At the equator the Earth has a circumference of about 40.000 kilometers. It is a living space
for 7,346,235,000 people. Yet, around two thirds of the planet is composed of water. Thus,
the nickname “Blue Planet” is very much reasonable. But instead of conserving this
beautiful blue planet, we are polluting the seas of the world and therefore also our bodies.
The so-called “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” is the perfect example for that and shows
exactly what I was referring to. The Patch which is also known as the “Pacific Trash
Vortex” is an accumulation of plastic waste that is floating in the North Pacific Ocean
between Hawaii and North America. It is the combination of the Western Garbage Patch
situated near Japan and the Eastern Garbage Patch which is located between Hawaii and
California. A convergence zone found a few hundred meters from Hawaii links the two
patches. Convergence zones are regions in the atmosphere where two prevailing flows
meet and interact. Here, warm water from the South Pacific and cooler water from the
Arctic meet and act like a highway that connects the Western and Eastern Garbage Patch to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
By now the Trash Vortex has reached a size of around 1.6 million square kilometers.That is three times the size of France and
contains around 80.000 tons of plastic waste. According to National Geographic, most of the plastic comes from plastic bags,
bottle caps, plastic water bottles, and Styrofoam cups.
The major problem is that those plastics are not biodegradable. Instead of degrading the plastics just break down into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics. The microplastics are not visible for the bare human eye. That is the reason why the patch does not look like a big island of floating plastic trash, as many people would imagine, but rather like very soapy water with bigger plastics in between. In fact, most of the trash sinks down to the bottom of the ocean and is therefore not visible on the surface.
The Garbage Patch does not only pollute the ocean water, it is also a danger for the sea wildlife. Over the last years there have been many cases of animals, that have been strangled in discarded fishing nets or plastic bags. And as the microplastics are so small many animals end up unintentionally eating the plastics. Which is not only bad for the animals but also concerns us. Scientists at Ghent University in Belgium recently calculated that Shellfish lovers eat up to 11,000 plastic fragments in seafood each year. They also noted that humans consume one percent of the accumulated plastic each year which in the long run will have disastrous consequences on human health.
As Environmental Activists and people of good will we should not only fight against climate change but also take care of our planet and conserve the natural habitat we live in.
So, what can we do to prevent the plastic pollution of our oceans?
1. Reduce your use of plastics
If you are going to the supermarket bring your own bag, instead of taking a new
plastic bag each time you shop some things. Or buy a reusable water container instead
of buying new water bottles every day, this will even save you a lot of money
2. Talk about it and raise awareness
The most effective thing you can do is to talk to other people and share your new
gained knowledge. Try to show and explain to people how you reduce your plastic
waste and what effects a thoughtless and irresponsible plastic handling can have.
3. Reuse and recycle
For Sure it is not as easy as one might think to reduce plastic waste, as it is almost
everywhere. But if you buy plastics you can at least try to reuse or recycle For more
creative recycling ideas visit:
By Luzia Jakob,
Environmental Activist, Volunteer/ Intern with The Schools Tree Project
Student at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany