The BBC is reporting that scientists have discovered marine animals living on plastic debris in an area of the open ocean dubbed “the Great Pacific Garbage Patch”. Many of the creatures are coastal species, living miles from their usual habitats, … Continue reading
Tag Archives: plastic
American diver breaks record with journey to the Mariana Trench American adventurer Victor Vesco broke the record for deepest submarine dive ever in the Challenger Deep in the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana Trench. In his four hours at the bottom, he … Continue reading
The bottom of the Mariana Trench, in the western Pacific Ocean, is the deepest point in any ocean of the world. At its deepest, the bottom is over 36,000 feet below the surface. In comparison, Mount Everest is 29,000 above … Continue reading
Each year more than 9 million tons of plastic makes its way into the oceans of the world. Plastic debris in ocean garbage patches is growing exponentially. By one estimate, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean … Continue reading
Much of the media have taken the claims of Boyan Slat at face value. The young Dutch engineer has claimed that his design for a series of floating ocean booms will clean the oceans of plastic. The BBC headline in 2014 which … Continue reading
About five years ago, a 19-year-old Dutch engineering student, Boyan Slat, made a big splash, at least on the internet, when he unveiled his design of refuse collecting booms, which he claimed would clean the oceans of plastics within five … Continue reading
I was recently shocked and disturbed to see photos of a significant quantity of floating plastics and trash in the Caribbean near the Honduran Island of Roatán. Roatán is the largest of the Bay Islands of Honduras. It is a beautiful island with incredible diving. My … Continue reading
Henderson Island is an uninhabited island in the south Pacific Ocean, the largest of the four islands of the Pitcairn Island group and a part of the South Pacific British Overseas Territory. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. UNESCO describes … Continue reading
A craft brew beer company and an ad agency have come up with a brilliant solution to problem of plastic six pack rings. What is the problem with six pack rings, you might ask? The plastic rings that hold six … Continue reading
Recently, we posted that five nations were responsible for 60% of the plastic dumped in the world’s oceans. Why is plastic so destructive to the ocean environment? National Geographic put together the short animation below to explain all the damage … Continue reading
For several years now, we have posted about the so-called ocean garbage patches, the great swaths of the oceans where plastic and other floating debris accumulate while riding on vast circular currents. The problem is that an estimated 8 million … Continue reading
Discarded plastic is a major problem in today’s oceans. Plastics leach toxic chemicals into the seawater while otherwise not degrading. Recently researchers at Harvard University have announced they have created a new bio-degrable plastic based on, of all things, shrimp shells. We have posted … Continue reading
You might call it the greenhouse effect, though it is not directly related to climate change. A dead sperm whale which washed ashore last year in Andalusia, in southern Spain, was found to have died from ingesting plastic sheets used in the construction of greenhouses in that region. The whale … Continue reading
Yesterday we posted that scientists are not sure where all the plastic floating in the vast Atlantic and Pacific garbage patches is going. Sadly, the answer is probably not that a big vacuum cleaner is vacuuming the stuff up to recycle it. Nevertheless, here is a great story about Electrolux, which … Continue reading
We have previously posted about the plastic “garbage patches” in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans – great current vortexes where floating plastic trash has accumulated. As reported in Scientific American scientists studying the garbage patches have noticed that despite … Continue reading