I rarely drop so many posts in the morning, and I have several more sitting in draft, as well as some other pieces of interest saved to Pocket, but I feel rather strongly on this one. Kudos to typically hyper – Warmist Chris Mooney for leaving “climate change” out of the story (others, who will remain linkless, didn’t)
(Washington Post) A major new study of the world’s oceans has reached a shocking conclusion: Thanks to humans, there are now over 5 trillion pieces of plastic, weighing more than 250,000 tons, floating in water around the world.
With a global population of about 7.2 billion, that’s nearly 700 pieces per person.
I’d highly recommend reading the entire article, as well as a few others via Memeorandum. I can’t stress enough the damage that all that plastic can do, and is doing, to our oceans. I may not be a believer in human caused climate change, but true environmentalism is very important to me.
And, yes, I buy plastic. I reuse and recycle. I do my damned best to not litter. But I have to wonder what happens after I have my plastics picked up in the recycling bin. I pledge to do better.
Regardless of your beliefs, we should be better stewards of the planet. On this issue I have no problem being preachy.
AJ Strata makes a good point
It is disgusting how we REALLY pollute our world (as opposed the nutty “CO2 Is Poison!†meme we get from the Green Blob).
My view, we should take the IPCC funds and do something tangible with them (and reduce the CO2 and heat from all the hot air that body produces in the process).
Yup.
I’m pretty sure that climate change causes an increase in plastic items found floating in the ocean.
I read the report yesterday as well and was disgusted by it.
The only good news about this is that it should present an economic opportunity for someone as they can make a ship that can go around the world scooping up, grinding up, and then returning the plastic to a country to be recycled.
This would be perfect for a coalition like the UN to take on which is sadly why it won’t happen.
As you know I live in a beachside community and we see people all the time who leave stuff on the beaches. Each month there is a beach clean up but it is not enough. I will never understand the actions of some who come to the beach to play, frolic and admire the beauty, and then leave crap all over the place which destroys that beauty.
I wonder if computer models account for sea rise associated with 250,000 tons of plastic.
Jim, please tell me you’re joking. Please.
gitarcarver, from what I’ve read, over 90% of that stuff is micro-particle size. No need to grind it up. I expect gathering it in the first place would be the challenge.