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Plastic in the Ocean


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I was just reading a comment made by the Son of Jacques Cousteau. He was commenting on the MH370 situation in the Indian Ocean, in regards to the objects being seen and that they so far turning out to be not from the Aircraft. He said that there was a Million Pounds of Plastic being dumped in the Worlds Oceans every hr. :shock:

What do you reckon, true or wild exaggeration??

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True I reckon. The Pacific plastic natural collection center is now supposed to be bigger than the US state of texas.... :thumbdown:

In SE asia, a continual line of rubbish barges goes out and dumps crap into the ocean :thumbdown:

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In SE asia, a continual line of rubbish barges goes out and dumps crap into the ocean :thumbdown:

Really???? That sucks.To me, that is far worse than Co2 going into the air. I can put up with new exciting places to anchor when the Sea Level rises, but I don't want to be anchoring in a Sea of Garbage.

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Its a complex issue. Most of these people struggle to eat. It costs them to dispose of the garbage. For many, until recently their food was wrapped in banana skins. They just chucked it anywhere, but it did not really matter. Now they do the same with plastic, and it does.

 

In one part of Indonesia, the locals offered to take our rubbish. Naively we let them without some questions. They took it around the corner to another beach we could not see. The next day we passed all the cruisers rubbish going out on the tide. We collected what we could. For these people out of sight, out of mind. They could not understand why we were no happy with letting "the sea take it".

 

Education and changes ARE underway. There is a guy they call the "plastic man" offering the school kids a (very) small amount of money for plastic waste and used cans. He stores it up in the "plastic bank", and then sends it to Jakata for recycling when he has a barge full. This is in Flores (near Komodo). The whole area is much cleaner than most in Indonesia. He is doing a great job, and trying to educate the kids, who in turn put pressure on the adults.

 

Hope it's not all to late!

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Ever tried buying something that DOESN'T involve plastic!? No more slaughtering whales in the southern ocean..we will now simply poison them to death. I remember seeing a doco about seabird sanctuaries near Hawaii. Their nests are full of plastic that's past through their digestive system and lots of dead where it didn't.

Reality check is: there simply is way too many humans on this planet. We really need to export rugby ("not tonight dear..the games on") or beer ("sorry love..had one too many"). What is it that we all seem to consider our lives meaningless unless we have produced children!!

I know this will cause a sh*t stir. I hope it does! Want to save the worlds starving children and save our planet??? STOP HAVING THEM!!!

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You mean this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78BQKPssoXM

 

Midway Atol. Its sad really...

 

Sobering but no. There is a string of islands to the WNW that are sanctuaries and are now basically grave yards for seabirds that have consumed plastic. I remember the worst are the tiny beads manufactured that are actually used to create plastic products. Containers full of them falling off ships and these beads look just like tasty little marine food to a host of marine creatures that now contain plastic.

What can any of us say? We (ME INCLUDED!) know fossil fuel is ruining our world, yet still drive our cars to work... I drive a Mack truck that consumes $200 a week in diesel but I , like the rest of you, need money to live so go on belching out C02. We all buy things for home, things we need and invariably it comes in a plastic bubble rap package that goes out with the next rubbish collection. Plastic nappies replaced cotton...plastic bottles replaced glass..plastic bags replaced paper..need I go on? Supply and demand. The almighty dollar. There is N O T H I N G any of us can do but try to prolong the inevitable, whatever that might be. I really think that it boils down to this insane need to reproduce! In stead of governments PAYING people who have children, why not pay for people to NOT have children!? More children..more sewerage, nappies, cars, houses, roads, pollution. Ive said enough. You get my drift. Interestingly, some scientists are coming out BRAVELY and saying the same thing with the religious right snapping at their heels!

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Reality check is: there simply is way too many humans on this planet.

Bollocks. As I have said before, it's not the amount of people, it isthe people. People don't care unless they can't make a buck basically. Population has no bearing on the waste not being processed and disposed off properly. The issue is that most local Gvt simply want to sweep it all under the "carpet", because it's cheaper to deal with it that way. As IT said, out of sight, out of mind.

 

I have been helping a mate of mine who is very keen on recycling. He has been taking all the Ewaste in Marlborough and then breaking it down into it's bits. He doesn't make any money from it. Sadly the Metal Scrap yard here gives diddly Squat for scrap metal and the Council charges like a wounded bull for anything he can't recycle. That has until now, been scrap plastic. So I am going to build him a little plant that will turn the Plastic back into Oil. There's no money, it will cost me to build the thing, but I really want to see something done with plastic rather than see it dumped.

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Bollocks. As I have said before, it's not the amount of people, it isthe people. People don't care unless they can't make a buck basically.

 

EXACTLY!!! Read my earlier post "Supply and demand". If you CAN NOT change human nature, and to date it has not changed!! Then the more human consumers wanting their patch of ground, car, telly and children (also wanting their patch of..) and their children (also wanting..) is a state of OVER POPULATION because the IMPACT on the environment is proportional to the amount of individuals affecting it! Sure, I think you could have one billion fit into the sahara, antartica, god knows they are trying it in the Sudan! Build floating islands and cram even more breading humans on those too! The reality is, as a species, we are having a far to severe effect on this planet. We can't change greed and desire. Human nature is what it is so the other way is to LIMIT the amount of humans that are needing to consume and pollute! Simple. Stop having children!

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If you CAN NOT change human nature, and to date it has not changed!!

I believe you can and I believe it has been changing. We have seen it in many other areas. But we need more change. We need more education. We need people that actually want to give a damn about this Planet. Many are already, but we need to do more and that comes from the ones like Me and You and the Gvt and so on. But the Me's and You's need to start by educating their Kids and teaching them better.

The guy I have been helping with the plastic said to me, why are people not doing this instead of plastic going into the Landfill. Simple I said. Local Gvt wants to make a profit on everything they do, because that is what the Public expect of them. No one looks at the longer term cost of filling the Landfill and needing more land to put our Rubbish. To be fair, there are some small councils doing good stuff, but here in Marlborough, we have a joke of a system. We have recycling and everyone sorts their rubbish and the trucks come and pick it up. It goes to the the Transfer station and then on up to the Landfill and gets dumped. Why?? Because it is too expensive to transport the stuff to where ever it has to go to and they can't cover costs.

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Stopped at a cafe in Kaiwaka a week or so back. Had a drink that came in a glass bottle so when finished I took it back to the counter. The girl told me to put it in the bin on my way out. I asked about recycling it. Answer - that's for Aucklanders. I left it on the counter.

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90% of that plastic is there to make the manufacturers and retailers life easier, which they then market to us as 'wizz bang flash packaging'. We are the dumbarses that accept that so if you want change YOU can make it happen.

 

I've been running a programme of just knot accepting excessive packaging. At time that means I don't buy a certian thing. A loot of the time that means buying it than stripping it at the counter and leaving all the packaging for them to deal with. That has caused a few rows, a ripper in Dicky Smiths, but push the point as who can really argue excess packaging is a good thing. Let it be well and truly known why you are doing it i.e. "this sh*t is only to make your life easier (the retailers) so you deal with the f**king mess you are choosing to inflict on the world!!" Go hard throwing them a guilt trip.

 

And whinge to the companies doing it. I gave the CEO of Steela n Tube a diatribe on excessive packaging, complete with examples of his. To his credit he said he hadn't realised and would look into it. A month or so ago he dropped me a note saying they are now making a range of sizes so a lot of the packaging will become a lot smaller. Not perfect but a start.

 

You can do simple thing like when the nice old lady in the dairy goes to put a plastic bag around the 2lt milk bottle that has a handle say No. I very commonly reject the bags saying they kill penguins. Often you'll see the baggers eyes saying 'Hmmmm... good pint, never thought of that'. A couple of places I use a bit now ask everyone rather than default to more plastic into the environment.

 

You are the consumer, it is your planet.......... fight back.

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