· “...2/3rds of the earth is ocean, and is now a plastic soup.” [Moore] also showed the shriveled stomach from the rainbow runner [he] caught a couple weeks ago, with 14 fragments of plastic in its stomach.”
o http://junkraft.blogspot.com/
· “There are over 20,000 man-made chemicals produced by the billions of pounds annually that are dispersed throughout the globe in an open loop of consumption that often ends as waste to be buried, burned or to flow down coastal watersheds out to sea.”
o http://junkraft.blogspot.com/
· “Plastic in the oceanic garbage dump outweighs zooplankton six to one, and goes as far down as 300 feet below sea level—here’s hoping the plastic raft’s voyage gathers some more attention.”
o http://blogs.discovermagazine.com
· “In 1999 there was 0.002 gram of plastic per square meter of ocean in the Eastern Garbage Patch, and as of 2005 there was 0.004 gram per square meter in the same place. In that same period plastic production in North America alone experienced double-digit growth, topping 113 billion pounds in 2006, according to the plastics division of the American Chemistry Council in Arlington, Virginia.”
o http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jul/10-the-worlds-largest-dump/article_view?b_start:int=1&-C=
Some more statistics I found were:
ReplyDeleteThe majority of marine debris comes from people's mishandling of waste materials while on land.
A glass bottle takes one million years to break down in the environment.
Every day, the average American discards 4.5 pounds of trash.
Seabirds and marine mammals are affected by ingestion of, and entanglement in marine debris.
An aluminum can takes 80 to 200 years to break down in the environment.
Marine debris entanglement and ingestion has been reported in six of seven sea turtle species worldwide.
Debris can be blown into the water or carried by creeks, rivers, storm drains and sewers into the ocean.
A plastic bag takes 10 to 20 years to degrade in the environment.
It is illegal to dispose of any plastics in all U.S. waters and anywhere at sea.
A cigarette filter takes one to five years to break down in the environment.
In 2005, collisions with floating and submerged objects caused 269 boating accidents, resulting in 15 deaths, 116 injuries and $2.9 million in property damage.
A newspaper takes six weeks to degrade in the environment.