Plastic Rainbow
I pulled this photo from changents.com. The garbage patch the size of Texas continues to grow and is off the coast of California, surrounds the Hawaiian islands and stops just off the coast of Japan. The above photo demonstrates that plastic has encroached our food supply.
The Oceanographic Research Vessel Alguita is now on day 7 of its journey. Here is the ship's blog."The focus of Algalita's current research includes the prevalence and quantification of plastic debris in the North Pacific Sub-tropical Gyre (NPSG), biological impact of plastics on marine life and the human food chain, and the desorption of plastic toxins into the ambient ocean water."
I'd like to thank Sasha Wolfe, for urging me to post this photo on the Ojai post.
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Comments (5)
Thank you for posting this. And thanks to Sasha Wolfe, a woman ahead of her time, for urging you to do so!
It is difficult not to feel a sense of despair when I think back on how nonchalantly the Ojai City Council dismissed the members of the public who recommended that Ojai follow the lead of other cities who have adopted an ordinance banning plastic bags.
A few days ago I received the following message from my nephew Das Williams, Santa Barbara City Council member.
Synthetic Sea: Results of People Using Single-use Bags and Plastic
Join the City of SB's Creeks Division and County Project Clean Water for "Synthetic Sea", a FREE Community Forum TONIGHT, Monday, June 15th from 6:30 - 8pm at the Cabrillo Pavilion Arts Center, 1118 E. Cabrillo Blvd.
Last summer, Dr. Marcus Eriksen sailed from Long Beach to Hawaii on a raft made of 15,000 plastic bottles! Now he's on his way to Santa Barbara along with Anna Cummins on a 2,000 mile bicycle JUNKride from Vancouver to Tijuana to raise awareness about plastic pollution rapidly increasing in the North Pacific Ocean.
On a quest to end the age of disposable plastics, Eriksen and Cummins will present wrenching photographs from a decade of research at sea, and share their observations of the North Pacific Gyre, a swirling vortex of ocean currents twice the size of the United States, in which vast quanitites of plastic are rapidly accumulating. Learn how to get involved locally with organizations including SB Channelkeeper, Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society, Surfrider Foundation, Art From Scrap, and Healing Oceans Together.
View the event flyer here: http://www.santabarbaraca.gov/NR/rdonlyres/39AEB8F8-01D4-4C6C-AB15-67417F178824/0/ForumFlyer.pdf
The health hazards of plastic residue in the human body has been known for decades. When the news hits mainstream, perhaps people will take action.
One always hopes!
Comment #1 Posted by: Suza | June 17, 2009 05:10 PM
Dr. Eriksen and Anna Cummins spoke yesterday to a standing room only crowd at Patagonia, Inc.! Their blog: www.changents.com/junkride.
Comment #2 Posted by: Anonymous | June 18, 2009 02:01 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko_CnuumVxk
Comment #3 Posted by: Jock Doubleday | June 18, 2009 08:08 PM
On Mother Nature Network:
www.mnn.com/technology/research-innovations/blogs/boy-discovers-microbe-that-eats-plastic.
Comment #4 Posted by: Anonymous | June 23, 2009 04:39 PM
From the oceonagrapher who coined the expression "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" comes, fresh off the presses, "Flotsametrics and the Floating World: How One Man's Obsession with Runaway Sneakers and Rubber Ducks Revolutionized Ocean Science". Hilarious. Speaking of rubber, be sure to read the part where Aldous Huxley and Thomas Mann spot thousands of "dead caterpillars" at their feet on the beach.
Comment #5 Posted by: Anonymous | June 29, 2009 03:05 PM