NOT Eco-friendly. Death by Plastic

It’s definitely not Eco-friendly. It’s Death by Plastic

What You'll Discover Here:

A gentle ocean giant was stranded on a Spanish beach and died. The world’s largest predator – the sperm whale – suffered death by plastic. The poor whale had nearly 30 kilograms of indigestible plastic in his stomach, including shopping bags, fishing nets and a jerry can.

A grey whale near Seattle was washed ashore after it died. The contents of its stomach included 20 plastic bags, small towels, surgical gloves, sweat pants, plastic pieces, duct tape, and a golf ball.

A rare Gervais beaked whale was found on a beach in Puerto Rico with ten pounds (4.5kg) of twisted plastic in its stomach. The plastic caused the whale to starve to death. Another beaked whale died after ingesting a single plastic bag because the chemicals reacted badly with the whale’s internal organs.

Sadly, marine mammals around the world are suffering similar fates. It’s estimated that plastic pollution kills at least 100,000 marine mammals every year. (And that’s only marine mammals, not all the marine life that suffers death by plastic).

Why Do They Eat Plastic?

To understand, you need to see the world as they do.

A plastic bag ballooned with water can look a lot like squid or other prey to the seals and marine mammals that hunt them.

Species that use a type of sonar to locate their food can also mistake plastic for food.

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What About Entanglement?

The other way that plastic pollution affects ocean mammals is through entanglement, and one of the worst offenders is abandoned fishing gear, often called ghost nets – gear that’s either deliberately jettisoned or washed from ships or shorelines. The abandoned gear continues to snare sea creatures.

Is It Only Plastic?

No. Canadian research showed that industrial pollutants (e.g. pesticides and flame retardants) are a health hazard for polar bears in East Greenland. How? By eating food – seals and seal blubber – containing these harmful substances. Also, industrial toxins get to polar bear territory near Greenland because that is where air and water currents join – the contaminants arrive there through the air and are carried by water currents from North America and Europe.

You’ve probably read or seen media coverage of the threat to polar bears from the currently-higher levels of melting sea ice. Polar bears need sea ice to hunt from and live on.

Now we know that habitat destruction isn’t their only threat; they are also being poisoned by man-made chemicals.

What’s the Connection?

The connection between plastic, pesticides, and flame retardants is simple – they’re all produced from oil.

Should You Be W0rried?

Whales and polar bears are a long way away, after all.

Let’s bring it closer to home.

Research found that a sample of dogs and cats in the United States and elsewhere had very high levels of flame retardants. Why? There are flame retardants in household furniture that can leak from the products and disperse into the environment. Also, many dog beds, as well as dog foods, contain flame retardants.

They’re also found in foods such as processed meat, peanut butter and fish.

And they’re added to furniture to reduce fire risk, but particles get into house dust.

And all of that means that us humans also have flame retardants in us.

Scary!

But I Don’t Litter!

if you’re thinking “I don’t litter, so I’m not contributing to the problem“, you’re right! (Partly).

But if you use normal household cleaners, their micro-pellets can end up in the sea. (Green cleaners avoid some of these problems).
If we buy things wrapped in plastic (and it’s hard not to), we’re creating demand for more plastic to be produced.
If we buy the latest electronic gadgets (while our current one is just fine) we are demanding more plastic.
When we buy goods and food from overseas, they’re often transported to you via ships that need to dispose of rubbish.

We can’t stop it overnight, but we can certainly be more aware of our plastic use and try to use and buy less.

Want to know more? Watch this short video. It’s fascinating! (By the way, if you see or hear a reference to the Pacific Vortex, it’s simply another name for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch).

How about a fun video from actor Jeremy Irons?

5 myths debunked about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Just how common is plastic in our daily lives?

How Can You Help?

Marine mammals, of course, don’t understand the dangers plastics pose to them, and so they innocently suffer death by plastic.

This problem was created by humans, and only humans can fix it.

Millions of tons of plastic leaks into our oceans, and this goes on to kill marine mammals, birds and other creatures.

Turning this tide starts at an individual level:

Use your own cutlery, food containers and reusable cups or bottles when getting takeaway, rather than using disposable alternatives.
Participate in beach or community cleanups.
Tell the waiter to ‘hold the straw’ when purchasing drinks.
Recycle everything you can.

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Editor’s Note – this article was originally published in 2011 and has been updated with new information.

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