Recent estimates suggest that 91% of all plastic created for consumer use is not recycled. Scientists studying the plastic pollution issue have been terrified by the sheer amount of the stuff in the environment. Where does it all end up? The horrifying pictures, taken by Caroline Power of a shocking “sea of plastic” in the Caribbean, show that this environmental destruction has to stop.
According to what Jenna Jambeck, a University of Georgia environmental engineer who specializes in studying plastic waste in the oceans, says:
“We all knew there was a rapid and extreme increase in plastic production from 1950 until now, but actually quantifying the cumulative number for all plastic ever made was quite shocking.”
As Jambeck also told National Geographic, this amount of pollution would “break any system” that wasn't prepared for that level of waste.
It's been hard for many us to conceptualize the billions of tons of plastic waste in the oceans, but Power urges everybody to take this issue personally and to look at their responsibility in contributing to the problems caused by it. On Facebook, Power posted the following comment along with her photos:
Sea of Plastic Caught in Photographs by Caroline Power
“Think about your daily lives. How did you take your food to go last time you ate out? How was your last street food served? Chances are it was styrofoam and served with a plastic fork and then put in a plastic bag. Do you still use plastic garbage bags? Plastic soda bottles? Ziplock bags? Plastic wrap on your food?
Do you buy toilet paper that comes wrapped in plastic instead of paper? Do you put your fruit and veggies in produce bags at the grocery?
I challenge every person and every business to keep your trash for one week. Separate your organic and recyclables and keep everything else for one week. You will be disgusted how many single use items you use.”
While Power’s pictures add to the growing collection of visual evidence of the issue of plastic, unfortunately, they don’t even begin to touch the depth of the problem.
A recent University of Florida study discovered that despite all the plastic trash we see, plastic from our clothing – even those expensive yoga pants you believed were environmentally sourced – are clogging the waterways with plastic.
Researchers, funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), conducted a two-year study to find the source of this micro-plastic pollution accumulating in the Gulf of Mexico. They discovered that more than 80% of the micro-plastics found in the ocean are really micro-fibers from synthetic clothing.
Each time we wash our gym clothes or any other garment made from synthetic material, we’re shedding microscopic plastic fibers — they're called “microfibers” into natural waterways, which later make their way to the ocean.
Those plastic microfibers are too small to be filtered out by tiny plants and fish. An additional paper has demonstrated that microfibers are responsible for 85% of shoreline pollution across the globe.
In brief, it is not merely the bottled you cart your shampoo home in from the grocery store, or the plastic bags – plastic pollution is even the clothing we wear that is polluting the ocean.
Except for reducing plastic bag and plastic cup use, consider also washing your clothes in a “guppy bag” that might catch up to 90% of the microfibers, and merely opting to purchase clothing here on out made from natural materials only such as wool, cotton, hemp, bamboo, etc.
What is clear from all the studies, and the shocking pictures taken by Powers is that all this has to stop, but it will not without some widespread change.
(Images: Caroline Power)
Reference: The Mind Unleashed
COMMENTS