1 November 2006
Garbage at Sea
by Steve, onboard the Esperanza
©Greenpeace/Alex Hofford
Our mission out here is clear: to get a better sense of how plastic pollution affects our oceans. What we've been doing over the past few days is taking many different looks at the plastic and how it interacts with the oceans. We've sent teams of divers down below to see for ourselves the plastic in the oceans. We've also been sending our boats out from the ship to go find the bits of plastic debris that we can't see directly from the ship. I spent a good portion of the afternoon pointing out to the boat drivers where this plastic is, so they can net them and bring them back onboard so we can have our scientists onboard take a close look.
It's still surprising how much plastic there is out there, and even more surprising how some of the things we use on land end up here - in the middle of nowhere. A toothbrush, melted plastic bits, crates, bits of rope, and bottles have all been pulled out of the remote area of the Pacific we're passing through. If people knew that their household items would end up out here, poisoning the small sea creatures that are also making their way past Esperanza, I wonder if they would throw them away. We really have no idea that what we throw away on land just may end up here in the oceans.
We don't make the connection between our daily lives and the health and well-being of the oceans, which is all too disappointing. We pulled up a plastic crate the other day - totally intact. Two things really struck me about this crate: one was that it had little shell creatures growing all over it (among other things), and that it clearly had Japanese writing across it. To think that this crate found its way to the middle of the Pacific from Japan was really just amazing - I don't even know how far away from Japan we are right now, but I can tell you one thing: pretty far. know I've said it before, but it happens at least five times a day here: I'm starting to think about all of the plastic stuff that we use in our daily lives, because watching these everyday household products swim by definitely makes me pause and think.
I realized during the ship's stop in Hawaii that one of the worst culprits in this whole equation is plastic bags. Hauling all of my Greenpeace stuff around all day was quite tiring, and believe it or not, plastic bags just don't work all that well. Thankfully, the good people at the Patagonia store in Hale'iwa, Hawaii sold me one of their canvas bags. The solutions to the problem of plastics in the ocean can really be quite simple: something as easy as using a reusable bag.
Comments
Hi there....the shelled creatures look like they may be goose-barnacles, which actually have nothing to do with geese even though The Welsh monk Giraldus Cambrensis claimed that he saw goose barnacles turn into barnacle geese in the twelfth century.
Posted by: paulo at November 2, 2006 3:57 PM
I have just learned about this trash vortex and I am feeling a bit emotional. I had no idea that this thing existed and that it is the size of TEXAS! What happened to us that humans have allowed this to happen and have not done a thing to fix it or clean it up? I don't use plastic bags, and now I will preach even more about using reusable bags. What can we do here on land? Please let me know how I can help, and get others involved or at least informed.
Danielle McDermott
Posted by: Danielle McDermott at November 8, 2006 1:07 AM
how expensive is it to clean the sea?
Posted by: ravi at December 3, 2006 11:42 PM
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