And, of course, plastics interact with our own bodies (perhaps even causing obesity and infertility) in equally horrific ways:
This statistic is grim--for marine animals, of course, but even more so for humans. The more invisible and ubiquitous the pollution, the more likely it will end up inside us. And there's growing--and disturbing--proof that we're ingesting plastic toxins constantly, and that even slight doses of these substances can severely disrupt gene activity. "Every one of us has this huge body burden," Moore says. "You could take your serum to a lab now, and they'd find at least 100 industrial chemicals that weren't around in 1950." The fact that these toxins don't cause violent and immediate reactions does not mean they're benign: Scientists are just beginning to research the long-term ways in which the chemicals used to make plastic interact with our own biochemistry.
With plastics, it will be difficult for our baseline to shift since:
Except for the small amount that's been incinerated--and it's a very small amount--every bit of plastic ever made still exists.
Though the author says there is a growing "awareness of just how hard we've bitch-slapped the planet," awareness simply doesn't seem to be enough. I'm left wondering, honestly, what are we going to do about plastic?
Also, friend of Shifting Baselines, Anna Cummins, is currently on board the Alguita, Dr. Charles Moore's (who is profiled in the article above) independently financed research vessel to study plastics in the sea. They are studying the garbage patch out in the middle of the North Pacific. Find out more about their journey at the Alguita blog.
Environment
Comments
How do we know that turtle wasn't thrilled to have such a slender and sexy waistline?
Posted by: Randy Olson | February 14, 2008 6:08 AM
I remember buying soda in glass bottles. Juice, pickles, and maple syrup, too. Milk came in glass bottles as well, IIRC, but I only remember cardboard containers. My father used a razor that was made of metal. The only thing that was thrown away when his razor became dull was the blade.
Plastic containers are cheaper and faster to make. That's what it all comes down to. As usual. We'e just reaping what we've sown.
Posted by: samk | February 14, 2008 1:55 PM
Thanks Jennifer for recommending the Plastic Oceans article. The article's a superb account of a grim subject.
Posted by: Liz | February 14, 2008 10:16 PM
Alan Weisman covered this pretty well in his blockbuster book "the world without us" I thought. Orion magazine chose to excerpt the chapter on plastic and it's here in its entirety, including a long treatment of plastic in the marine food chain and a chat with one of the folks who discovered the"Great Pacific Garbage Patch."
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/270/
Posted by: Erik Hoffner | February 15, 2008 11:50 AM
And yet here's a use for all those drift nets. Wrap this stuff up, compress it til it's really as dense as possible, weight it down, and sink it somewhere it'll go deep into the mud and then into a subduction trench. How much carbon is tied up in this horror?
Posted by: Hank Roberts | February 15, 2008 6:38 PM
You folks that ARE concerned should support the plastic back into oil process,there is a process from India and one from the US.
The indian lady professors system is self powering.
Providing the cure without waitng for THEM is the only way it will be fixed.
Posted by: EarthScientist | March 24, 2008 2:33 PM