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Sunday, December 12, 2010

Wildlife in the Waste

In previous posts I have explained what ocean pollution actually is and what it mainly consists of, I have detailed just two of thousands of locations that are being effected, and the effort some people are making to put an end to this problem. As a final push to encourage you to reduce your use of plastic and to recycle more efficiently, I will give you some insight on lives the plastic pollution is having the biggest effect on. It is not humans, for we are the ones who produce it- it’s the helpless creatures of the ocean who reside in and near these wasted waters.
Some obvious effects on animals:
-          Plastics and other garbage can be mistaken as food that will choke, poison or make the creature think they are full when there is no nutritional value what so ever.
-          Discarded fishing nets that are aimlessly floating continue to catch sea-creatures and enable them to get loose or to be rescued. This is called ghost fishing.
-          Mammals and other animals can get caught in the trash causing potential strangling.
According to the whio.edu, The National Marine Mammal Laboratory reported in the 70’s, when this problem first starting being noticed, that plastic entanglement was the cause of death for more than 40,000 seals a year. Within the span of 30 years, the population of Northern Fur Seals declined by 50 percent. If the entanglement wasn’t the cause of death, exhaustion, starvation or indigestion was.  Listed below are some of the species most endangered due to debris:
  • Loggerhead Turtle
  • Southern Right Whale
  • Blue Whale
  • Tristan Albatross
  • Northern Royal Albatross
  • Gould's Petrel
There are also about fourteen species that are on the Vulnerable Species List, most of them being either a specie of turtle or albatross. The World Wildlife Foundation reported that nearly 100,000 marine mammals are killed each year by plastic trash. During a clean-up done by volunteers of the Ocean Conservancy in 2008, they found 443 entangled animals, and of that, only 288 were alive and later released.
 It is unfortunate that these animals are helpless in their defense against the trash. Just because we may not directly feel the effects of this pollution doesn’t mean that it is not damaging lives.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Gulf of Alaska Keeper Marine Debris Cleanup

Plastic in Gore Point

Now that I have giving some detail of Punta Allen, and the problems they are having with ocean trash, lets head north to the cold coast of Alaska and learn of their similar, yet still daunting problems with marine debris.


In this post we will be taking a look at Alaska’s Gore Point, and the individuals that are doing their best to clean up the unforgiving, and never ending pollution on their pristine beaches. According to a New York Times article, in 2004, two oceanographers from the British Antarctic Survey reported that trash had officially spanned both hemispheres of the Atlantic, and said that on average there was a piece of plastic every five meters. What is different about this location however is that on most of Alaska’s coast, the debris washed up is coming from other people. This is because most of Alaska’s shoreline contains no people. This is where we find Gore Point.

Gore Point, Alaska is part of a 400,000-acre maritime wilderness in the heart of Kenai Fjords National Park. Gore Point is only accessible by boat, helicopter, or seaplane and is commonly known as a “collector beach” because of its windward facing shores. It is because of this that pollution from the sea ends up deep in the heart of the forest. Gore Point is also the subject of clean up for many volunteer groups. Volunteer and awareness groups like the Ocean Conservancy and International Coastal Clean Up, along with groups of schoolchildren and more, flock to Gore Point because of the beauty that is being destroyed. One of the clean-up groups most closely associated with Gore Point is that of GoAK, or Gulf of Alaska Keeper, formed originally in the late 1990’s by Anchorage’s own, Chris Pallister, along with other dedicated citizens.


During its first action packed summer, GoAK collected 35 tons of trash among a 350 mile stretch of rugged and remote shoreline. Volunteers for GoAK must be 18-years-old or older and must also sign a waver which they agree not to hold the organization liable for perils like “dangerous storms; hypothermia; sun or heat exposure; drowning; vehicle transportation and transfer; rocky, slippery and dangerous shorelines; tool and trash related injuries; bears; and” — in case that list left anything out — “other unforeseen events.” The expanding program faces the daunting task of cleaning up 3500 miles of shoreline in the Prince William Sound.



Check out GoAK’s slide shown on what they are trying to do, and what they have done, it is pretty neat and I hope it encourages you to KEEP RECYCLING!


 
If slideshow is not working click HERE

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Plastic and Pollution on La Playa in Punta Allen

As I mentioned in earlier posts, Punta Allen Sian Kaán is one of my most favorite places in the world. Punta Allen is located in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo and is the largest town in the Sian Kaán Biosphere Reserve, a program established to promote an interdisciplinary approach to research, training, and communications in ecosystem conservation. Although I only spent a short amount of time in this beautiful place, it was very clear that the residents of this town were waging a relentless war against trash (particularly plastic) that is washing up on their practically untouched beaches.  We stayed in an awesome house called Serenidad Shardon and where the owner kindly lent us anything we needed in return for a garbage bag full of trash we collected off the beach. Of course, we were more than happy to do this, but while picking up thoes never ending bits and peices of trash, the reality of the situation became more and more heartbreaking. It made a huge impact on me, and hopefully this blog will make an impact on you. I was able to get in touch with some residents from Punta Allen who were kind enough to point me in the direction of the following report. I hope that this will give you a glimps of some of the efforts being made to try and reduce this unfortunate pollution problem.

Punta Allen Green Project (PAVER) was born as a joint initiative between some mothers of primary school Punta Allen. Subsequently, other community members joined this project.

Project Scope PAVER

Whereas:
i) Punta Allen is located in a Biosphere Reserve, where the use of resources should be sustainable without compromising other forms of life;
ii) Punta Allen has a small population (about 500 inhabitants)
iii) The majority of families, restaurants, cooperatives and shops. do not separate their waste;
iv) However, there are people willing to have a waste separation program;
v) Since there have been initiatives of waste separation and cleaning of Punta Allen
vi) Punta Allen already has a storage facility;
vii) The smaller a population is, the speed and ease their awareness and implementation of initiatives is another;

PAVER Project Inauguration

PAVER Project was inaugurated on Friday, April 23, 2010, and also celebrating Earth Day. The day began with a video presentation "Environmental Heroes" (performed by volunteers from GVI (click HERE to watch the video)) in which he explained in an entertaining, how and what can be separated. The day passed with a beach cleanup and a Punta Allen, a carnival (where the maximum was reduced waste production), then, while the volleyball tournament and passed ball foot, the children had to separate their waste in their respective boats, the day concluded with a presentation on the project and the separation of garbage as well as the delivery of examinations. All children received a badge of "environmental police" and the winners (boy and girl having collected the highest amount of waste and good separation of them) were also the costumes of "environmental heroes", built by reusing materials.

PAVER Project Objectives

To date there have been small meetings and, finally succeeded in forming a committee composed of a president, vice president, treasury, secretary, representatives of each cooperative and representatives from each school.

In general, PAVER Project has several objectives that are interlinked to each other:

i) Raise awareness and educate the people of Punta Allen on the problem of garbage
ii) Have a program of separation of solid waste in this community;
iii) Acquisition of resources through the sale of waste;
iv) Maintenance of storage facility;
v) That in the near future the project to sustain itself;
vi) Make Punta Allen an example to follow.

In a timely manner PAVER Project aims to start with small initiatives and go, slowly, toward greater. In this way it is intended, initially:

i) Organize regular lectures and workshops for different groups (restaurants, cooperatives, schools, families);
ii) Conduct, with a van, weekly collections of previously separate waste at home;
iii) Conduct regular cleaning of beaches and the people;
iv) Maintain proper storage facility;
v) continuously educate the children, helping them to properly separate their waste in schools (and homes if possible);
vi) Make compost organic waste from restaurants;
vii) Other initiatives may be increased in the course of the project.

The Riviera Maya tends to population growth and tourism, which also inevitably involves increased production of waste. Despite the tourism, Punta Allen is still isolated from the massive growth and, considering the above points (in the context of the Project), the link between the community of Punta Allen to be maintained and strengthened. These two key "ingredients": i) support of sponsors and ii) the pro-activity of the people of Punta Allen are the ones that allow "season" with the progress of the Project Quality PAVER.






Wednesday, November 17, 2010

"If it can, it will."

With the previous blog posts being a little more stream-line and serious, I thought I would take a minute to share with you the things that I have been doing to try and cut back on my plastic use. Before I went to Punta Allen and saw all the plastic on the beach, and even before I started doing research on the problem, I was your average, plastic-pumping person. My parents, however, raised me and my brother to be conscious about things like recycling, not littering, and keeping trash to a minimum; I think this has helped me in cutting back my plastic use today. Recently, I have made a strong effort to:



- Ask the cashiers at Wal-Mart to use as few bags as possible… did you know they wrap a bottle of wine with one plastic bag, and then put it into another? What a waist.
- My roommates and I do not throw away our plastic bags; since we have moved in we just thrown them in a separate bucket that has been long sense overflowing. I took them to Wal-Mart where they have a bag-drop. (It’s free!)
- I have recently realized that the use of a lid and straw on paper cups is entirely unnecessary unless you are traveling at fast speeds or around sharp turns.
- I have begun to use my Nalgene water bottle every day instead of buying 24-packs of plastic water bottles. Tip: Put them in the freezer over night for long-lasting cold water.
- Most importantly, I recycle everything that can possibly be recycled. My slogan; “If it can, it will.” Meaning, if it can be recycled, it will be recycled.


So it’s not a lengthy list, but I am proud of the effort I am making. If anyone has more ideas to help me be more anti-plastic, please feel free to pitch in!


I know you were probably wondering, “enough with the psycho-babble, where is the video?” Well, I won’t hold you back anymore; check out this rendition of the song “Empire State of Mind” (originally performed by Jay Z and Alicia Keys) that these young people did as their way of speaking out against plastic pollution.


One of the arguments made in the video is to ban the use of plastic bags; well, their message was heard. As of yesterday, November 16th, 2010, a ban passed on the use of plastic bags from unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, in California. THIS IS AWESOME!



ARE YOU DOING YOUR PART?

Monday, November 15, 2010

Patch-zilla

I hope you found that video interesting AND encouraging. Obviously the Pacific Gyre is nothing to shrug your shoulders at, and slowly more and more people are becoming aware of what a massive problem this actually is. If you don’t know about it, or want to know more read on… or at least look at the pictures!






As you know from my previous post, the gyre is actually so big that it has split into two separate patches. According to Howstuffworks.com, the patches are connected by the Subtropical Convergence Zone, a 6,000-mile long current. Considering that this only connects the two gyres, millions of pound of trash collect in the current as well.






Let’s dig a little deeper and take a look into what the patches really consist of. As I have mentioned earlier, the patch mainly consists of plastic. A study done in 2006 by The United Nations Environment Program reported that every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of plastic. The world produces over 200 billion pounds of plastic a year, and about 10 percent of it ends up in the ocean. Also according to Howstuffworks.com, seventy percent of this plastic sinks, while the rest of it floats or washes up on shore.




According to wikipedia.org, when plastics reach the ocean, they often break down into smaller pieces, while still remaining a polymer, or a large molecule composed of repeating structural units, connected by covalent chemical bonds. This process continues until the previous solid plastic, and eventually releases toxic chemicals into the ocean such as bisphenol A, PCBs and polystyrene.


With all this said, CLICK HERE to  watch yet another wonderful video.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

A Pacific Full of Plastic

I’m sure that you are wondering where all of this trash is winding up. I have mentioned the location of Punta Allen, Mexico and the battle they are waging with the trash monster. There is a lot of information still to come on that, as well as the trash war occuring at Alaska's Gore Point. But for right now, check out this video on what is commonly known as the “pacific gyre” AKA the “pacific vortex” “garbage patch” or “the floating island.”
Quick facts about this gorilla of ocean garbage:
-          Technically called the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre
-          Located in the northern section of the Pacific Ocean
-          It mostly consists of plastic
-          It is the largest landfill in the world, and it is floating in the ocean
-          It has actually gotten so large that it has broken into two separate gyres:  The Western Pacific Garbage Patch, and the Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch
-          Scientists have estimated that the Eastern Patch is bigger than the size of Texas.
Without further ado, CHECK IT OUT!