Plastic. Plastic Everywhere!!!

‘The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.’

 

A month ago or so we did a litter pick around the edge of Farlington Marshes, dragging the accumulated detritus off the foreshore. This was a difficult and rather smelly job for the volunteers. There are pinch points around the marsh where lots of flotsam and jetsam accumulate, telling a long story of activities on the high seas for those of an imaginative bent. Stories of shipwrecks and piracy abound and the odd drinks can from the 70’s or foreign object allows one to marvel at the stretch of the currents and the force of the sea to move objects long distances. Our education teams would have had a field day, spinning tales for the kids in the fantastic way that they do, capturing their imaginations about the natural world.

Unfortunately for me when embarking in a life based around conservation, you get rather cynical. What this litter pick brought forth for me was not a dramatized romantic notion of the sea but the disturbing truth that plastic is a major and growing problem out there, one where the true reach cannot be seen.

Some of it is visible and what I found most shocking was the fine, sand like multicolored strand line around the edge of the site. Billions of pieces of plastic forming a rainbow around the edge of the concrete wall. This ranged from pieces the size of a grain of sand to small floating pieces of polystyrene but all massed together as the calm sea slowly receded, leaving the evidence of several life times of wasteful and excessive plastic use.

billions of fine grounds of plastic and polystyrene 

What you have to bear in mind is that this is the tip of the iceberg. Not even the tip, the first ice crystal at the very tip. Plastic is a colossal problem in our oceans one that is going to have long lasting effects, perhaps even irreversible ones.

Recently a cuviers beaked whale drifted into a harbour in Norway. It was clearly in distress and despite valiant attempts to help it was eventually deamed the best thing to do was to kill it. It was promptly shot and an autopsy was carried out. What was discovered, I found shocking beyond belief. 30 plastic bags knotted into a mass within it’s stomach . The poor whale starved to death. I’m very fond of whales and beaked whales like this are not only truly magnificent animals but so little is known about them, it is nice to have something still mysterious out there.

This is not an isolated incident. either. A cuviers washed up on Skye not too long ago with the exact same issue.

I was confused over why they would eat plastic bags. Cetaceans are generally quite clever animals. Surely they could tell apart a plastic bag from a squid? I then read up on the subject and it makes a lot of sense in the end. Cuviers dive to great depths to hunt squid and other such deep diving cephalopods. At that depth visibility is poor and the way that they feed is through echolocation. A series of clicks and whistles rebound off their prey and they can essentially see what they are hunting but in this method, a plastic bag looks, (or sounds I suppose) just like a squid. Hence a stomach full of plastic. How are plastic bags at that depth! It shows that at all levels of the ocean, plastic has penetrated and is causing issues.

One of the most disturbing things that I have heard is the reference to marine plastic flour. This is the term used for the plastic floating around the ocean that is so minuscule that it is likened to flour. A scary thought when you think of the accumulation within the bodies of sea going animals. Even scarier is the thought that if you eat seafood, you are potentially eating accumulated plastic. That can’t be good!

Well what is the solution? Is there even one? With all these things, mass species decline, global warming, loss of habitat, uncontrolled development, mass agriculture and pesticide use, it may seem like there isn’t one but I fully believe that we can curb it and even reverse it but it requires effort from all of us. I found a quote the other day which I feel is so important I have put in in bold!  Dramatic I know but I feel necessary

 

The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.

 

This is one of the most pertinent phrases out there and a trap that we all fall in to. It is that classic mentality that you carry on an activity because the millions of others around you are and if you were to stop, at minor inconvenience to yourself, it will make little difference. The trouble is, most of the other people around you are thinking that and the wheel of self destruction keeps turning.

It all sound very preachy I know and I”ll be the first to admit that I fall in to the trap over and over again. Plastic is everywhere and unavoidable. Your weekly shop at any major superstore will mean plastic by the bucket load, despite the heavy reduction in plastic bags. Broccoli wrapped in clingfilm, oranges in bags, strawberries in punnets. It all seems a bit unnecessary and goodness knows I’m not going from one shop to another to get all the bits separately!

As with all these things, public demand drives the major distributors to change. Try and reduce and you will fall in to the habit. It takes time to work it all out, what you can buy and from where. In this day and age, nobody wants to spend two hours in a supermarket trying to work out how to buy stuff without plastic but over time, you can work it out.

So yes, there is no magic plan to reduce this. Just hard graft and steady but persistent change but it has to be from all of us.

And lastly, recycle. Recycle like you mean it.