Monday, January 12, 2015
269 Trillion Tons of Plastic in the Ocean. But There's Hope. - Dr. Marcus Ericksen
Dr. Marcus Ericksen shared scary news about the oceans: there are about 269 trillion tons of plastic debris floating on the surface of the oceans and washing up on beaches around the world. When the vastness of the world's oceans are considered, this number doesn't necessarily seem overwhelming. But Ericksen says that the bad news is that there are way more plastic particles that we can't see, and that have entered the food chain through small fish and sea birds. It's difficult to estimate the number of animals that are dying because of plastics in solid form, because, Ericksen explains that birds and fish filled with plastics tend to sink, rather than washing up on beaches. But he gives cause for hope: in the developing world, if there is even a small financial incentive, people will gather plastics and sell them back to manufacturers, which could help keep things out of the world's waterways.
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