Killing the Oceans with Trash

"The amount of plastic in the oceans has risen sharply since the 1950s. Studies show a tenfold increase every decade in some places. Scientists expect the trend to continue, given the popularity of disposable plastic containers. The average American used 223 pounds of plastic in 2001. The plastics industry expects per-capita usage to increase to 326 pounds by the end of the decade."

That's from an L.A. Times article entitled "Plague of Plastic Chokes the Seas," where you can read about the huge, huge masses of garbage and other detritus floating in the Pacific and killing all kinds of sea and air creatures. It's an environmental crisis comparable to that old chestnut the ozone layer, which no one talks about any more, now that we have global warming to keep us busy.

"The debris can spin for decades in one of a dozen or more gigantic gyres around the globe, only to be spat out and carried by currents to distant lands. The U.N. Environment Program estimates that 46,000 pieces of plastic litter are floating on every square mile of the oceans. About 70% will eventually sink.

"An estimated 1 million seabirds choke or get tangled in plastic nets or other debris every year. About 100,000 seals, sea lions, whales, dolphins, other marine mammals and sea turtles suffer the same fate."