Environmental Health

Garbage Island is not a myth. Opera did a small story on it here.
I found a really informative video done by vice. You should watch it today!

The problem begins at the top of the production chain. Virgin pellets to bottle caps make their way to the ocean and accumulate in the “pacific swirl” called the gyre and is over twice the size of Texas. 

It breaks down into microscopic pieces that invade everywhere. Not only does it block gasses, it gets consumed by sea life.

Bioaccumulation – toxic substance accumulated in various tissues of a living organism. It has become a synthetic environment. 

Industrial chemicals are interrupting the genetics of the ocean life affecting reproduction. A plastic soup that is over 6 to 1 ratio of plastic to life, fish and birds are attracted to the red and orange micro plastics and eat them.

When plastics break down they become a sponge for the persistent organic pollutants or poisonous chemicals like DDT. They become more toxic the smaller they get.

 “Persistent organic pollutants are chemical substances that persist in the environment, bioaccumulate through the food web, and pose a risk of causing adverse effects to human health and the environment” United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP)

The island is not a tangible garbage dump, but swirled in the ocean like a plastic soup, a composition of the ocean that is near inescapable. There is no policing the waters, how do we clean it up or enforce pollution laws? 

In 1997 the UNEP approximated 6.4 million tons of marine litter worldwide per year are dumped into the ocean. 

Possible solutions? Control the runoff. Comb it out of the Ocean. Boycott non recyclable plastic. We must change the way we think in order to solve this problem!

Here is some more information from National Geographic.