Plastic Pollution And The Plight Of The Planet
Author: Marlene Affeld


By negligently discarding plastic, especially plastic water
bottles, fishing gear and plastic bags, people are
unknowingly causing the deaths of millions of mammals,
fish, birds and reptiles every year.

We defile the face of the earth with plastic refuse. Since
the invention of plastic earlier this century, it has
become a popular material used in a wide variety of unique
and innovative applications. Plastic is used to make, or
wrap around, many of the items we buy or use. The problem
comes when we no longer want these items and how we dispose
of them, particularly the throwaway plastic material used
in wrapping or packaging. Plastic is handy, lightweight and
easily discarded. Too easily discarded.

Plastics are not themselves the problem. They are useful
materials which can be produced with relatively little
damage to the environment. The problem is the excessive use
of plastics in one-time applications together with careless
disposal.

Take a look around you. Plastic bags can readily be seen
hanging from the branches of trees, flying about on windy
days, settled amongst grasses and floating on streams. They
clog up drains causing water and sewage to overflow and
become the breeding grounds of germs and bacteria that
spread disease.

Plastics are utilized because they are easy and inexpensive
to manufacture, strong and durable. Unfortunately these
same useful qualities make plastic an overwhelming
pollution problem. Inferior quality and low cost means
plastic is readily discarded. Plastics take around 300
years to photo degrade. Plastics long life assures it
survival in the environment for extended periods where it
can do great harm. Because plastic does not easily
decompose and requires high energy ultra-violet light to
break down, the volume of plastic waste in the world's
oceans is steadily increasing.

Plastic is now found in virtually all the oceans and rivers
of the world, even the most remote and once pristine.

American oceanographer Charles Moore says the amount of
plastic pollution in the worlds oceans is so extensive it's
beyond cleaning up. A toxic plastic `graveyard' double the
size of Texas swirls in the waters of the Pacific between
San Francisco and Hawaii. There his crew found that the
water contained over 40 parts of plastic for every part
plankton, with a fivefold increase in the amount of plastic
between 1997 and 2007.

Annually approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used
worldwide. That is an unconscionable amount of waste, so
much that more than one million bags are used every minute
and their impact on the planet is devastating. Plastic bags
are only part of the problem. America alone, yearly
produces in excess of 800,000 tons of plastic bottle
pollution. World-wide our precious planet is defaced and
poisoned with more than 100 million tons of plastic
pollution annually.

According to the California Costal Commission, over 80% of
refuse within waterways, most of it being plastic,
originates on land rather than coming from boats.

Plastic affects marine wildlife in deadly ways: entangling
creatures and by being consumed.

Turtles are particularly devastated by plastic pollution.
All seven of the world's turtle species are already
endangered or threatened for a multitude of reasons.
Turtles become entangled in plastic fishing nets, and many
sea turtles have been found dead with plastic garbage bags
in their stomachs. Studies indicate turtles mistake these
floating semi-transparent bags for jellyfish and eat them.
The turtles die an inhumane death from choking or from
being unable to eat. A dead turtle found off the coast
Hawaii was found to have more than 1000 pieces of plastic
in its stomach including part of a comb, a toy truck wheel
and lank of nylon rope.

There is great environmental concern about the effect of
plastic trash on all marine mammals. These elegant
creatures are already under threat for a variety of other
reasons: e.g. seal and whale populations have been
decimated by unregulated hunting. A recent study concluded
that in excess of 100,000 marine mammals die needlessly
each year from the deadly effects of plastic pollution.

World-wide over 100 bird species are known to ingest
plastic particles. This includes 36 species found off the
coast of South Africa. A recent study of blue petrel
hatchlings at South Africa's remote Marion Island showed
that 90% of the chicks examined had plastic in their
digestive systems, apparently fed to them accidentally by
their parents. South African seabirds are among the worst
affected in the world. Plastics remain in the bird's
stomachs, impeding digestion and causing starvation.

Scientific studies are not conclusive about how much
plastic birds and fish are consuming, however scientist
agree that plastic in seafood is likely to be harmful for
people. Plastic is compared with better understood toxic
materials such as mercury. Plastic acts like a sponge when
in contact with poisons such as PCBs, concentrating them at
levels that are millions of time more than in seawater.

The ingredients in plastic have been linked to cancer and
reproductive abnormalities. Bisphenol A, found in plastic
water bottles, has been shown to produce cancer in lab
rats, to disrupt hormone levels and is associated with
diabetes and obesity.

Scientists also voice concerns that the massive swirls of
floating plastic could contribute to global warming by
creating a dense shade canopy that makes it difficult for
plankton to grow.

"When you defile the pleasant streams and the wild bird's
abiding place, you massacre a million dreams and cast your
spittle in God's face." ~ John Drinkwater

Let's look at a few different ways where "Together We Can
Make A Difference".

The crisis of plastic pollution demands urgent study and
action. Businesses should be encouraged to reduce the
amount of plastic used in packaging and to re-cycle.

Plastic wrapping and bags should be required to carry a
warning label advising of the dangers of plastic pollution
and shoppers should be encouraged to use eco-friendly
shopping bags of organic, natural materials or recycled
plastic fibers. Tell this to our law makers. The situation
only continues to worsen. We must act now!

When a tax levy was imposed on plastic bags in Ireland,
usage dropped by 90 percent. Several other countries have
already banned the use of plastic bags with significant
impact. America must follow their example. Support
re-cycling programs and promote environmental awareness in
your local community. Be pro-active in asking governments
to make changes and consumers to re-think their attitudes.
Purchase products requiring less plastic packaging and
inform store management why you are doing so. We can speak
with a loud voice when we speak with our "dollars".

Choose to drink tap or carbon filtered water from a glass
lined reusable container. If you do purchase plastic
bottled, dispose to the container properly. Recycle.

With the increase in environmental awareness, it has become
obvious that there is more that we can do to create a
sustainable society. If everyone of us would take a few
tiny steps, make a few different choices and consciously
consider our impact on the planet, there might be a way to
restore the world to its original beauty and resources.

Join us in protecting the diversity and quality of our
environment. We can all contribute to a healthier, greener
world.


About the Author:

M. Affeld is part of the Nandu Green team and writes of her
love of the environment and all things natural.
http://nandugreen.com