The Pile in the Pacific
At a Brazilian Restaurant outside of Saigon City Center (read: random). I sat with two friends who I hadn’t seen in years. We had met up in Vietnam on my way back from Thailand. As we chatted about everything from work to the amazing things we had seen in Asia. He remarked about the amount of trash in Jakarta. My mind raced back to Bali, where I remembered trash littering an otherwise perfect surfing spot.
In a recent article posted on MSN’s Lifestyle column the amount of trash in the Pacific Ocean was the topic of conversation. According to the article “scientists believe the world’s largest garbage dump isn’t on land…it’s in the Pacific Ocean” and that the world’s largest garbage dump is “twice the size of Texas and 90 feet deep in some places”.
Disturbing but true. Most of the garbage is plastic and it come directly off land. It is dangerous to sea life including sea birds, turtles and beluga whales. Not only is garbage in the ocean irresponsible and unsightly it is posing a real threat to the sea life. Not only does the garbage pose a physical threat, the risk of chemical dangers the chemicals in the plastic pose to the sea life is even more dramatic. Marine animals are being diagnosed with cancers associate with these chemicals.
Marine life expert and grandson of Jacque Cousteau, Fabien Cousteau, says “If you don’t care, you should…This pollution will eventually come back to haunt humans and find its way onto our dinner plates.”
It is continually evident that reducing our reliance on non-sustainable products. Reusing products and then recycling what we cannot reduce or reuse is important as it affects every aspect of our environment.
Original Content: http://budurl.com/rdd3
