There's so much plastic in the ocean, you're probably eating it in seafood

[RiverCityBronco]

The next time you purchase a case of 12-ounce water bottles consider this:

By 2050, plastic in the ocean will likely outweigh all the fish in ocean.

Scientists of the World Economic Forum last year estimated there are 5.25 trillion particles weighing 270,000 tons currently floating in the oceans. Some 8 million tons leak into the ocean every year. That's the equivalent of a garbage truck dumping a full load of plastics into the sea every minute.

It's little wonder that several "garbage patches" of plastic particulate trash — one supposedly even bigger than Mexico — are floating in the Pacific.

https://www.sfgate.com/green/article/There-s-so-much-plastic-in-the-ocean-you-re-12720909.php

[mugtang]

I thought I read somewhere a kid had come up with a genius solution to clean up the oceans.  Let me see if I can find it. 

[mugtang]

https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/blogs/remember-kid-who-invented-way-clean-ocean-plastic-hes-back-and-its-happening

[RiverCityBronco]

9 minutes ago, mugtang said:

https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/blogs/remember-kid-who-invented-way-clean-ocean-plastic-hes-back-and-its-happening

I've heard of this, and it is very cool.  What a brilliant kid.  This, of course, is only part of the solution.  The other part being that we stop dumping our garbage into the ocean.  

[Lester_in_reno]

Once I was helping with a volunteer project and we had to clean up the banks of Coyote Creek in San Jose.

I have never seen so many plastic bottles.

Thousands LITTERED   along the creek bank.

Coyote Creek empties into the southern most part of San Francisco bay.

 

[crixus]

On 5/18/2018 at 10:33 AM, Lester_in_reno said:

Once I was helping with a volunteer project and we had to clean up the banks of Coyote Creek in San Jose.

I have never seen so many plastic bottles.

Thousands LITTERED   along the creek bank.

Coyote Creek empties into the southern most part of San Francisco bay.

 

That happens when there are heavy rains in the Bay which leads to flooding. It happened last year too (pictured), but fortunately it gets cleaned up by the city and volunteers like you. Even though I don't live in San Jose anymore I thank you for helping.  I remember my first semester at SJSU, it rained off and on for over a month. I grew up in San Diego where it might rain for a week or two at most, so I was starting to get depressed. Fortunately it only flooded once when I lived up in the Bay Area. 

 

[bluerules009]

On 5/18/2018 at 7:48 AM, RiverCityBronco said:

The next time you purchase a case of 12-ounce water bottles consider this:

By 2050, plastic in the ocean will likely outweigh all the fish in ocean.

Scientists of the World Economic Forum last year estimated there are 5.25 trillion particles weighing 270,000 tons currently floating in the oceans. Some 8 million tons leak into the ocean every year. That's the equivalent of a garbage truck dumping a full load of plastics into the sea every minute.

It's little wonder that several "garbage patches" of plastic particulate trash — one supposedly even bigger than Mexico — are floating in the Pacific.

https://www.sfgate.com/green/article/There-s-so-much-plastic-in-the-ocean-you-re-12720909.php

You drink more plastic in bottled water and soda's.   Even canned soda's are plastic lined.

[THEUniversityofNevada]

The working life of a plastic bag is 15 minutes on average; if the settlers on the Mayflower had carried their provisions in plastic bags, those bags would still be here 400+ years later.

The world portrayed in Wall-E looks more and more plausible every day.

[modestobulldog]

On 5/18/2018 at 9:48 AM, RiverCityBronco said:

The next time you purchase a case of 12-ounce water bottles consider this:

Do US municipalities dump trash in the ocean? It seems to me, if Modesto garbage companies are dumping trash in the ocean, then "I" should consider this when purchasing bottled water.  

I think we should be careful as to Collective guilt. If u s garbage companies and municipalities are dumping trash in the ocean, something should be done about it, that I agree with. However, if the United States is not doing that, then we should not portray ourselves as being part of the problem. It sounds like it's a big problem, but I'm not sure what we can do to force other Sovereign countries to stop the practice.

[RiverCityBronco]

1 hour ago, modestobulldog said:

Do US municipalities dump trash in the ocean? It seems to me, if Modesto garbage companies are dumping trash in the ocean, then "I" should consider this when purchasing bottled water.  

I think we should be careful as to Collective guilt. If u s garbage companies and municipalities are dumping trash in the ocean, something should be done about it, that I agree with. However, if the United States is not doing that, then we should not portray ourselves as being part of the problem. It sounds like it's a big problem, but I'm not sure what we can do to force other Sovereign countries to stop the practice.

We aren't the worst, but we do our fair share of dumping garbage in the ocean:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-polluting-ocean-trash-alarming-rate/

And we may not be able to stop other countries from polluting the ocean, but we can certainly do better and lead by example.  

[smltwnrckr]

2 hours ago, modestobulldog said:

Do US municipalities dump trash in the ocean? It seems to me, if Modesto garbage companies are dumping trash in the ocean, then "I" should consider this when purchasing bottled water.  

I think we should be careful as to Collective guilt. If u s garbage companies and municipalities are dumping trash in the ocean, something should be done about it, that I agree with. However, if the United States is not doing that, then we should not portray ourselves as being part of the problem. It sounds like it's a big problem, but I'm not sure what we can do to force other Sovereign countries to stop the practice.

Aside form using military force, there's always multi-party deals.

Oh, wait...

[modestobulldog]

1 hour ago, RiverCityBronco said:

We aren't the worst, but we do our fair share of dumping garbage in the ocean:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/u-s-polluting-ocean-trash-alarming-rate/

And we may not be able to stop other countries from polluting the ocean, but we can certainly do better and lead by example.  

Interesting they quoted pounds instead of tons to exaggerate US contribution to the problem.  Anyway, at 375 tons, it would seem the US contribution to the problem is solvable.  I would think incineration would be preferable to Ocean dumping for the last 375 tons.