Unfortunately, that is not the worst of it. When birds, fish, and other sea creatures and  mammals ingest plastic debris which they mistake platic bottle caps and bits and pieces for food’ the consequences often lead to a long slow death.

When these creatures consume plastic debris they suffer with blockages of digestive tract followed by satiation, starvation and general debilitation and finally death.

According to The Royal Society of Biological Sciences additionally they suffer a reduction in quality of life and reproductive capacity; drowning and limited predator avoidance; impairment of feeding capacity.

 

MORE PLASTIC IN THE OCEANS THAN FISH… ONE BLUEFIN TUNA SELLS FOR $396,000

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There have been warnings for years …  huge areas in the oceans (5 gyres) that have more plastic trash and garbage than fish.

What we’re seeing is the product greed, selfishness, and short sightedness on the part of government, consumers, and governing agencies alike.

Combine that with the excessive over fishing of the many species of fish is it any wonder that the one Bluefin tuna would fetch almost $400,000.00?

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Tuna at Tsukiji Market in Tokyo, Japan photo by Hiratu Yasuyuki (source: Flickr Creative Commons)

According to the AP:

TOKYO — A giant Bluefin tuna fetched a record 32.49 million yen, or nearly $396,000, in Tokyo on Wednesday, in the first auction of the year at the world’s largest wholesale fish market. [...]

Japan is the world’s biggest consumer of seafood, with Japanese eating 80 % of the Atlantic and Pacific bluefins caught. The two tuna species are the most sought-after by sushi lovers.

They are in a severe population decline and many predict they could be extinct in the not to distant future.

The Japanese demand for the the Bluefin has depleted the Atlantic tuna by as much as 90% since the 1970′s.

Placing the Bluefin tuna on the endangered species list is currently under review for that status.

For more information on the Bluefin tuna and other fish species visit Seafood Watch here.

HOW BIG IS YOUR PLASTIC FOOTPRINT?

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The world’s oceans are harboring a dirty secret: trash …  lots of it … and we are responsible for it.


 

If you are of a certain age, you most likely will remember that famous line in the movie Mrs. Robinson, “one word Benjamin . . . plastics!”

We took it to heart, because since the 60’s our use of plastics has gone exponentially through the roof.  This is true world wide.  It wouldn’t  be so worrisome if were not for the fact that most of the people on the planet use plastic (in all its forms) in an indiscriminate manner.

It doesn’t matter what corner of the world we are talking about, we all do … more so in the U.S. than other part of the world.

 

Watching a cable program a few years ago changed my outlook about plastic trash in all its forms.  I will never forget the following point.

Every piece of plastic that has ever been manufactured will continue to exist in our landfills and oceans for hundreds to thousands of years to come. Every piece! We use plastic bags, made of a material that has been manufactured to last into infinity, for a minuscule amount of time and then toss them away.

Our throw away society  … “Once ‘n Done” … has created a massive ecological nightmare that has to be faced. We are using our oceans like toilet bowls.

Our thoughtless use and disposal of plastic is helping us kill every form of life.  Fish, sharks, whales, dolphins, porpoise, pelicans, seagulls, etc.; the reefs that support so many forms of life . . . all are negatively impacted by our  thoughtlessness.

If  the oceans are to survive it begins with YOU! Remember it’s not just a plastic bag.

Death by Plastic Bags & Bottles

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The ongoing devastation to the oceans and our environment caused by plastic trash in all its forms continues at an alarming rate.  Our oceans are becoming little more than sewers for the world’s refuge.

Millions of tons of plastic debris and trash are now occupying 5 Gyres in the oceans.  We knew about the Pacific Gyre , twice the size of Texas, only last year did we start hearing about the other four massive Gyres.

It is estimated that there could be hundreds of millions of tons of plastic rubbish floating in the world’s oceans. In Japan alone, it is calculated that 150,000 tons of plastic is washed up on its shores each year.

According to a recent article in  National Geographic News,  44 percent of all seabirds eat plastic, apparently by mistake, sometimes with fatal effects. And 267 marine species are affected by plastic garbage—animals are known to swallow plastic bags, which resemble jellyfish in mid-ocean, for example—according to a 2008 study in the journal Environmental Research by oceanographer and chemist Charles Moore, of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation.

Plastic hits marine creatures with a double whammy, Moore said. Along with the toxic chemicals released from the breakdown of plastic, animals also take in other chemicals that the plastic has accumulated from outside sources in the water.

“We knew ten years ago that plastic could be a million times more toxic than the seawater itself,” because plastic items tend to accumulate a surface layer of chemicals from seawater, Moore said. “They’re sponges.”

Oprah’s Earth Day shows have been a  powerful means of focusing on this unnecessary man made plastic nightmare.