photo by Chris Jordan

The following is an except from his web site where he has documented the terrible toll our human waste, in particular plastics, have taken on the world’s oceans and vulnerable species everywhere:

Midway
Message from the Gyre

These photographs of albatross chicks were made on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.

To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, none of the plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the untouched stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world’s most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent.

~cj, Seattle, October 2009

Please – do the blue – today!

The North Pacific Gyre, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch,  or the Plastic Vortex, whatever you call it, it is ugly and frightening!  Miles of toxic,  swirling decomposing human junk.  We all need a call to action! TED prize winner Sylvia Earle shares her views on why we all need to care now:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=43DuLcBFxoY

Paul Rogers of Mercury News writes yesterday about the recent expedition to the giant plastic garbage patch.  This research collaboration was launched a month ago when two ships embarked to study the site.  Departing to the toxic site were the New Horizon, a 170-foot vessel, sent by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California-San Diego and the Kaisei, whose name means “ocean planet” in Japanese, sent by Ocean Voyages Institute, a Sausalito nonprofit that privately raised $500,000 for the voyage. Both ships met at sea, collected water samples and took thousands of readings and photographs. Their goal: to study the patch’s size, how the plastic affects wildlife and whether it may be possible to one day clean up some of it.

Rogers writes, “Because the plastic pieces contain toxic chemicals — and are believed to be able to absorb now-banned chemicals such as DDT and PCBs, which can persist in the environment for decades — state toxicologists have taken hundreds of the objects, along with more than 300 fish, to an environmental chemistry lab in Berkeley to see if any chemicals are moving up the food chain.”

“Every day, every night, we’d pull up samples and pour the water through a sieve. It would be completely clogged with tiny pieces of plastic,” said Margy Gassel, a research scientist with the California Environmental Protection Agency. “It was so disturbing.”

The research was the most extensive look yet at the garbage patch, and its collection of mostly plastic debris located 1,000 miles north of Hawaii. The reports from theresearcher’s work will be out in several months -- but you know in the meantime what we can all do and that is “Do the Blue” and eliminate as much plastic from your life as possible!

Help Stop Marine Plastic Pollution and Animal Bycatch

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnUjTHB1lvM

You may have heard of it?  The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating, twisting, polluted pile of plastic perhaps two times larger than the state of Texas.  Poisening the Pacific,  this twisted caldron of plastic soup poses a threat not only to countless marine animals and the health of the oceans but to all life.  Click the image (courtesty of NOAA) to learn more on the Discover web site.   Just imagine –  every square mile of ocean may contain 46,000 pieces of plastic, this pollution is devasting.   Each of us, doing our small part to reduce our personal use of plastic can help.  Do the Blue!

Are you ready to “Do the Blue” and be a blue planet superhero too? It is easy! You can start with small steps, like reducing your personal use of plastic (check out these cool BluBags 100% organic cotton bags) – or reducing other toxins in your life – like toxic cleaners or solvents. Maybe you can start eating more organic foods and learning more about the fish you eat – and its sustainability. How about switching over to energy efficient lights bulbs or walking when you don’t need to drive? Just reading more about our world’s oceans and all the challenges our oceans face is a great start! Take a walk on your closest beach or lake. You’ll soon want to do more. We all have a blue planet superhero inside!

Please check back regularly for updates and all kinds of great stories about our world’s oceans, animals and much more. Post your own stories and comments too! I want to hear how you are “Doing the Blue”!