Peter Dykstra:  The 800-lb (cheap, plastic) gorilla in our oceans

Peter Dykstra:  The 800-lb (cheap, plastic) gorilla in our oceans

Decades of warnings. A global environmental threat. Climate change isn't the only mess we're ignoring.

Save for one word, Walter Brooke (1914-1986) had an unremarkable career as a Hollywood bit player, usually as a mid-level military officer fighting Indians or Nazis.


But in the 1967 film The Graduate, Brooke slung his arm around the shoulder of a young Dustin Hoffman and offered a vision of the future:

'Plastics'

"Plastics"

Half a century later, Brooke's career advice looks more and more like an albatross around the necks of humanity – and for that matter, around the necks of albatrosses.

In 1950, 17 years before Brooke's career counsel, the world produced an estimated two million metric tons of plastic. By 2015, that had jumped to 380 million metric tons – more than humanity's own weight in plastic.

'Smog' of plastic

Trash floating in Lake Jackson, south of Atlanta, after a rain

www.11alive.com

An estimated 150 million metric tons of plastic now swirl in our waterways:

  • abandoned, miles-long driftnets that ensnare fish and seabirds;
  • drink bottles and soccer balls washed down storm sewers into rivers and lakes (see this news clip of runoff plastic in Lake Jackson, downstream from a half-million or so metro Atlanta homes);
  • single-use bags, straws, cups and cigarette filters by the billions;
  • long-lasting microbeads of plastic built into soaps and detergents;
  • and partly decomposed plastic bits that cloud the water and clog the bellies of fish, birds and marine mammals – a veritable "smog of the sea."

40+ years of warnings

Marine litter spoiling the view in Norway.

Bo Eide/Flickr

You can't say we weren't warned.

On April 5, 1989, a team of NOAA scientists presented an ominous, peer-reviewed work on the mounting dangers of ocean-borne plastic debris. Not surprisingly, their warnings went unheeded by all but a handful of marine scientists and activists.

I was feeling good about myself finding the 30 year-old plastics paper, and I mentioned it in the weekly segment I do for Public Radio International's Living On Earth.Then, the sleuths at a very useful web publication called The Revelator found others from the 1970's. That's how long we've known about the crisis we've been building.

Ugly death by plastic

Darrell Blatchley, director of D'Bone Collector Museum Inc., pulls plastic waste from the stomach of a Cuvier's beaked whale that washed ashore in Compostela Valley, in the Philippines.

AFP/Getty Images

Last week, an item worthy of the Guinness Book of World Records washed in from the Philippines, where the carcass of a Cuvier's beaked whale (really more an oversized dolphin than a great whale) yielded 88 pounds of plastic bags.

Like so many other environmental ills, the plastic pollution of the oceans is something we've known about for decades. Like climate change or ocean acidification, the solutions to plastics pollution are daunting. They don't involve the shutting of a lone drainpipe or smokestack. They involve altering the consumptive mindsets of nearly all of us about how we produce, consume, and dispose of plastics.

We've developed the ability to alter the acid/alkaline chemistry of the vast oceans, and we're filling them up with things inimical to life. Now all we have to do is develop the ability to stop ourselves.

***

Here's a trailer from "The Smog of the Sea," a new documentary on ocean plastics featuring musician Jack Johnson

US Capitol dome touched by early morning sun with trees and a path in foreground.

Senate moves to gut clean energy tax credits as deal nears

The Senate was close to passing a sweeping GOP bill Tuesday morning that rolls back renewable energy tax credits, adds a new tax on wind and solar, and boosts fossil fuel development.

Amelia Davidson, Timothy Cama, Nico Portuondo, and Garrett Downs report forE&E News.

Keep reading...Show less
Man holding sign that says Not is not the time for business as usual; climate action now.

UN climate talks face growing backlash over corporate influence and stalled action

More than 200 civil society and Indigenous groups have issued a unified call for major reforms to the United Nations’ global climate negotiations, criticizing decades of slow progress and lack of accountability.

Ryan Krugman reports for Inside Climate News.

Keep reading...Show less
An ocean wave up close with the tip of a mountain visible on one side of the frame.

Climate scientist warns Earth is approaching tipping points that could reshape the planet

Human-driven warming has pushed multiple Earth systems dangerously close to irreversible tipping points, but social and technological momentum could still steer the planet toward recovery.

Jonathan Watts reports for The Guardian.

Keep reading...Show less
A large wildfire burning on the hills above a lake flanked by trees.

Extreme heat and wildfires surge across southern Europe as temperatures break records

A punishing heat wave swept across southern Europe this weekend, forcing evacuations in Greece and pushing several countries into emergency wildfire alerts as temperatures soared past 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

Giada Zampano reports for The Associated Press.

Keep reading...Show less
Feet in sandals stand on stone pavers.

Hotter heat waves are sticking around as the planet keeps warming

A heat dome sent temperatures soaring across the Eastern U.S. last week, part of a growing trend driven by human-caused climate change that’s increasing the frequency and severity of extreme heat events.

Rachel Frazin reports for The Hill.

Keep reading...Show less
Flood waters rising next to house boats.

Rising seas may erase land, but not national identity, legal experts say

Nations facing submersion from rising seas could retain their legal status and maritime rights under international law, according to a new report from the United Nations’ International Law Commission.

Isabella Kaminski reports for The Guardian.

Keep reading...Show less
Equipment pointing toward the sky to communicate with satellites.

Old satellites vital to hurricane tracking will soon stop transmitting data

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) stopped receiving data from key weather satellites on June 30, limiting forecasters’ ability to detect dangerous hurricane intensification in real time.

Rebecca Dzombak reports for The New York Times.

Keep reading...Show less
From our Newsroom
Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

One facility has emitted cancer-causing chemicals into waterways at levels up to 520% higher than legal limits.

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

"The reality is, we are not exposed to one chemical at a time.”

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

Two years into his term, has Gov. Shapiro kept his promises to regulate Pennsylvania’s fracking industry?

A new report assesses the administration’s progress and makes new recommendations

silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.