Baby Albatross Stomach Contents Illustrate Our Pollution of Earth

[Wise Young]

Originally Posted by rdf

That's good stuff they're doing Wise. I wish there were more like-minded people and organizations than now exist that do similar recycling with plastics. There are a lot of conscientious people in this world, but their recycling efforts will never keep up with what we throw away each day.

But they keep plodding along, and that attitude is some of what's good in this world.

We are holding a The International Conference of Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine for Neurodegenerative Diseases in the Tzu Chi Buddhist Hospital in Hualien next month. That is the headquarters of Tzu Chi

Wise.

[rdf]

The Tzu Chi is a pretty impressive group, after reading your links about the foundation. There might be something to the pragmatic practice of Buddhism - I've known a few people who were Buddhists, and they were certainly above the norm when it came to giving to and helping other people, and the world at large. I always admired that they were so peaceful with their lives, and most didn't yearn for the material.

Is the foundation funded in any part by the government? Or is it all funded by the members and their relatives. I read that some government officials belong to Tzu Chi.

“Save people with 50 cents” - I think simple yet powerful themes can do wonders, and rally people to different beneficial causes. It works for this foundation. Just a simple theme, that's all it takes. Not spin tested, PR tested, foucs group tested; just a simple belief and a few words. That's how you save the world.

Originally Posted by Wise Young

We are holding a The International Conference of Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine for Neurodegenerative Diseases in the Tzu Chi Buddhist Hospital in Hualien next month. That is the headquarters of Tzu Chi

Wise.

[jody]

I have heard about the floating islands of trash as far back as mid seventies. If anyone has ever seen the animated movie Finding Nemo, the trash is carried on a stream of current like the one the sea creatures ride through the ocean to find the little fish. if you look on youtube you can learn more about the floating trash, and how it is turning into an ocean of semi liquid plastic that is broken down by the salt water and intense sun after time, into a jet stream in the sea that has very little living things left larger than planktons and bacteria. It would be good if we could find a way to get it out. it eventually gets washed up on reefs atols and unihabited islands that are breeding islands for many types of sea birds.

[jody]

plastic milk jug ring. turtle swam through it when it was a baby. aside from the plastic soup, the other thing most found in the oceans and on shores is cigarette Debee. the filter material and the packaging. albatross seem to like lighters too. there were pleany of other picks, but we have all seen picks of seals with plastic and fishing line around their necks. the turtle has been floating in my hard drive for a few years now.

[Wise Young]

Originally Posted by jim sampson

almost all of the plastic in both pictures is recyclable,bottle tops are polypropylene,polypropylene prices are skyrocketing and the recycled streams are in short supply.

Yes, it seems to me that the first and logical place to start would be for all the cruise ships to stop trashing the ocean. According to studies, they contributed 20% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It seems that they should be the first to stop polluting. After all, it is the ocean that they depend on. Every cruise ship should return to port with the garbage they produce, segregated by type and process, delivered to responsible recycling factories.

The next step should be to create ships to collect and recycle the plastic in the ocean. As I understand it, the plastic are slowly degrading into particles and may be distributed fairly deeply in the ocean. Much the garbage is also dangerous to ships, fouling propellers and keeping ships from going through. So, a special ship may be necessary to collect and process the plastic into something useful, like blankets.


Wise.

[jody]

it didn't occur to me that cruise ships would not returne to port with their trash. and yes I wondered why the plastic has not been gathered up by now and recycled. I guess it would have to be a world effort. like several countries having ships made to take on the task of cleaning it up. I often went to the beach early in the morning, and discovered a group of people that would go and clean up what washed ashore. most lived nearer than I, but it became someting I often did to clear my mind. later people who could not pay their fines were to clean up the roadsides and beaches. it was hardly anything compared to what is out at sea. the particulate plastic will be very hard to clean up.

[jim sampson]

if it is true that 20% of the plastic garbage in the oceans is put their by cruise ships then 80% is deposited by nincompoops leaving their bottle tops at the beach or tossing their tops and butts on to a city street where it is carried into the ocean by storm drains.public perception of small things not being litter has to improve.peoples attitudes have to improve.the cruise industry should be ashamed of spoiling the beauty they charge people to see.but every human owns a share of blame,so every human is responsible to help repair the damage that has occurred and prevent future damage from occurring.when we see people throw something on the ground we should

a. tell them about it
b. try to get them to pick it up
c. if a and b dont work we should pick it up ourselves

[jim sampson]

wise,
in a perfect world the trash would not be there.maybe we should start a letter campaign to the cruise ship industry,cargo container companies,and exxon mobil to look into cleaning the mess.in my limited first hand knowledge of the problem here on the east coast the biggest contributor to the problem is commercial fishing.their nets and lines(sometimes their lines are 2 inches in diameter and a mile long)litter the surface of the coastal waterways.their jetsam acts as a magnet for other smaller garbage.the only upside is that often fish find these flotillas to be protective habitats from bigger fish.

[Wise Young]

Originally Posted by jody

plastic milk jug ring. turtle swam through it when it was a baby. aside from the plastic soup, the other thing most found in the oceans and on shores is cigarette Debee. the filter material and the packaging. albatross seem to like lighters too. there were pleany of other picks, but we have all seen picks of seals with plastic and fishing line around their necks. the turtle has been floating in my hard drive for a few years now.

jody, that turtle picture is just one of the grossest pictures that I have seen. Several efforts have been underway for over 2 decades to reduce the plastic garbage in the ocean.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science...nep/index.html

Volunteer efforts try to address the issue now, and the Ocean Conservancy says it organizes the largest of these.

Last year, 400,000 volunteers from more than 100 countries picked up 6.8 million pounds of trash from beaches, preventing it from harming the ocean, said Tom McCann, a spokesman for the group.

"It's entirely preventable," he said of the problem. "It's something we can solve ourselves."

McCann said people can prevent trash from ending up in the ocean by making smarter choices about the products they buy.

Some of the Ocean Conservancy's recommendations include:

Buy products with smart packaging that doesn't create excess waste.
Use alternatives to plastic such as cloth grocery bags and reusable bottles.

Actually, as I read more about it... the main sources of plastic that get into the ocean come from:

1. plastic litter flushed down the toilet, into storm sewers, and overflow from water treatment plants
2. garbage dumped by boats and ships into the ocean. In 1975, the National Academy of Science estimated that 14 billion pounds of garbage were being dumped into the ocean every year. That was 35 years ago. The United States is responsible for about a third of this ocean pollution. Even though it has been illegal for ships to dump plastics into the ocean, it has continued.
3. fishermen leave thousands of miles of driftnets and other gears in the ocean every year.

The consequences include many animals. For example, the National Marine Mammal Laboratory concluded that plastic is killing up to 40,000 seals a year. Millions of seabirds and sea turtles, countless fish, and others are dying. The Center for Marine Conservation has been coordinating coastal cleanups since 1986, including nationwide campaigns that took place in the United States. The MARPOL treaty of 1988 was an international treaty that forbade the dumping of debris into the ocean. Canada and Mexico joined in the cleanup. In 1993, over 3.1 million pounds of trash was collected. (Source).

[jim sampson]

when we are dumping in 14,000,000,000 lbs a year,removal of 3,100,000 seems like a very small step.but any step in the right direction is a good step.