Ocean Toxic Soup – Are There Remedies?
Last Sunday, which was the end of the official celebration of Earth Day, Fr. Rob preached on the visible signs of human plastic pollution in the Pacific Gyre – the size of Texas. A gyre is where ocean currents create a whirlpool effect that brings floating things closer together.
Fr. Rob went on to say that the worst part is less visible and more dangerous. This is the toxic soup created as the plastics break into smaller and smaller bits that are layers and layers deep – some reaching the ocean floor. These bits are seen as food to marine creatures and birds. There are five gyres all together in the oceans –two in the Pacific, two in the Atlantic and one in the Indian Ocean.
Besides these gyres (all with toxic soup and debris fields), there are hotspots of intense pollution in bays close to cities, areas where rivers meet the ocean and beach areas where industries dump into waterways and where landfills close to oceans leach into the water. This plastic soup is not just “toss-away” items from households, it is packaging materials, building materials, automotive materials, electronic materials, agriculture materials, and industrial waste.
Recycling itself is not enough to curb the problem. Two items rarely considered are the synthetic garments that slough off threads of fiber when washed, and cosmetics and sunscreens that contain plastics. The plastic industry itself tosses tiny nodules of waste plastic from the manufacturing process.
What can we do? It always begins with reduction. Purchasing power is real – stop buying plastics as much as you can as well as clothing made with synthetic fibers. Learn how to filter out fibers from washing the ones you have (guppy bags and washing machine filters). Take your reusable bags to do shopping – including mesh bags for produce. Say no to plastic bags (1 million plastic bags are used in the U.S. – every minute). Bring your own reusable water bottle (3 million water bottles are used in the U.S. every hour but only 50% are recycled). Say no to plastic straws (500 million plastic straws are used in one day in the U.S.). Use glass storage containers for left-over food and learn to phase out plastic wrap and little baggies (hard, but doable). Support cleanup efforts and organizations that conserve oceans. Advocate governmental regulation of the plastics industry. Keep recycling.
Yes, we can help protect the oceans – remember the ocean health is connected to our health.
Earth Steward Action: Which one of the suggestions listed is hardest for you to do? Practice that one this week.
Sources: https://www.plasticsoupfoundation.org/en/
https://www.5gyres.org , https://donate/oceanconservancy/org/donate/