Litter, Toxins, and Destruction
THIS PAGE IS DEDICATED TO EXPOSING THE LITTER, TOXINS, AND DESTRUCTION THAT IS DEFACING THE BEAUTY AND DEGRADING THE ECOSYSTEMS OF OUR PLANET.
GARBAGE VORTEX’S
For more information on garbage vortexes, marine debris, and restoration actions, visit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) webpage on marine debris, here.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, AKA the Pacific Trash Vortex, is one of five major gyres (whirl or vortex) of debris that can be found in today’s oceans. It is located in the North Pacific Ocean and was discovered between 1985 and 1988. This patch, along with the others, is characterized as containing exceptionally high concentrations of plastic, chemical sludge, and other debris that have been gathered and trapped by the currents of the North Pacific Ocean. As humans create and distribute waste throughout the planet, much of the waste ends up in our oceans. As the waste floats around it eventually gets swept up by the ocean’s currents. These currents direct and flow the waste into concentrated areas where they meet and mix, thus forming a literal vortex of garbage (also called the convergence zone). The Great Pacific Garbage Vortex is estimated to be the biggest in area of all garbage vortexes, with the most conservative estimates believing it to be at least the size of Texas. These vortexes pollute our waters, diminish ocean ecosystems where they are found, and also pose physical threats to any ocean life that comes in contact with the waste. In order to help halt the continued growth of these patches, and allow for potential clean-up, visit the Everyday Life page under our “Take Action” section for tips on reducing single-use plastics as well as recycling. Furthermore, organizations like The Ocean Cleanup are leading the charge in cleaning up these garbage patches.
THE FALL OF THE FORESTS
What do you think of when you hear the word forest? For me, it is a generalized term that describes communities of life, ranging from sparse pine forests in the Boreal to dense jungles teeming with plants and animals. Forests are so much more than the trees that define them. They are bringers of life, homes to life, and regulators of life. Most importantly from the current perspective of homo-sapiens, they are allies to our survival as a species. Unfortunately, we have turned our back on our forest allies, and we are destroying them and by correlation, ourselves.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), over half of the tropical forests worldwide have been destroyed since the 1960s, and every second, more than one hectare (~2.47 acres) of tropical forest is destroyed or drastically degraded. While tropical forests are rightfully the center of concern, this existential pressure on forests is not limited to the topics. Deforestation and forest degradation are the biggest threats to forests worldwide.
Deforestation: Conversion of forests for non-forest uses, such as agriculture, road construction, building, etc.
Forest Degradation: The loss of a forest’s capacity to provide important goods and services to people and nature alike.
So, why is this important?
The United Nations reports that over 80% of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity can be found in forests. The degradation and loss of forests directly threaten the survival of these species, and reduce the ability of forests to provide essential ecosystem services such as clean air and water, healthy soils, and climate regulation.
Furthermore, the U.N. reports that healthy forests support the livelihoods of 1.6 billion people globally, 1 billion of whom are among the world’s poorest. Deforestation and forest degradation have real and tangible impacts on the livelihoods of these people and communities.
Lastly, forests have very big roles in regulating climate, specifically, CO2. IUCN reports the world’s forests absorb 2.4 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year, one-third of the annual CO2 released from burning fossil fuels. This is HUGE. Forest destruction not only degrades forests’ ability to absorb carbon, it emits further carbon into the atmosphere. Scientists agree that protecting and restoring this vast carbon sink is essential for mitigating climate change, and ensuring a suitable home for generations to come.
What can be done?
That is the question on the minds of billions of people worldwide. While halting further exploitation of forests is paramount in dealing with this devastating issue, there are also methods being used that can restore and regrow forests. Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) is a solutions-based approach that can help reverse the effects of deforestation and forest degradation and regain the ecological, social, climatic, and economic benefits of forests. FLR brings communities and organizations together to identify and implement the most appropriate restoration actions in a landscape, with the intention of accommodating the needs of all land users and multiple land uses. FLR is more than just planting trees – it is a multidimensional approach with the aim of wholesome rehabilitation of the forests, including activities like regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, erosion control, and natural forest regeneration. One major way countries and landowners are committing to FLR is through the Bonn Challenge – a global effort to restore forests worldwide. Furthermore, countries are applying the Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM) – a framework that assesses the extent of degraded and deforested landscapes in a country or area, and identifies the best strategies for restoring them – as a guiding principle for applying Forest Landscape Restoration.
While these beneficial and primarily multi-organizational actions are spearheading the fight for forest health around the world, there are also things that we all can do on an individual level to help save our forest allies:
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Educate yourself and others on the importance of forests and the causes of forest destruction.
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Implement any changes to your personal life so that you do not contribute to those causes in any way shape or form. For example, Mcdonald’s has been known to convert the Amazon rainforest to farmland in order to grow feed for the animals they raise and sell to you in the form of a burger or chicken nugget. In this case, by not supporting Mcdonald’s (or similar corporations) you are supporting the preservation of the Amazon. Keep in mind that information regarding these issues may be inaccessible.
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Support organizations that are leading the charge on forest restoration projects and activism, such as TenTree (a clothing company that plants 10 trees for every purchase), Amazon Watch, Rainforest Action Network (both include platforms for writing letters to companies, industries, politicians, and influencers), and many more.
RADIOACTIVE OCEANS
Computer model of the spread of Cesium-137 throughout the Pacific Ocean 1,742 days after release from Fukushima.
Since the 1950s, the world’s oceans have been facing a new threat. This threat can be described in two words: nuclear reactions. As humans began to understand and perform nuclear reactions in order to create things like weapons and energy, radioactive isotopes made it into the natural world through acts of ignorance, explosions (tests and otherwise), and accidents (Chornobyl, Fukushima, etc.). These radioactive isotopes are extremely damaging to DNA and exposure can quickly and easily result in radiation poisoning and death. Some of these isotopes have a long half-life, meaning they do not naturally decay for a very long time. Fortunately, most of our nuclear waste is properly stored and handled, however, a startling amount of these isotopes have made their way into our oceans.
While there are remnants of nuclear weapons testing that can still be found from the 1950s and 1960s, much of the radiation in today’s oceans, specifically the Pacific Ocean, comes from the Fukushima power plant in Japan. In 2011, the Fukushima Day-ichi nuclear power plant was damaged badly by a tsunami. Since then, fallout, runoff, and leaks of radioactive waste have been literally pouring into the Pacific Ocean. While there have been attempts to stop radioactive leaking, it has proved to be difficult and is still leaking into the oceans today. Despite valid concerns, there is no U.S. government agency monitoring the spread of low levels of radiation from Fukushima along the West Coast and around the Hawaiian Islands.
The concerns that arise relate to ecosystem and human health. As radioactive isotopes make their way into the ocean, they make it into the food web. The question is: What are the long-term impacts of low levels of radiation on ocean life and human health? This question cannot be accurately answered, as this situation has never arisen in human history. While many scientists predict that levels of radiation along the Pacific Coast of North America will be too low to be of human health concern or to impact marine life, nearly all agree that radiation should be monitored, and efforts should be made to reduce or stop further contamination.
It truly seems like this issue is one that is on the back-burner in world politics and mainstream media. However, it only takes common sense to realize we should not be pouring radioactive material into our oceans. Thankfully, there are organizations taking on the charge to monitor and fight against radiation in our oceans. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution established the Center for Marine and Environmental Radioactivity in order to monitor, assess, and educate the public surrounding radiation in our world’s oceans. On their website (linked above) you can educate yourself, track radiation, and propose project sites (For example You live on the West Coast of America and notice a high concentration of cancer in your community. This would be a good reason to propose a testing site in order to see if cancer can be linked to radiation from Fukushima), and become involved in halting the growing impacts of radiation in the world’s oceans.
MARINE MICROPLASTICS
Marine microplastics are small fragments of plastic debris that are less than 5 millimeters long. These plastics have a few different routes of introduction into our oceans. Primary microplastics are small by design. For example, microbeads are tiny plastic beads that are used in some personal care products for extra scrubbing power. However, many of the microplastics found in today’s oceans are secondary microplastics. These are previously larger pieces of plastic waste that have been broken into smaller pieces by natural weathering processes like sunlight, humidity, temperature, and ocean waves. Any kind of plastic waste can eventually turn into microplastics, such as water bottles, food/drink containers, straws, car fenders, etc.
Scientists now know that microplastics are found in oceans, seas, and even some lakes (The Great Lakes, for example) across the planet. If you have been to a beach recently and looked along the wave line, you may have noticed tiny plastic fragments lining our beaches. This is a reality, they are everywhere. Unfortunately, plastics can take thousands of years to fully decompose so they are not going away on their own any time soon.
While microplastics are absolutely defacing the priceless beauty of beaches worldwide, the most important question is: What effect do these microplastics have on marine life and human health? Again, the answer is not easily known, as this has never happened in human history. Marine microplastics are an emerging field of study, and there is much to be learned about their impacts on ocean life, ecosystems, and human health. However, some conclusions have been drawn. Marine organisms at the base of the food chain such as plankton and fish larvae are known to consume microplastics, and filter-feeding animals, such as oysters and scallops, ingest the particles as they filter seawater. Many of these plastics contain toxic chemicals that have been directly linked to cancer and other serious human health problems. When microplastics are consumed, these toxic chemicals enter and permeate the food chain. This suggests that microplastics pose a serious threat to marine life and human health alike.
So, what can we do about these tiny, elusive, toxic pieces of plastic swirling around the water of the world?
Cut back on plastic waste to stop further microplastic introduction.
Educate yourself and others on marine microplastics and the importance of reducing plastic waste.
Support efforts that are being taken to clean up microplastics from beaches and bodies of water, through donations or volunteer work. Organizations like Oregon’s SOLVE take part in cleaning up microplastics from beaches.
Go out and pick up microplastics from your local beach! You may be surprised by how much plastic you can gather with a sand filter and a shovel.
While these are some great suggestions, new studies and technologies for understanding and dealing with microplastics are underway. This is an evolving and unprecedented issue that will have impacts on our planet for centuries to come, although the severity and extent of those impacts are unknown. Stay tuned..