“Only we humans make waste that nature can’t digest.” Charles Moore, Marine Researcher

According to a National Geographic article published in 2015,  8 MILLION TONS of plastic are dumped into the ocean each year. Now if you don’t know how much 1 ton is that figure can be hard to understand, “Jenna Jambeck, University of Georgia environmental engineer, likens it to lining up five grocery bags of trash on every foot of coastline around the globe” (National Geographic). Ocean plastic washes up in every part of the world, even the Arctic ice.

Let’s make plastic a thing of the past. Bring your own canvas bags to the grocery store, some stores will even give you a discount for every reusable bag you bring! When you go to clothing stores, bring your own bag instead of using a new one. If you forget your bag, make sure to recycle them. Many grocery stores have bins where you can put old plastic bags that need to be recycled. Buy a refillable water bottle for everyone in the family. Bottled water is no safer than tap water and is costly. Almost every establishment has a water fountain where you can fill up your reusable bottle. Why not refill one bottle 3 times, rather than drink 3 plastic water bottles? Some food for thought…

Take notice of how much plastic you encounter on a daily basis. Try to notice how much of what we buy comes with plastic packaging. It really is dumbfounding how much plastic we use without even realizing it.

Plastic Pollution in the Ocean
www.ryot.org

Source(s):

Parker, Laura. “Eight Million Tons of Plastic Dumped in Ocean Every Year.”National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 13 Feb. 2015. Web. 22 Feb. 2016.

Posted on February 22nd, 2016 by kw1380@messiah.edu
Filed under: Spring 2016